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 AN 
 
 ESSAY 
 
 ON 
 
 THE BEST MEANS OF CIVILISING THE SUBJECTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BRITISH EMPIRE IN INDIA, 
 
 AND OF DIFFUSING 
 
 THE LIGHT OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 THROUGHOUT THE EASTERN WORLD ; 
 TO WHICH THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW ADJUDGED 
 
 DR BUCHANAN'S PRIZE. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN MITCHELL, A. M. 
 
 MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL, ANDERSTON. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 
 PtinteJ bg 3[ame0 BallantEnr, 
 
 FOR WILLIAM BLACKWOOD, SOUTH BRIDGE-STREET; AND 
 
 T. CADELL AND W. DAVIES, STRAND, LONDON. 
 
 1805.
 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The Reverend Claudius Buchanan, D. D. Vice-Pro- 
 vost of the College of Fort-William, in Bengal, gave to the 
 University of GlasgOAV, in 1804, the Sum of Two Hundred 
 and Ten Pounds ; desiring that it might be divided into 
 the under-mentioned Prizes : 
 
 I. 
 
 ONE HUNDRED POUNDS for an ENGLISH PROSE DISSERTATION, 
 
 " On the best Means of civilising the Subjects of the British Empire in India ; and of 
 diffusing the Light of the Christian Religion throughout the Eastern World." 
 
 II. 
 
 SIXTY POUNDS for an ENGLISH POEM, 
 
 " On the Restoration of Learning in the East," 
 
 in. 
 
 TWENTY-FIVE POUNDS for a LATIN POEM on the following subject: 
 " Collegium Bengalense." 
 
 IV, 
 TWENTY-FIVE POUNDS for a GREEK ODE on the following subject : 
 
 " TENEsen <iax." 
 
 i ■^ :.J ■ "
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION — DIVISION, Page 1 
 
 PART I. 
 
 On the best Means of civilising the Subjects of the British Empire in India. 
 
 Civilisation defined — Ancient Refinement — Present State — Inferences — Obstacles — 
 Facilities — Presumed Character of the proper'Plans — Methods of promoting the Object, 
 in various Views, suggested, Page 17 
 
 PART II. 
 
 On the best Means of diffusing the Light of the Christian Religion throughout 
 
 the Eastern World. 
 
 Division — Hindostan, and other Oriental Countries, Page iS* 
 
 1. Sketch of Hindoo Superstition — Contrasted with a brief View of Christianity — 
 Obstructions — Advantages — Progress already made — Preliminary Considerations — Plans 
 detailed, Page l65 
 
 2. Advantages possessed by the British in India for diffusing the Light of the Gospel 
 throughout other Eastern Countries — Encouraging Circumstances in the State of the 
 Neighbouring Nations — Means to be employed — Where to begin — Motives — Con- 
 clusion, Page 219
 
 ESSAY 
 
 ON THE 
 
 CIVILISATION OF INDIA, &c. 
 
 To a contemplative mind, no country on earth will appeal' 
 to exhibit features of peculiarity more striking than Hin- 
 dostan. Those vast ranges of lofty inountains which en- 
 viron it on three sides ; the majestic sweep of its principal 
 rivers, and the extensive fertility which they diffuse in their 
 
 course ; the variety and excellence of its productions, of na- Singular at- 
 tractions of 
 ture and of art ; the mild character of its inhabitants ; the l'«iia. 
 
 peculiar structure of society and of manners, by Avhich they 
 are distinguished ; the antiquity of its annals ; and the re- 
 volutions of its history, have all concurred to render Hin- 
 dostan, from age to age, most interesting to foreigners. 
 
 A
 
 <2 
 
 General con- 
 sequences 
 
 in respect of 
 science, 
 
 And, from ancient times, no other region has more 
 powerfully attracted the researches of the philosopher, the 
 enterprise of the soldier, or the adventurous spirit of the 
 merchant. 
 
 That the light of science, following the path of the sun, 
 has all along shone from east to west, is a remark which 
 the general history of literature suggests *. Nor can there 
 be a doubt, that some rays of the philosophy of India, had, 
 at an early period, illuminated the schools of Egypt and of 
 Greece "-j^. The sages of these schools, it is well known, Avere 
 accustomed to travel eastward in quest of knowledge ; and, 
 from the similarity of some of their tenets, particularly of their 
 famed transmigration, we might be led to presume that, in 
 the course of their inquiries, they had profited, either direct- 
 ly or circuitously, by the wisdom of the Brahmans. But 
 we are struck with extreme surprise at some recent disco- 
 veries. Who is not astonished when he first reads, that the 
 rules of that famous system of logic, which for ages main- 
 tained a sovereign ascendancy in all the seminaries of Eu- 
 rope, and of which Aristotle had been deemed the sole in- 
 ventor, were known long before in India ; and that, accord- 
 
 ♦ Vide Note A. 
 
 t Jones's Works, vol. i. pp. 275, 276.
 
 ing to a tradition prevalent in that countiy, Callisthcnes, the 
 nephew of the Grecian philosopher, having accompanied 
 Alexander the Great in his invasion of Hindostan, had trans- 
 mitted this method of reasoning to his uncle * ? And is not 
 our wonder heightened, our interest in this singular people 
 increased, when we learn further, that the outlines of the 
 Copernican system of astronomy, together with some of the 
 leading principles of the Newtonian philosophy, and the 
 abstruse speculations of arithmetic and algebra, had been 
 taught in Hindostan, long before they were discovered in 
 Europe -f ? 
 
 " Asia" (says the celebrated Montesquieu) " has been of conquest, 
 thirteen times conquered." In these calamitous enterprises 
 Hindostan has deeply shared. What is singular, every in- 
 vader of this unfortunate country has been successful. Sel- 
 dom has a race of native princes, in the later ages, occu- 
 pied the throne of India. Without having recourse to an 
 era prior to the commencement of authentic history in Eu- 
 rope, we learn from the annals of classical antiquit}^ that 
 the Macedonian conqueror, having penetrated into this re- 
 mote region, with the design of annexing it pennanently to 
 
 * Asiatic Researches, vol. iv. p. 172. 2d edition, 
 t Jones's Works, vol. i. pp. 170, 171, 172.
 
 inerce. 
 
 4 
 
 his ample dominions, had established an empire there, which 
 subsisted for a considerable period after his death. To this 
 foreign yoke others have closely succeeded. For, fertile in 
 soil and genial in climate, inhabited by a gentle and unwar- 
 like race, this country has at once strongly attracted the 
 desire, and readily submitted to the arms, of those Avho 
 sought either for accession of territory or increase of wealth, 
 and of com- Eut Ilindostan has been chiefly interesting as a scene of 
 
 commerce. From a remote antiquity, the attention of mer- 
 cantile nations has been directed to this envied region; 
 and its trade has invariably enriched those who were so 
 fortunate as to share, or to engross it. No other country, 
 at least none equally distant, was so anxiously explored, or 
 so industriously frequented, by the celebrated commercial 
 nations of former times. It was visited by the Phenicians 
 and Egyptians, even before the days of Solomon. There is 
 some reason to suppose, that the fleets of this magnificent 
 prince, fitted out in the ports of the Red Sea, resorted to 
 the shores of India. And, though this conjecture were al- 
 lowed to be satisfactorily disproved, yet it is certain that, 
 since his time, the staples of this country have continued to 
 be in high recpiest among the polislu^d nations of the west- 
 ern parts of tiie world ; and that the conniiand of this cele-
 
 brated mart has been eagerly sci/ed, and guarded with- 
 jealousy, by the Greeks, the Romans, the Turks, the \ eiie- 
 tians, the Portuguese, tlie Dutch, and the English, in suc- 
 cession. 
 
 Our countrymen were among the last who obtained set- 
 tlements in Hindostan. During the late and the preceding- 
 century, a company of British merchants, actuated by that 
 spirit of enterprising commerce, which has so long distin- 
 guished the inhabitants of this island, sought and obtained 
 
 trading stations, first on the coast of Coromandel, and then Biitish set- 
 tlements. 
 on the banks of the Ganges. Their first object was traffic, 
 
 not conquest : but circumstances, in the natural course of 
 things, soon arose to embroil them with the natives ; and 
 the successful issue of these contests opened their minds to 
 new views of aggrandisement. Still retaining the name and 
 appearance of a conmiercial company, they became in fact 
 a great covmcil of proprietors, presiding over the affairs of 
 a vast domain, conducting military enterprises on a large 
 scale, and acquiring, from time to time, as the result of these 
 new adventures, an immense accession of territory. The 
 world saw a singular and a splendid spectacle. In the his- 
 tory of no age or nation has it happened, that a range of 
 country so vast, so rich, and so populous, became the pri-
 
 6 
 
 vate property of a company of mercliants. Subjects alone 
 in one quarter of the world, and vuidistinguished beyond 
 the ordinary classes of trading men ; they were lords of ex- 
 tensive tracks of land in another. Known here only as 
 merchants, there they were venerated as monarchs of more 
 millions than the British empire contained *. At length, 
 Act of incor- from motivcs of policy and of prudence, parliament inter- 
 
 poration. 
 
 fered ; the concerns of the East India company were taken 
 under the protection and controul of the state ; and Hin- 
 dostan may now be viewed as a grand appendage to the 
 empire of a sovereign, whose ample dominions stretch them- 
 selves in every quarter of the globe, and under every variety 
 of climate. 
 
 Proposed in- FoF othcrs it may be enough to have conquered and to 
 
 vestigation 
 
 recommend- posscss ; but to Britous it bclougs, witli characteristic mag- 
 
 ed by 
 
 nanimity, to inquire how they may improve and bless the 
 vanquished. When Cyrus conciuered Lydia, forgetful at 
 once of his wonted generosity, and of the true interests of 
 his empire, he compelled his new subjects to practise only 
 mean and infamous professions; doubtless that he might 
 
 • Vide Note B.
 
 enervate their minds, and degrade them in the eyes of the 
 Persians. Others have adopted the same sinistrous art*. 
 But it is for an hvmiane and enliohtened government to rise the Ltniusof 
 to higher and more correct views of pohcy ; to adopt nobler 
 measures ; and, by attempting to ameliorate the condition 
 and exalt the character of those Avhom the fortune of Avar 
 has thrown under their protection, to lessen the evils of con- 
 quest, to secure the grateful attachment of their subjects, 
 and to set an example of magnanimity to the world. It is 
 for such a government to extend over conquered provinces, 
 not the deadly gloom of the yew, but the reviving shadow 
 of the banyan. 
 
 Not only consonant to the native feelings and liberal po- our regard 
 
 for the cha- 
 
 licy of a great and generous people, the attempt proposed racter 
 is necessary for the vindication of our national character. 
 At this moment, loud are the invectives which envy, or hos- 
 tility, have made to resound throughout Europe. AVe are 
 stigmatised as an horde of merchants, who, instigated only 
 by base thirst of gain, fatten on the spoils of pillaged pro- 
 vinces : visit but to rob, and conquer only to oppress. Im- 
 patient of our maritime superiority and growing empire, the 
 
 * PufF. Univ. History. Dionysius Hal. lib, 7.
 
 8 
 
 attributes of Carthage and of Rome, tlie insatiable ambition 
 of the one and the mercantile arrogance of the other, are 
 unceasingly ascribed to us. Nor is it uncommon, with in- 
 vidious triumph, to speak of provinces depopulated ; of 
 thousands enslaved, or slaughtered, or starved ; of the tears 
 of Africa *, and the groans of India. In tragic style they 
 tell, how our countrymen 
 
 Ravaged kingdoms, and laid empires waste. 
 And, in a cruel wantonness of power, 
 Thinn'd states of half their people, and gave up 
 The rest to wantf . 
 
 and safety of Happv for US, wcrc tliesc invcctivcs altogether unfounded. 
 
 our country. cr^ o 
 
 That, as far as concerns Hindostan, they are exaggerated, we 
 must indeed assert ; that examples of cruelty and pecula- 
 tion in India are becoming, under a wise and vigilant ad- 
 ministration, every day more infrequent, we rejoice in be- 
 lieving ; but that they have been unexampled, and that the 
 charge has no grounds whereon to rest in relation to for- 
 mer times, the fondest lover of his country, the most partial 
 admirer of the character of Britons, dare not affirm. " The 
 Asiatic conquerors," (exclaimed an eloquent orator in par- 
 
 • Vide Note C. t Blair's Grave.
 
 9 
 
 liament,) " had soon abated of their ferocity, and the short 
 life of man had been sufficient to repair the waste they liad 
 occasioned. But with the Enghsh the case was entirely 
 different. Their conquests were still in the same state they 
 had been in twenty years ago. They had no more society 
 with the people, than if they still resided in England ; but, 
 with the view of making fortunes, rolled in, one after ano- 
 ther, wave after wave, so that there was nothing before the 
 eyes of the natives, but an endless flight of birds of prey 
 and passage, with appetites continually renewing for a food 
 that was continually Avasting. With us there were no retri- 
 butory superstitions, by which a foundation of charity com- 
 pensated for ages to the pooi", for the injustice and rapine 
 of a day. With us no pride erected stately monuments, 
 which repaired the mischiefs pride had occasioned, and 
 adorned a country out of its own spoils. England had 
 erected no churches, no hospitals, no palaces, no schools 
 (the trifling foundation at Calcutta excepted) : England had 
 built no bridges, made no highways, cut no navigations, 
 dug no reservoirs. Every other conqueror, of every other 
 description, had left some monument of state or of benefi- 
 cence behind him ; but were we to be driven out of India 
 this day, nothing would remain to tell that it had been pos- 
 
 B
 
 10 
 
 sessed, during the inglorious period of our dominion, by any 
 thing better than the ouran outang or the tiger *." These re- 
 presentations are doubtless highly coloured ; but the deli- 
 berate resolutions of the House of Commons shew that they 
 were not entirely unjust. If so, it becomes us to beware, 
 and to consider how we may retrieve the national character, 
 and compensate to an inofl'ensive people these acknow- 
 ledged injuries. If Britons have stained the British name 
 by acts of wajiton cruelty and oppression, since the day of 
 vengeance, if not averted by the timely interposition of a 
 humane and generous policy, will come ; measures of re- 
 dress, such as an inquiry of the kind we are entering upon 
 might suggest, can alone exempt us from that awful retri- 
 bution, which is thus prophetically denounced by an im- 
 passioned writer ; 
 
 Did peace descend^ to triumph and to save. 
 When free-born Britons ci-oss'd the Indian wave ? 
 Ah no ! 
 
 But, hark ! as bow'd to earth the Bramin kneels. 
 From heav'nly climes propitious thunder peals ! 
 Of India's fate her guardian spirits tell. 
 Prophetic murmurs breathing on the shell. 
 
 * Burke's speech on Fox's India i>ill.
 
 11 
 
 And solemn sounds, that awe the listening mind. 
 Roll on ihe azure paths of every wind. — 
 He conies! dread Brama shakes the sunless sky, 
 With murmuring wrath, and thunders from on high. 
 Heaven's fiery horse, beneath his warrior form. 
 Paws the light clouds, and gallops on the storm. 
 Wide waves his flickering Sivord, his bright arms glow 
 Like summer suns, and light the world below. 
 Earth and her trembling isles in ocean's bed 
 Are shook, and nature rocks beneath his tread. 
 
 To pour redress on India's injured realm. 
 The oppressor to dethrone, the proud to whelm ; 
 To chace destruction from her plunder'd shore. 
 With art and arms that triumph'd once before. 
 The tenth Avater comes * ! 
 
 Other considerations urge the proposed inA^estigation. The Additional 
 
 motives. 
 
 honour, the interests, and the security of the British empire 
 
 are deeply involved. By the act of incorporation the van- Rights of our 
 
 new subiects 
 
 quished Hindoos have a constitutional right to the privi- 
 leges of British subjects, and to all those benefits, consistent 
 with their character and condition, which that union can 
 impart. Besides, the importance of Hindostan to the se- Disastrous 
 
 consequences 
 
 curity of the empire is incalculably great. Recollecting, ot the loss of 
 
 indeed, how Britain has not only survived the separation 
 of her American colonies, but flourished since that period, 
 
 * Campbell's Pleasures of Hope, pp. 42. 44, 45. 
 
 Hindostan.
 
 12 
 
 by her own internal energies and the goodness of Provi- 
 dence, more than ever, we cannot presume to assert Avith 
 some, that the overthrow of our empire in Ilindostan would 
 involve the destruction of the parent state. But we may 
 venture to aver, that such a catastrophe would tarnish the 
 lustre of the British crown ; and, considering how extensive- 
 ly and intimately the interests of this great colonial posses- 
 sion are interwoven with those of the mother country, that 
 it would shake, if it did not subvert, the government. The 
 threat, so often held out by our enemies, of conquering Britain 
 in India, shews of what importance they deem Ilindostan to 
 us, and how powerfidly its loss would operate, as they ap- 
 prehend, in paralising our exertions. While we may defy 
 their menaces, let us not disregard the consequence of such 
 an event. The amputation of a limb may not immediately 
 affect the vitals of the constitution, but it necessarily puts 
 the subsequent health, existence, and efficiency of the whole 
 system to a perilous trial. And, if the analogy be in this 
 instance exact, should not every measure of a wise and hu- 
 mane policy be adopted, to prevent a dismemberment of 
 the empire, which may prove fatal, must prove hurtful .'' 
 Of import- Let us also reflect upon the extreme distance of Hindostan 
 
 ancc to its 
 
 defence. from thc body of the empire. If we except one of our fo-
 
 13 
 
 reign settlements which is inconsiderable, India is the mosl 
 remote, as it is by tar the most important dependency of 
 the crown of Great Britain. Lying 15,000 miles east, more 
 than half of the globe must be crossed ere supplies from us 
 can be conveyed to its distant shores. Such, likewise, is the 
 rapidity of Asiatic conquest, that the country might be lost 
 before even the news of invasion could reach the chief seat 
 of government. Shall we then confide its safety to our suc- 
 cours ? Must we not look for its best defence to the internal 
 resources of that country itself; to the number, the attach- 
 ment, the increasing energies of its inhabitants ? And how 
 can these resources be so powerfully augmented, as by has- 
 tening to conciliate the aft'ections of the natives, and pro- 
 mote their best interests by every plan which wisdom, or 
 goodness can devise and execute ? 
 
 This subject has relations even of higher interest, to which Farther and 
 
 higher argu- 
 
 we may appeal. Feelings of an enlarged philanthropy, as '"ents. 
 well as views of a wise policy ; the impulses of a liberal 
 philosophy, not less than the refutation of an invidious 
 spirit of detraction ; the solemn sanctions and the glorious 
 advantages of our holy religion *, concur with the genero- 
 
 * Vide note D.
 
 14 
 
 sity of the British spirit, the honours of the Britisli name, 
 and the security of tlie British empii'e, to prompt this in- 
 quiry into the means of civilising and enhghtening Ilindos- 
 tan and the East. Few objects can be conceived more 
 noble than those which it presents. Of all speculations, 
 such as tend to ameliorate the condition, and exalt the cha- 
 racter of mankind, are the most interesting and important *. 
 And, according to every just estimate, these must appear 
 to rise in proportion to the extent and excellence of the ob- 
 jects they embrace. How grand, how inviting, then, that 
 investigation, which includes at once the temporal and eter- 
 nal interests of a large portion of mankind ! which may 
 contribute to exalt human nature, where it is greatly de- 
 based by superstition and slavery ; to rescue many millions 
 of our race from a most abject state of civil, intellectual, 
 moral, and religious degradation ; and to bless them with 
 an increase of the comforts of life, with a participation of 
 the liberties and laws of ] Tritons, and, above all, with the 
 knowledge of the " word of life," and the enjoyment of the 
 blessings of salvation. 
 
 A\ho, then, adverting to the importance of this investiga- 
 
 * Note E.
 
 15 
 
 tion in its various references, is not disposed to ask ardently 
 with the benevolent Cowper, 
 
 Is India free ? And does she wear her pluin'd 
 And jewell'd turban with a smile of peace ? 
 Or do we grind her still * ? 
 
 And what consideration is there, most interesting to us as 
 tnen, as Britons, as Christians, which does not stimulate us 
 to inquire, What are the best means of civilising the sub- 
 jects of the British empire in India ; and of diffusing the 
 light of the Christian religion throughout the eastern Avorld ? 
 
 This inquiry obviously divides itself into two parts : First, Division of 
 
 the subject, 
 
 What are the best means of civilising the subjects of the 
 British empire in India ? and. Secondly, How may the light 
 of the gospel be diffused throughout the eastern Avorld ? 
 
 These parts of the inquiry are intimately connected. The 
 one is essentially necessary to promote, or to perfect the 
 other. Without civilisation, Christianity coidd not be so 
 successfully propagated ; and without the influence of Chris- and arrange- 
 tianity, civilisation cannot be carried to its utmost height. 
 
 * Task, book iv. 
 
 nient.
 
 16 
 
 They are also arranged in an ascending order. The inquiry 
 concerning the means of civilising the Hindoos is antecedent 
 in idea, as well as inferior in excellence, to the other ; and, 
 accordingly, from the consideration of the former, we shall 
 be naturally led up to the investigation of the latter, which 
 will carry our views forward to the last and best state of our 
 world and of our race, when, according to the intimation 
 of holy writ, the " whole earth shall be filled with the glory 
 of the Lord."
 
 17 
 
 PART I. 
 
 OF THE BEST MEANS OF CIVILISING THE SUBJECTS OF 
 THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN INDIA. 
 
 C/iviLisATioN, being a complex term, is liable to be used 
 in a vague sense ; and, that we mav hold a precise point in 
 view, it Avill be proper, before we proceed farther in our in- 
 quiry, that we determine its meaning. In popular use, it 
 denotes that humanity gentleness and complaisance, which, 
 as contrasted Avith the cruelty rudeness and ferocity of the 
 savage state, usually distinguish mankind in an advanced 
 stage of society. No nation, on the face of the earth, are, 
 in this sense, more civilised than the Hindoos ; for, though 
 several districts of India be infested by hordes of robbers, 
 and the people in general, by reason of their almost total 
 
 c
 
 18 
 
 Present sig- 
 nification dc- 
 fermined. 
 
 Distinctions 
 on this sub- 
 ject. 
 
 want of clothing, may, to an European eye, have the ap- 
 pearance of" barbarians ; yet their national temper and man- 
 ners, upon the whole, are exemplarily mild, inoffensive, and 
 obliging. 
 
 The term then, it is presumed, is, in this discussion, to be 
 taken in its philosophical acceptation, denoting the im- 
 provement of man, considered as a member of human so- 
 ciety, a subject of human government. It supposes him to 
 enjoy the full benefit of those political aiTangements, of 
 which his circumstances will admit ; and, of course, to pos- 
 sess all that happiness of condition, and refinement of man- 
 ners, and excellence of character, which, in his situation, he 
 may attain. In this reference the prescribed subject be- 
 comes a question of the most interesting moment. How 
 that placid people, whose condition has been hitherto so 
 depressed, may be raised, in the scale of nations and in the 
 lot of humanity, as high in all respects as the advantages 
 of their situation, improved by British talent and influence, 
 will admit, seems to be the spirit and object of the proposed 
 inquiry. 
 
 Civilisation is either absolute or comparative. By abso- 
 lute civilisation we understand the utmost improvement, of 
 which mankind, in their social state, are susceptible. This
 
 19 
 
 is that perfectibility of human nature, by the operation of 
 civil government, about which the philosophers and politi- 
 cians of a neighbouring nation spoke so highly, concerning 
 which they formed theories so beautiful, and the prospect 
 of which they entertained with expectations so sanguine; 
 but of which that people have since set an example so in- 
 adequate, as to convince us that there is a certain corrup- 
 tion in human nature, a certain fatality in human affairs, 
 which forbid the hope that this captivating prospect will 
 soon be realised, or the object be ever attained solely by 
 such means. The pleasing dream is dispelled. A cloud 
 has been substituted, and embraced instead of a goddess. 
 Comparative civilisation is all that has hitherto been accom- 
 plished ; all, it should seem, that we can ever reasonably 
 hope to effectuate by the Avisest legislative provisions alone. 
 But even this, though not so splendid in theory, presents in 
 fact, an object sufficiently magnificent and interesting to ex- 
 cite and to reward our researches. There is no nation on 
 earth who have attained, in all respects, that height of im- 
 provement which they might reach ; none, whose condition 
 and character might not be greatly ameliorated by a wise 
 comparison of the circumstance of other states, and a pru- 
 dent adoption of Avhatever should appear, upon due con-
 
 20 
 
 sideration, to be of superior excellence in their schemes of 
 policy. Thus civilisation in all might be progressive ; though 
 it should never become absolutely perfect. Mankind might 
 still be ascending in this path of true glory ; although in 
 their civil state, they should never reach the highest point 
 of improvement. 
 
 In attempting to promote this progress, two extremes are 
 to be avoided. There appears on either hand a fatal 
 rock, which it behoves the political navigator to shun with 
 steady aim. On the one side, by grasping at too much Ave 
 might lose the comfort, if not the possession, of present pri- 
 vilege : by holding in view a system of Utopian civilisation, 
 a project of ideal perfection, which could never be realised, 
 we would delude ourselves, and, by discouraging effort, 
 even prevent the attaimuent of what is within our reach. 
 On the other side, by taking om* aim too low, Ave may not 
 rise to that height of improvement, Avhich, by a juster ele- 
 vation, might easily have been gained. Nor must any one 
 nation be assumed as a perfect model of civilisation. The 
 state and character of all are mixed. In the most refined we 
 shall detect some rcnnnants of ancient rudeness, or some ten- 
 dencies to barbarism. Among the most polished nations of 
 Europe, customs, dcri\'ed from their (jothic ancestors, still
 
 21 
 
 maintain their ascendancy; and symptoms of moral, it" not 
 of political declension, are but too a])parent. 
 
 While, therefore, we avail ourselves to the uttermost, of Appiiration 
 
 ol llic rcniark 
 
 the suggestions to be derived, by discriminating wisdom, f^'^iirbub- 
 from the experience of past ages, or from the institutions of 
 present times, let us, without either grasping at what is un- 
 attainable, or contenting ourselves with servilely copying 
 any existing scheme of policy, inquire how the civilisation 
 of Hindostan may be promoted in the highest practicable 
 degree. The civilisation of a country (as has been already 
 hinted) consists in its security under a good government ; in 
 the strength, the activity, the excellence of the social prin- 
 ciple; in the spirit of union, of industry, and of enterprise 
 by which its inhabitants are actuated, and the conveniencies 
 and comforts of polished life are widely diffused ; and in 
 the enlightened, and virtuous conduct of the various classes 
 of the community. How then, by the arrangements of civil 
 polity, by the exertions of a wise administration, may the 
 greatest proportion of happiness be distributed throughout 
 this vast and populous division of the British empire ? How 
 may we raise, to the highest pitch that their genius and cir- 
 cumstances will allow, the excellence of human nature, and 
 the improvement of human society, among our eastern sub-
 
 rence to an- 
 cient state. 
 
 22 
 
 jects ? How may we enable them to enjoy the full benefit 
 of social order, and to fulfil, in the best manner, the grand 
 purposes of the existence of man upon the earth ? To the 
 solution of these interesting problems we are to address our- 
 selves. 
 Passing refe- Qj^g circumstauce it Avould be improper not to notice, in 
 our progress. By reason of a revolution, not unexampled 
 indeed in the history of mankind, but attended in this case- 
 with circumstances of peculiarity, the civilisation of Hin- 
 dostan admits of a retrospective consideration. An elegant 
 and well-infomied historian * has attempted to prove, by a 
 long and argumentative induction of facts, that " the inha- 
 bitants of India were not only more early civilised, but had 
 made greater progress in civilisation than any other people." 
 The reason assigned for this attempt, in the close of that 
 elaborate treatise, is both interesting to our feelings, and 
 intimately connected Avith the object of this dissertation ; 
 while the accuracy of his research, the extent of his infor- 
 mation, the con'ectness of his judgment, and the plausibility 
 of his arguments, entitle his conclusions to a high degree 
 of respect. Yet, the extraordinary refinement in civil po- 
 
 * T>Y Robertson, App. Hist. Disq.
 
 23 
 
 licy, in laws and judicial proceedings, in useful and elegant 
 arts, in sciences, and in religious institutions, which he as- 
 cribes to that people ; and, especially, the high anticjuity to 
 which he carries up the reference, have induced many to 
 doubt, and some formally to controvert, the truth of his hy- 
 pothesis. But, without entering into a question, which, in 
 its intrinsic merits is detached from our present inquiry, it 
 may be sufficient for our purpose to observe, that, admitting 
 the fact (which is indisputable) that the Hindoos have been, 
 at some former period, more highly civilised than they are 
 at present, it is evident they must be a nation susceptible 
 of farther improvement than they now exhibit. Besides, as 
 it is more difficult to restore suspended animation, or rein- 
 vigorate a decayed constitution, than to preserve the health 
 and augment the strength of a system which is unimpaired, 
 so, to recal a nation in a retrograde state, to the career of 
 improvement; to renovate a degenerated society ; to inspire 
 new life into a languishing people, we may presume, from 
 analogy, must be an attempt peculiarly arduous. Here, then, 
 is an enterprise, which requires the deepest consideration ; 
 an enterprise, Avhich, while it presents an object at once dif- 
 ficult and magnificent, to invite the exertions of genius, also 
 promises to crown success with no common praise. Failure
 
 24 
 
 cannot be dishonourable. The attempt is laudable ; and 
 he who sinks in the course, may yet enjoy the consolation 
 of the brave, but too adventurous son of Apollo : 
 
 Magnis tamen excidit ausis. 
 
 Statistical 
 view of mo- 
 dern Hindos- 
 tan. 
 
 Climate. 
 
 After all, however, the question is not what the Hindoos 
 as a people have been, but what they now are. Their pre- 
 sent state is the point from which our inquiries must set 
 out ; and it may not be improper, as the ground work of the 
 subsequent plan of improvement, to sketch a brief view of 
 this state, deduced from the most authentic accounts. To 
 do this satisfactorily is no easy task ; for, not only are the 
 representations given by different writers on the subject of- 
 ten contradictory, but the same author appears occasion- 
 ally to be at variance with himself. 'J'lie following abstract 
 is taken from a comparison of varit)us statements. 
 
 The author of the " Spirit of Laws " has suggested abun- 
 dant reason for adverting particularly to climate, in account- 
 ing for any system of institutions, or devising any scheme of 
 policy. Too much, indeed, may have been ascribed to this 
 cause : yet, as unquestionably it has a mighty influence in 
 forming the chai-acter, and determining the condition of
 
 25 
 
 mankind, he who should overlook a circumstance so import- 
 ant, might be justly accused of neglecting one primary ob- 
 ject of consideration. The boundary of Hindostan is irre- 
 gular ; and its geographical position cannot be very accu- 
 rately marked. Situated betwixt the eighth and the thirty- 
 fifth degree of N. lat. the greater part of it lies within 
 the torrid zone ; and it might be expected that the heat 
 would be intense, especially as the face of the country is in 
 general level, extensively covered with wastes and forests, 
 and often rendered damp by the inundations of the rivers. 
 These circumstances, however, are counteracted in a con- 
 siderable degree by other natural causes ; particularly by 
 the lofty ridge of mountains bordering on the cold regions 
 of Tartary, and the sea breezes along the coast. Unfavovu'- 
 able and enervating the climate confessedly is, to European 
 constitutions ; but its abundant population shews, that it 
 is not unfriendly to human life, health, or improvement. 
 
 This vast region is intersected, adorned, and fertilised by Faceoftiic 
 
 countrj'. 
 
 many noble rivers, which pour themselves into the ocean by 
 several mouths, and are often navigable, for large vessels, 
 high up their streams. Among these the chief are the In- 
 dus, the Kistna, the Burrampooter, and the Ganges. The 
 last is superior in magnitude to any river of the ancient con- 
 
 D
 
 26 
 
 tinent ; rises to the height of thirty-two feet ; overflows its 
 banks to the distance of fifty miles, on either side ; runs a 
 course of fourteen hundred miles ; receives many large tri- 
 butary streams, and is called by Hindoos the " King of 
 Rivers." 
 Population. Over Hindostan is scattered an immense, but slightly di- 
 
 versified population. Of the numbers which compose this 
 aggregate, no exact estimate has as yet been made. Some 
 compute them at sixty millions ; others conceive that they 
 must amount, at the least, to an hundred millions. Of this 
 enumeration an hundred thousand, according to a well-in- 
 fomied writer, are Mahometans ; the rest, Hindoos. While 
 different tribes of the latter inhabit this extensive region, 
 there prevails among them a Avonderful uniformity of cha- 
 racter and manners. In general, the natives are a mild, in- 
 offensive, unambitious race of man : coiitent with little : 
 careless about futurity : attached to ancient usages : and 
 assiduous, Avithout being either active or enterprising. The 
 Mahrattas, however, who inhabit the central parts, and form 
 one of the principal powers in Hindostan, are of a different 
 character; being restless, bold, and warlike. 'J'he number 
 of British, compared with the great mass of p()j)ulationy is 
 extrcmclv inconsiderable.
 
 overninciii, 
 ancient and 
 
 27 
 
 India was formerly united in one splendid empire under g 
 
 ar 
 
 the Moguls ; but, in latter times, has been parcelled out modem 
 among a great number of petty princes, who are the objects 
 of similar regard, and possess similar authority, with the 
 chieftains of ancient Europe. Of these principalities, se- 
 veral are now either subject to the British empire, or in al- 
 liance with it. The states of chief consideration, that have 
 maintained their independency, arc the Mahrattas and the 
 Seiks. 
 
 The excellence of the soil will easily account for various Soil, and its 
 
 productions. 
 
 circumstances in the character and history of its inhabitants. 
 Everywhere good, it is, in many places, particularly to the 
 north and west of Bengal, extremely fruitful. The bowels 
 of the earth yield those precious stones, which have been 
 the special objects of human avarice or vanity, from the 
 beginning; the shores of the sea also contribute to aug- 
 ment such envied productions ; and the surface of the land 
 is not less remarkable for the abundance and variety of its 
 crops, than for the readiness with Avhieh its increase is 
 yielded. Almost without labour, and with still less art, the 
 ground brings forth plentifully. 
 
 In a country which has been so often conquered, and is Agriculture. 
 still in a state so unsettled ; where the husbandman ffoes
 
 28 
 
 forth to the field armed, and is uncertain whether he may 
 reap wliat he has sown, or what exactions may be made 
 upon him ; as no encouragement is given to exertion, so, we 
 might presume, Httle progress will have been made in the 
 first and most necessary of all human occupations. This is 
 the fact. Nothing can be more imperfect than the state of 
 agriculture throughout Hindostan : nothing more rude and 
 inefficient than the implements used by the husbandman : 
 nothing more aukward and unskilful than his modes of cul- 
 tivation. 
 ifsefularts. Husbandry, being in a state so rude, the common arts of 
 
 life, which are in a great measure dependent upon it, must 
 be equally defective. And, amid some magnificent monu- 
 ments of the architecture of past ages, the huts of the pre- 
 sent race are miserable indeed : nor can any contrast be 
 more striking than that which their hovels, scattered amid 
 the ruins of cities once splendid, frequently exhibit. And, 
 if they have attained excellence in any of the other arts, as 
 in weaving and dyeing, their superiority arises, not fi'om 
 greater skill, but fi-om natural advantages. 
 
 Though few countries in the world possess greater facili- 
 ties, and none more abundant materials ibr commerce, yet 
 no people have hitherto availed themselves less of such en-
 
 29 
 
 viable advantages. Foreign trade is carried on exclusively 
 by strangers ; and, of internal, there is little beyond what 
 their mutual wants necessarily require. Even this little is 
 transacted often in a way the most aukward and tedious, 
 by barter, or the use of Cowrie shells. 
 
 Whatever progress the Indians may have formerly made Elegant arts. 
 in the culture of some of the fine arts, (which appears from 
 authentic documents to have been considerable) they are at 
 present as unskilful in these, as in others of a less dignified 
 character. The same remark may be extended to their pro- 
 ficiency in those sciences, which enlighten the minds, and 
 polish the manners of mankind. Their study of astronomy Sciences. 
 has degenerated into a contemptible, drivelling astrolog3^ 
 The principles, upon which eclipses were anciently com- 
 puted, are now unknown ; the tables and the rules alone re- 
 main. All the learning of the times consists in the know- 
 ledge of those books, which contain the mysteries of their 
 religion, the precepts of their morality, the institutes of their 
 legislation ; and this is confined to one order of the com- 
 munity, the Bramins ; and, among them, to one class, de- 
 nominated Pundits. 
 
 These sacred repositories of science are written in the Seminaries. 
 Shanscrit, a language which has not been spoken for ages
 
 30 
 
 in Bengal, and is known only to a few of the native Literati, 
 and a smaller number of our Countrymen, whom they have 
 at length condescended to instruct in this venerated dialect. 
 Thus, to almost all, this source of information the most 
 envied, is " a spring shut up, and a fountain sealed." To 
 compensate, however, in some measure, for this disadvan- 
 tage, the living languages are comparatively few ; and Per- 
 sian (like Greek in ancient, and Latin in more modern 
 times,) is very generally spoken and undei"stood. Schools 
 are scattered in difl'erent places of the country, but sparingly; 
 and the education is equally scanty. The simple pupils are 
 placed on an open plat around their teacher, who instructs 
 them by draughts, on the sand, on coloured boards, or on 
 leaves of trees, at once to read and to write. The sum and 
 object of their attainments, is to keep accounts, that they 
 may become clerks or factors to Europeans, Of universi- 
 ties they have only three. The most celebrated of these 
 is Benares *, which has been, from time immemorial, the 
 Athens of India, the residence of the most learned Bramins, 
 and the first scat of science. But he who should visit this 
 place, with the hope of contemplating learning in her " mag- 
 
 * The other two are Tricur and Cangiburara.
 
 31 
 
 nificent abode," must be greatly disappointed, since he 
 would behold these sublime sophists " slumbering," as a 
 lively writer expresses it, " in equal ease and voluptuous- 
 ness." 
 
 When the ministers of religion and the teachers of science Morals. 
 exhibit such an example, we may easily conjecture the state 
 of illumination and of virtue among the great body of the 
 people. The Hindoos, though a mild and polished, are yet, 
 intellectually considered, a very uninformed race. Abste- 
 mious, because the restraints of their religion, and their ex- 
 treme poverty, impose temperance ; sti'angers to that fero- 
 city of manners, which marks nations less gentle ; they have 
 yet no idea of a morality flowing from the heart, enlighten- 
 ed by principle, and directed to high and pure ends. Many 
 practices, altogether incompatible with personal sanctity, 
 are almost universally indulged. Intoxication, by the use 
 of opium, is not rare : fraud, theft, adultery, perjury, and 
 murder, are common crimes. 
 
 The manners of a people at once give to the laws their Legislation. 
 character, and receive from them in return a powerful bias. 
 The Hindoos being a mild, upon the whole a temperate, 
 and a humane people, it Avas to be expected that their laws 
 would partake of these qualities ; and, accordingly, an higli
 
 3<2 
 
 encomium has been bestowed, by able judges, upon the 
 jurisprudence of India. Notwithstanding, their code is by 
 no means perfect ; and since, while the country has under- 
 gone great changes, this system of legislation still retains its 
 ancient references ; since, above all, it establishes that un- 
 natural distribution of society, which has existed, in some 
 other countries, but survives in India alone, it admits of cor- 
 rection and addition, both in relation to general schemes of 
 policy, and to particular details. 
 Casts. Of the Hindoo legislation the most prominent peculiarity 
 
 is that division of the community into Casts, to which we 
 have just adverted. The whole population is distributed, 
 by this arrangement, into four general classes, besides above 
 eighty subdivisions. Of these the first class consists of the 
 Bramins, who are the ministers of religion, the votaries of 
 science, the teachers of youth. To the second, called Cheh- 
 tcree, are entrusted the government and defence of the 
 state ; so that they are its hereditary magistrates and sol- 
 diers. Husbandmen and merchants compose the third, de- 
 nominated Bice or Bannians. And into the fourth are thrown 
 all the inferior orders of society, artisans, labourers, and ser- 
 vants, under the designation of Sooder. Besides these ori- 
 ginal and superior ranks of society, there are two adventi- 
 
 3
 
 33 
 
 tions or infamous casts. The one is called Burrun Sintkcr, 
 consisting of all those who have sprung from the prohibited 
 intermarriages, or other illicit intercourse, of the members of 
 the primary classes ; and the other, denominated Pariars or 
 Cliandalahs, is composed of all those who, by their own 
 crimes, or those of their forefathers, have forfeited cast. To 
 these Ave may add a seventh cast or class, created by the 
 connection of Euiopeans with Hindoos or Mahometans, and 
 fomied of their offspring. This last, secluded alike from the 
 privileges of the British and the society of the natives, more 
 formed by nature for endvuing the climate than the former, 
 and better fitted for military enterprise than the latter, seem 
 destined to make, in some future period, a conspicuous 
 figure, and act a distinguished part, on the theatre of India. 
 The two preceding classes are the most miserable and de- 
 graded of mankind ; for the forfeiture of cast is the loss of 
 all respectability and comfort, and, once lost, the privilege 
 is irrecoverable : no Avealth, no influence can procure its re- 
 storation *. Even betwixt the fovu' first orders, which are ac- 
 counted honourable, there is drawn a line of distinction so 
 complete, that no individual can, on any account, quit his 
 own cast, and enter into another ; or marry a person of a 
 
 * Vide note F.
 
 34 
 
 (lifFerent class ; or even (except "at one religious solemnity) 
 hold any intimate intercourse, particularly in eating drink- 
 ing and smoking, with his countrymen thus separated ti'om 
 his society*. At the same time, although one of an in- 
 ferior rank may not assume the privileges, or exercise the 
 functions of another belonging to a superior cast, yet the 
 latter may, in certain instances, descend to the station, and 
 execute the duties- of the former. — This distribution of so- 
 ciety justly excites our astonishment. Its origin is inexpli- 
 History of Cable. That one order of men should be ambitious of ac- 
 
 this singular 
 
 institution. quiriug, and of establishing a selfish ascendancy, is not won- 
 derful ; but that the other classes of the community should 
 have been induced to submit to such arrogant claims, and 
 to concur in enacting laws confirming the usurpation of the 
 few, and degrading, not only themselves, but their posterity 
 for ever, is utterly unaccountable. Its permanency is not 
 less surprising than its origin. In other countries we see 
 remote tendencies to such a distribution ; but no distinction 
 of ranks, so complete and so authoritative, anywhere exists : 
 and although in ancient Egypt a similar classification was 
 once established, yet it has been abolished for ages. The 
 Hindoo constitution, however, derived from a period of 
 
 * Vide Note G.
 
 35 
 
 v/hich there is no account*, and, unbroken by the violence 
 of 'J'artar conquest, unshaken by the fanaticism of Maho- 
 metan zeal, unimpaired by all the vicissitudes of their his- 
 tory and revolutions of their government, subsists a singu- 
 lar monument of the stability of an order of things, at once 
 unnatural, unjust, and impolitic. 
 
 In all the above circumstances the British empire in British em- 
 pire. 
 
 India, and its inhabitants, partake. It contains a surface 
 of vast extent ; stretching, according to the latest accounts, 
 Avith the addition of our recent conquests, from Delhi to 
 Cuttach, a thousand miles south ; westward, as far as Agra ; 
 and, upon the east, to Silhet, only twelve days journey Extent and 
 
 magnitude. 
 
 from the borders of Yunan in China. Augmenting still, 
 in the career of victory ; embracing, in alliance or sub- 
 jection, the greater part of the peninsula, it has attain- 
 ed a decided preponderance in the East, and exhibits a 
 commercial empire, which, whether you regard its extent, 
 its opulence, the slender means by which it was acquired, 
 
 * Vide Note H.
 
 36 
 
 or the lustre of military exploit by which the history of its 
 acquisition has been distinguished, is of the first considera- 
 tion in the annals of human affairs, or the schemes of mo- 
 dern policy. 
 
 Population. The population of this magnificent empire has never been 
 
 exactly ascertained, and, of course, is variously estimated. 
 A well-informed writer * computed it before the late con- 
 quests at thirty millions ; and, if some -j- have raised, and 
 others '^^. lowered the computation, this variation may serve 
 to confirm his conjecture. How many the newly-acquired 
 territories may contain, cannot be detemiined. Besides 
 subjects, there are in Hindostan about thirty thousand ser- 
 vants of the Company, civil and military. 
 
 Government. This vast and populous territorial acquisition is under the 
 immediate jurisdiction of three presidencies, viz. Bengal, 
 Madras, and Bombay. Each of these consists of a Gover- 
 nor and Council, composed of a small number of the Com- 
 pany's servants. 'J'he government of Fort \\ illiam in Ben- 
 o-al is the chief of the three ; but the other two act inde- 
 pendently, unless when such an emergency arises as may 
 compel the supreme power to assume its predominant rights, 
 
 * Sir William Jones. f DrTeiinant rales them at fifty millions. 
 
 X Pinkerton estimates them at twelve or fourteen millions.
 
 37 
 
 to call for the assistance, and to regulate the exertions of 
 the other two. At home, the affairs of the Company are ma- 
 naged by a Board of Directors, chosen, from time to time, b}'^ 
 the holders of stock. The proceedings of this original court 
 are now superintended by another and higher judicature, 
 a committee of his Majesty's ministers and privy coun- 
 cil, under the title of a " Board of Controul." It is also 
 provided, that an exact account of the transactions of both, 
 and of the affairs of the Company, shall be annually laid 
 before parliament for their review. 
 
 By a wise and liberal policy, the natives have been left Condition of 
 
 subjects. 
 
 to enjoy the benefit of their own institutions and laws ; sub- 
 ject, however, to such modifications and arrangements, civil 
 and military, as their internal security, and the nature of 
 their relations to neighbouring powers may require. Among 
 British institutions two are of principal consideration. The 
 one is a supreme court of justice, holding its sittings at Cal- 
 cutta, and consisting of a president and three subordinate 
 judges, who try the British, the Hindoos, and the Mahome- 
 tans, severally, by their own laws. The university of Ben- 
 gal, a still more recent erection, is the other, A magnifi- 
 cent monument of the taste and liberality of the present 
 government of India ; may it also prove, for many an age.
 
 38 
 
 the source of illumination, scientific and evangelical, to the 
 interesting natives of that remote region ! 
 Revenue. The support of thosc establishments of various kinds, 
 
 Avhich are requisite for the security of our interests, or the 
 honom- of the British name, in a country where magnifi- 
 cence is the order of the day, must necessarily be very ex- 
 pensive. For this, however, the resources of the country 
 seem fully adequate. According to a writer * who had the 
 best opportunities of correct information, the revenues of 
 the Mogul empire amounted to thirty-six millions sterling ; 
 and, as the Company now occupy at least one-third of the 
 Avhole, their annual receipts cannot be less than twelve mil- 
 lions. They arise partly from territorial imposts ; partly 
 from the occasional contributions and assessments of tribu- 
 tary or vanquished states ; and partly from the emoluments 
 of trade in Asia or in Europe. Of the exact amount, which 
 must necessarily be hable to many contingencies, various 
 estimates have been formed. It nmst unquestionably be 
 ample ; and, with due management, cannot fail to increase. 
 Yet, ample as it is, the expenditure of the Company has 
 hitherto exceeded their income, and compelled them to adopt 
 the funding system, and borrow from the government of the 
 
 * Abu Fazcl, minister of the celebrated Akbcr, in his A3cen Acbery.
 
 59 
 
 mother country. But the emergencies which produced these 
 incumbrances, have been incidental and extraordinary ; the 
 recent acquisition of territory lias been vast ; the increase 
 of revenue (amounting, it is conjectured, to not less than 
 two millions of pagodas) has been proportionably great : 
 and tiiere is every reason to hope, that a short period of 
 ti'anquillity will enable the Compajiy, not only to discharge 
 their arrears, but to acquire immense wealth. An injudi- 
 cious passion for territorial acquisition can alone prevent 
 this desirable result ; and should ^vc fail, through such im- 
 politic ambition, to reap the benefit of our Indian posses- 
 sions, we shall exhibit the only instance upon record, of a 
 nation iiupoverished by its connection with this envied 
 country, and by engrossing a commerce the most lucrative 
 of which any people, ancient or modern, have been so for^- 
 tunate as to obtain the entire command. 
 
 Such is the brief account which it seemed expedient to 
 premise of the present state of India : wholly unnecessary, 
 the author is aware, for the information of that learned Tri- 
 bunal to whose decision the merits of this Essay are sub- 
 
 i
 
 stract. 
 
 40 
 
 mitted, but requisite, he presumes, to give a complete view 
 of the subject as a whole, and to indicate the references of 
 the subsequent hints. 
 
 The above sketch may suggest several important deduc- 
 tions ; and, among others, three, intimately connected with 
 the object of this inquir}'. 
 Conclusions Of these the first is, That, " comparing the present con- 
 
 from the pre- 
 ceding ab- dition of the Hindoos with the idea that was formerly given 
 
 of civilisation, it must be obvious, that they have not attain- 
 ed, in various respects, that degree of improvement, to 
 which, under a wise administration, they might rise." Far 
 removed from the savage state ; gentle and amiable in their 
 manners ; excelling in some arts, they are more refined than 
 many other tribes of our race ; but they are also in many 
 things far inferior to others. Their system of legislation, it 
 has been seen, is defective or erroneous in several views ; some 
 of the most necessary arts of life are in a state very rude ; 
 in most of the elegant arts their proficiency is small ; the 
 cultivation of the sciences is confined to one class of the 
 community, is locked up in a dead language, and consists 
 in studying the records of their own nation ; and their morals 
 are by no means perfect, either in principle or in practice. 
 Much, in short, we may infer, may yet be added to their 
 
 3
 
 41 
 
 political dignity, much to their social order, much to their 
 commercial advantages, much to their don)estic comfort and 
 happiness, and umch to their moral and intellectual im- 
 provement. 
 
 It may also appear, that at present our empire in India insecurity of 
 
 empire. 
 
 stands on a very precarious footing. This inference is de- 
 ducible from various considerations. The conquered coun- 
 try is extremely extensive ; and our settlements, intended 
 from the beginning only as commercial depots, and there- 
 fore situated on the coast, are not fitted by their position to 
 command the inland districts. The number of disaft'ected 
 or faithless tribes, on our long and open frontier, also af- 
 fords to our enemies in Europe an easy opportunity of in- 
 triguing with the natives, and, by their means, of invading 
 our territories. The vast disproportion betwixt the small 
 aggregate of our forces and the immense population of the 
 country, may suggest too much reason for apprehension 
 concerning the event of such conflicts in some future war- 
 fare. Be it so that our troops are far superior in military 
 skill and prowess to the undisciplined and unwarlike na- 
 tives ; that the battle of Plassey, Avhich established us in 
 the sovereignty of Bengal, and struck the country powers 
 with the terror of the British name, was gained by the for- 
 
 F
 
 42 
 
 midable array of only nine hundred European soldiers ; and 
 that other victories, equally brilliant and favourable to the 
 extension of our interests in India, have of late been ob- 
 tained by inconsiderable detachments of British forces over 
 almost countless hosts even of INIahrattas. On the other 
 hand, however, we ought not to forget that fortune is fickle, 
 and the fate of war may change : that our troops must ne- 
 cessarily be worn out by the fatigue of incessant enterprise, 
 and the inhospitality of the climate : that, with all the ad- 
 vantages of superior discipline and valour, they may be 
 overwhelmed, in some future engagement, by the very pres- 
 sure of numbers, and the lassitude which a torrid sky 
 creates : that the natives, as usually happens, may, in the 
 progress of warfare, imbibe somewhat of the spirit, and ac- 
 quire the skill and steadiness of our military : that, in fact, 
 the Sepoys in our service are known to make excellent sol- 
 diers, when trained and led on by British officers : and that 
 there is good ground to fear, that, in some after period, our 
 subjects may be incited to rebellion, or assisted in their in- 
 surrection, by hostile officers and auxiliaries from Europe, 
 conducted to Hindostan by land, or conveyed thither by sea. 
 Thus, nourishing as are the alfairs of the Company at pre- 
 sent, splendid as are the prospects of aggrandisement oow
 
 4 
 
 
 
 rising to view, if they depend upon force alone for main- 
 taining their empire in India, they may suddenly experience 
 the fate of all other commercial companies, who have ac- 
 quired territories in this remote region, and, in their turn, 
 at no distant period, be erased from the roll of oriental 
 powers. 
 
 The necessity of attaching the natives to us by a sense importance 
 
 of internal 
 
 of their own interests and happiness, if we would retain a union. 
 permanent ascendancy in India, is the last conclusion sug- 
 gested by the foregoing sketch, which we shall mention. 
 The dominion of force and of fear, in a country so populous, 
 so extensive, and so remote from the seat of the primary 
 government, there is no reason to presume, from the history 
 of human affairs, will always prevail. To support a mili- 
 tary force in that quarter adequate to the permanent sub- 
 jugation of Hindostan, though it were practicable, would 
 incur an expence for which the funds of the Company, ample 
 as they are, would probably be found ultimately incompetent: 
 to supply the waste of the army there always with natives, 
 would be to increase the danger, in proportion to the extent 
 and duration of the establishment: while, to send recruits from 
 this country, in any due proportion, would at all times be ex- 
 pensive and hazardous, in some circumstances absolutely
 
 44 
 
 impracticable. Besides, although there might be no risk of 
 insurrection among the natives, especially when trained to 
 arms according to the superior mode of British tactics ; and 
 although both the funds of the Company and the state of the 
 empire could easily afibrd the requisite supplies, yet at least 
 equal danger may arise from another quarter. For, reflect- 
 ing upon the history of the Roman empire, and the motives 
 which operate upon human nature, is there no reason, con- 
 sidering the distance of the scene of action, to apprehend 
 that temptations to throw off allegiance, too strong for some 
 one of the chief servants of the Company to resist, and an 
 army inured to the climate, and too great to be reduced bj 
 any force that can be brought to act against them from this 
 country, may, at some future period, prove the most power- 
 ful engine for subverting the empire of Britain in India ? 
 To ameliorate the condition of the subjects of this empire, 
 to interest the natives themselves in its support, will, in 
 every vicAV, appear to be the most eligible means of uphold- 
 ing it ; — the cheapest, as well as the most honourable expe- 
 dient we can employ, for the preservation of our power in 
 that part of the world. The civilisation of the natives (we 
 repeat it) seems to be the wisest plan of policy which can 
 be adopted by the Company ; the most promising method
 
 45 
 
 of establishing their own ascendancy and interests, on a basis 
 not to be shaken. 
 
 In contemplating the means of accomplishing this im- Obstacles-. 
 portant object, " the civilisation of the subjects of the Bri- 
 tish empire in India," it cannot be denied that several cir- 
 cumstances, greatly unpropitious to such an undertaking, 
 present themselves to our consideration. 
 
 Of these the most obvious is, the immense extent of coun- Magnitude of 
 
 . . the empire. 
 
 try which our empire in that tpiarter embraces. In a small 
 territory much may be done with comparative ease : one 
 person can superintend the execution without difficulty: 
 whatever error may have been committed, will be at once 
 detected and rectified : and the whole force of his talents, 
 of his plans, and, if necessary, of military action, can be 
 brought speedily to bear on any tardy or refractory depart- 
 ment. But in a vast empire these advantages cannot be 
 enjoyed. The machine of government becomes cumbrous 
 and unwieldy by its magnitude ; its movements are neces- 
 sarily slow, and liable to a thousand incidental obstructions, 
 which cannot be speedily discovered or removed. The au- 
 thority and influence of the head are lessened greatly by the 
 distance at which he is viewed. These difficulties and de- 
 lays, which must occur in quelling and avenging insuiTec-
 
 46 
 
 tion, or opposition to public measures, present temptations 
 which, it may be expected, Avill operate powerfully upon 
 the disaffected. 
 Rapid succes- The gTcatness of the trust, a climate unfriendly to British 
 
 f ion of rulers. 
 
 constitutions, and the distance of the dependency, render it 
 inexpedient that any one govemor should continue long in 
 India. But, amid frequent changes, different views may be 
 expected to occur ; different plans of policy or administra- 
 tion will probably be adopted ; and these will operate to re- 
 tard the accomplishment of the grand design. 
 Unfavourable It is to bc regretted, also, that the greater number of our 
 our country- countrymcu in India, whether from habits which are unfa- 
 vourable to speculations of this kind ; or from narrow views 
 of policy ; or from degrading ideas of the Hindoo charac- 
 ter ; or from the obvious folly of the schemes of some vision- 
 ary projectors ; have hitherto been apt to treat with con- 
 tempt every proposal of improvement as ridiculous or im- 
 practicable. Contemplating the strong prejudices of the 
 natives, the stability of their institutions, and the penna- 
 nency of their manners, they hastily conclude, either that 
 they are incapable of amelioration, or that every attempt 
 which might be made will be ultimately found unavailing. 
 With these views it is not to be expected that they will en- 
 
 men in India.
 
 47 
 
 ter readily into the design ; and as the progress must neces- 
 sarily be slow, they cannot be allured in the beginning (as in 
 some other cases) by the hope of immediate, or stimulated 
 by the attainment of great success. 
 
 But those circumstances which are most adverse, arise internal ob- 
 structions. 
 
 from the policy, the usages, and the temper of that A^ery 
 people, whose best interests we would seek to promote. 
 
 The division of the community into casts, strongly op- Casfs. 
 poses itself to all alteration or improvement. This singular 
 institution, I am aware, has not been considered by all as 
 injurious. It has been regarded even with partiality, and 
 represented as favourable to civilisation, by the elegant and 
 reflecting author of the " Disquisition concerning the Know- 
 ledge which the Ancients had of India." " Such arbitrary 
 arrangements," says he in his appendix to that work, " of 
 the various members which compose a community, seems, 
 at first view, to be adverse to improvement, either in science 
 or in arts ; and, by forming around the different orders of 
 men artificial bamers, which it would be impious to pass, 
 tends to circumscribe the operations of the human mind 
 within a nan'ower sphere than nature has allotted to them. 
 The object of the first Indian legislators was to employ the 
 most effectual means of providing for the subsistence, the
 
 48 
 
 security, and happiness of all the members of the commu- 
 nity over which they presided. And this system, though 
 extremely repugnant to the ideas which we, by being placed 
 in a very different state of society, have formed, will be 
 found, upon attentive inspection, better adapted to attain 
 the end in view, than a careless observer is, on a first view, 
 apt to imagine." From the judgment of such a man we can- 
 not dissent without diffidence : his opinions ought not to be 
 combated without modesty. Yet no name, it is apprehend- 
 ed, can sanction such an institution; and we cannot but 
 suppose, that the venerable divine has been seduced by ex- 
 cess of candour ; or by an imposing love of paradox, from 
 which the greatest minds are perhaps least of all exempted ; 
 or by overweaning partiality for a favorite subject of study, 
 to become the advocate of a system, which condemns, irre- 
 trievably, the largest portion of the community, whatever 
 be the abilities and excellence of individuals, to ignorance 
 and to abasement ; which opposes itself to the benevolent 
 designs of the great Creator, and estranges man from man ; 
 which places insuperable barriers in the path of talent, of 
 virtue, and of industry, to prevent them from rising to their 
 proper ascendancy ; which entails a monopoly of honour, of 
 science, of power, and of piety, upon certain classes of the
 
 49 
 
 community exclusively, not as the reward of supenor en- 
 dowments, or of more sanctified conduct, but as their birth> 
 right inheritance, as the capricious allotment of human laws. 
 Than this, what] can be conceived more arbitrary and un- 
 natural ; more unjust or impolitic ? It is even unfriendly to 
 those classes whom it unduly elevates ; for it is calculated 
 to engender a certain esprit du corps, in its utmost strength, 
 inciting them to divide their interests from those of the 
 community ; fostering pride ; and operating against that 
 candour which, Avhile it adorns the character, is necessary 
 to promote illumination and moral improvement. With re- 
 spect to the inferior ranks, as it chains them down to a cer- 
 tain routine of drudgery ; so, by withdrawing all the public 
 rewards of diligence and of goodness, it represses exertion. 
 Who would think of instituting a cast of mathematicians ? 
 Yet the Hindoo legislation has instituted a class of philo- 
 sophers. Admitting that " the aiTangements of civil go- 
 vernment are made not for the few but for the many," does 
 it not deserve notice, that, upon individual genius, the illu- 
 mination, the improvement, and the happiness of the body 
 of a nation will often depend ? and ought not that to be 
 sedulously cherished, which may prove a public blessing .'' 
 But, absurd and injurious as this distribution of society is. 
 
 G
 
 50 
 
 having originated in the earliest antiquity, and maintained 
 itself unchanged amid all the revolutions of their nation ; 
 being incorporated essentially with the constitution of their 
 society ; familiarised continually to their view by its effects ; 
 forming the complexion of all their manners ; associated 
 with all their prejudices ; sanctioned by all their religious 
 feelings ; recommended by whatever has been wise, or ve- 
 nerable, or pious in their history or mythology, it must be 
 admitted to present an obstacle, the most formidable that 
 can be conceived, to the progressive improvement and ele- 
 vation of the great body of the people. 
 Stability of To it Avc may impute, in a great measure, that wonderful 
 
 customs. 
 
 permanency of Hindoo manners, which may be regarded as 
 another impediment. The descriptions of the remotest clas- 
 sical antiquity may be applied, with equal precision, to the 
 present times. On tlie costume of society in India, the 
 lapse of ages, and all the revolutions of their history, have 
 made no impression. " The same cast of manners has al- 
 ways prevailed in Hindostan, and is likely still to continue," 
 says the learned historiographer lately quoted. " Neither 
 the ferocious violence, nor the illiberal fanaticism of its Ma- 
 hometan conquerors, nor the power of its European masters, 
 have effected any considerable alterations." " Except,"
 
 51 
 
 says another elegant historian, " the single circumstance oi' 
 the pure primeval religion of India, which descended from 
 their patriarchal ancestors, having, in some melancholy in- 
 stances, degenerated into idolatry, no perceptible vicissitude 
 has taken place among this celebrated people, from the 
 commencement of their empire to this day. Whatever is 
 true of them at one period, is equally true of them at ano- 
 ther. The laws of the Medes and Persians Avere not more 
 unalterable. From age to age, from father to son, through 
 an hundred generations, the same unifonnity of manners, and 
 cast of character prevail, inexterminable by the sword, in- 
 corruptible by the vices, and unalterable by the example of 
 their conquerors." This circumstance, it must be admit- 
 ted, is as discouraging as it is extraordinary. Nor can the 
 attempt to alter long-established manners, be accounted less 
 hazardous than difficult. " Nations," as Montesquieu ob- 
 serves, " are more tenacious of their manners than of their 
 laws." They read and hear the one ; they feel and see the 
 other. But though the fact, to which we have been advert- 
 ing in relation to the Hindoos, be unpromising, the case 
 ought not to be accounted desperate. Some slight devia- 
 tions in dress, and in their household economy, with refe- 
 rence to the seclusion of women from public society, there
 
 52 
 
 is some reason to think have been borrowed from their Ma- 
 hometan governors. And, since our countrymen have ac- 
 quired the decided ascendancy, some instances of confor- 
 mity in the natives to their new masters, in furniture and 
 equipage, have appeared * : nor can there be a doubt, that 
 this spirit of imitation, if it be judiciously fostered by go- 
 vernment, will continue to be prompted by several circum- 
 stances, and to operate in an increasing degree. Indeed the 
 experiment, how far the manners of this singular people 
 might be changed, has never been fairly made. '* Customs 
 ought to be changed by customs -f;" but their ferocious 
 tyrants sought to revolutionise them by law and by force. 
 Milder treatment, the influence of other practices in their 
 superiors, and the power of persuasion, have not yet had 
 time fully to operate. Besides, have this neglected people 
 ever enjoyed the means of intellectual illumination, of mo- 
 ral improvement, or even of domestic enjoyment in a suit- 
 able degree ? After all, however, although the amazing per- 
 manency of their manners ought not to be regarded as an 
 insuperable, it may well be accounted a very formidable, 
 obstacle to their political progress. 
 
 * Robertson's India, App. note 2. f Montesquieu.
 
 5 
 
 Q 
 
 The last circumstance of this sort we shall mention is, Indolence of 
 
 temper. 
 
 " that extreme listlessness of spirit which marks their tem- 
 per." According to all writers, the vis inertice seems to be 
 a radical principle of the Hindoo constitution. Mild and 
 effeminate by nature, they are prone to become inactive : 
 patient and unambitious, nothing, except the calls of ne- 
 cessity, or the impressions of fear, will rouse them to stre- 
 nuous exertion : depressed by the institutions of an un- 
 equal policy, they have no generous motives even to laud- 
 able emulation : habituated, from age to age, to the state 
 and feelings of a conquered people, the Gentoos have con- 
 tracted a certain torpor of mind, and a total careless- 
 ness about futurity, Avhich are exceedingly unfavourable to 
 every plan of improvement. Unless mankind take inter- 
 est in those schemes which are formed for their civilisa- 
 tion ; unless they co-operate actively in their execution, 
 it were vain to expect their success. It is the running 
 stream, not the stagnant pool, that diffuses fertility and ver- 
 dure, improves the country, and purifies the atmosphere. 
 But in Hindostan we see only the stagnation of human 
 genius, a state of society perpetually stationary. There 
 is beheld the " waveless calm'' of the mind, the still scene 
 of life, a lethargic people listlessly submitting to their lot, 
 under all its painful vicissitudes : a simple race of men.
 
 54 
 
 content to vegetate on tlie soil of their ancestors, to be as 
 they have been, and do as they have done, without one ef- 
 fort to rise in the scale of nations, or advance in the career 
 of improvement. How insensible must they be to all the 
 ordinary excitements, which arouse mankind, and impel 
 them to action ! In vain you speak to them of an increase 
 of the comforts of this life : they have already enough to 
 satisfy their very limited wants or desires, and more would 
 only invite the plunderer. In vain you represent to them 
 the objects of an honourable distinction : these have no at- 
 tractions for men who have been always precluded from as- 
 piring after an elevation of rank, and are trained from ear- 
 liest life to acquiesce in their humble condition, as the un- 
 alterable decree of heaven. In vain you would allure them 
 by displaying the charms of science, or speaking of the sub- 
 lime excursions of philosophy ;^ — - 
 
 Lo the poor Indian 
 
 His soul proud science never taught to stray 
 Far as the solar walk, or milky way *. 
 
 " Knowledge, to his eyes, her ample page. 
 
 Rich with the spoils of lime, did ne'er unrol," 
 The 'numbing cast, with frost, from age to age. 
 Enchains " the genial current of the soul f." 
 
 • Pope. t Gray,
 
 55 
 
 To compensate for these discouraging considerations, Facilities. 
 there are others, of a nature pecuHarly inviting, Avhich the 
 preceding abstract may also suggest, and which ought not 
 to be overlooked. 
 
 The inhabitants of Hindostan are greatly removed from Partial re- 
 finement. 
 the state of barbarism ; are settled in fixed abodes ; collect- 
 ed into cities ; accustomed to regular government ; and ac- 
 quainted, in a considerable measure, with the arts of civil- 
 ised life. But to improve further those who have already 
 made considerable advances in civilisation, is a work obvi- 
 ously of much greater ease than to refine those who are al- 
 together savage. 
 
 Their character is extremely mild ; their temper submissive Temper. 
 to an extreme. They are not, like many other nations, par- 
 ticularly like the Mahometans mingled with them, irascible, 
 turbulent, vengeful. Now, this circumstance suggests the 
 hope, that wise and moderate plans of improvement may 
 be crowned Avith success, or, should they prove abortive, 
 Avill not excite insurrection, or produce those disastrous con-
 
 56 
 
 Similarity of 
 laws, &c. 
 
 Coincidence 
 of lanufuaaes. 
 
 History. 
 
 Character 
 and authori- 
 ty of our go- 
 vernment. 
 
 sequences, which might be apprehended in almost every 
 other case. 
 
 A striking uniformity of institutions and manners prevails 
 throughout the whole of the conquered territories. Thus, 
 while a variety of plans would distract the attention of go- 
 vernment, and probably interfere with one another in opera- 
 tion ; one general scheme of improvement will suit the ex- 
 tended empire. 
 
 The written language of Hindostan is universally the 
 same : the spoken dialects are few, and easily acquired. 
 Hence the means of communication are greatly facilitated : 
 a circumstance which may be highly conducive to union 
 of plan, as well as to steadiness and security of execution. 
 
 Long have the Hindoos been a vanquished people ; often 
 have they been united under one head ; for ages they have 
 been trained, by a severe discipline, to habits of subordina- 
 tion; and, if their prejudices be not rudely shocked and 
 their ancient policy violently assailed, it does not seem that 
 they will feel or resent, as an injurious innovation, any sys- 
 tematic plan of reform, which may tend slowly to revolu- 
 tionise even their whole state of society and of manners. 
 
 The dignified position which the British power now holds 
 in the eyes of the world, its commanding attitude among the 
 
 *
 
 57 
 
 states of Hindostan, will cause all its measures to be received 
 with respect ; and, if they are (what they ought to be) ad- 
 apted to the genius and circumstances of the natives, most 
 probably obeyed by them with readiness. 
 
 In fine, the present crisis, when the splendid victories late- 
 ly achieved must have increased the impression of the Bii- 
 tish name, and heightened those ideas of the skill and prowess 
 of our countrymen, which the Hindoos had been taught to 
 entertain, seems peculiarly favourable for the commence- 
 ment of this glorious undertaking, and for putting into ope- 
 ration those plans of improvement, Avhich, at any prior pe- 
 riod, the natives might have been more apt to resist. 
 
 Thus, encouraged by a variety of concurring circum- 
 stances, of a permanent or incidental kind, Britons would 
 be wanting to themselves, undutiful to their eastern sub- 
 jects, and insensible to the highest considerations, if, not- 
 withstanding the obstacles already adverted to, they did 
 not embrace with ardour the very favourable opportunity 
 now offered them by " the Governor among the nations," 
 and, to the utmost of their abihty, endeavour to promote 
 the improvement and happiness of so many millions " of 
 their fellow men, inhabiting those Indian territories, which 
 
 H
 
 58 
 
 Providence has thrown into the arms of Britain for their 
 protection and welfare *." 
 Presumed na- How wc may avail ourselves, in the best manner, of this 
 
 ture of the 
 
 plans thatare happy crisis, and of our great resources, is a question of the 
 utmost importance. If the author of this Essay has form- 
 ed to himself a just conception of the subject, the follow- 
 ing are the characters of those plans, which suit the cir- 
 cumstances, and ought to be adopted. Sound policy seems 
 to require that they should be practicable, not Utopian; 
 progressive, not precipitate ; gentle, not violent ; frugal, 
 not expensive ; liberal, not selfish or contracted in their 
 spirit; accommodated to present circumstances, and not 
 to any supposeable case which may occur in the course 
 of affairs. Let them be founded not on theory alone, par- 
 ticularly not on visionary speculation ; but on just views 
 of human nature, and, if possible, on actual experiment 
 Let them proceed upon the incontrovertible truth, (a law 
 observed throughout all the operations of nature) that great 
 revolutions are to be effectuated only gradually ; and that 
 important changes in the government, the manners, the 
 spirit, the views of any society, particularly of a great na- 
 
 * Jones's Works, vol. i. p. 150.
 
 59 
 
 tion, are not to be produced instantaneously, and cannot 
 be attempted, except by slow degrees, without the utmost 
 hazard *. Let us not forget, that if violent remedies, when 
 they can be avoided, are never resorted to by prudent and 
 skilful physicians, for effecting any great alteration of the 
 human constitution, analogy will exact from politicians the 
 observance of the same rule, in attempting to accomplish 
 those revolutions in the state, which they may project for 
 the common interest ; and that violence may often prevent 
 what gentler measures would have attained. Let it be con- 
 sidered, that plans which are showy, for that very reason, 
 are likely to be less solid : that magnificence is not to be 
 compared with utility : that, abroad, a policy which will 
 require for its support heavy exactions from our foreign 
 subjects, must prejudice them against it, and of course pre- 
 vent their cordial concurrence : while, at home, the adop- 
 tion of a splendid and costly system would most probably 
 be resisted, as incompatible with the interests of the Com- 
 pany, unjust to the claims of the mother country, and op- 
 pressive to the subjects of the British empire in India. Let 
 us, however, be persuaded, both that schemes of contracted 
 
 * Note I.
 
 60 
 
 policy, in an empire so vast, and where so much is to be 
 done, promise least of all to be efficient, because these evils, 
 to which no remedy should be applied, would counteract 
 those operations which might tend to remove others ; and 
 tliat, at any rate, what is selfish and illiberal, cannot com- 
 port with the dignity of the British nation, or the true ho- 
 nour of the British character. Let us, in fine, recollect, 
 that we are called vipon to legislate not for possible emer- 
 gencies, but for present circumstances : not to provide for 
 future occurrences, Avhich can indeed be anticipated, yet 
 may never arrive ; but to apply remedies to existing evils : 
 not to determine what would be proper, upon supposition 
 that the affairs of the Company were devolving entirely 
 upon the government of this country ; but to inquire, by 
 what means the former may, most speedily and effectually, 
 diffuse the blessings of civilisation (in the highest accepta- 
 tion of the term) through territories which their arms have 
 subdued, which they now claim, must for a considerable 
 period hold, and may for ever retain, as their rightful and 
 magnificent possession. 
 
 Transition to Qii thcsc vicws thc following suggcstions are founded. 
 
 means. ® '^'^
 
 His situation, 
 
 61 
 
 Much in all cases must depend upon the chief of the i. 
 
 Governor ge- 
 
 empire. And, from time to time, to select and place at "erai. 
 the head of aftairs in India a person of talents and temper 
 suited to the undertaking, is a measure of the most obvious 
 and essential importance. And he must be a man of no 
 common character. That, in the present state of the world 
 and of India, the station of a chief governor,, in that great 
 and remote province of the British dominions, is sufficiently 
 arduous, no reflecting person will doubt. But the adoption 
 of a plan of improvement, such as that country requires, 
 will greatly augment [the difticulties of the situation. For, 
 in this case, to all the ordinary cares of government, there 
 will be added the superintendence of a new scheme of po- 
 licy, which must of necessity have a thousand delicate bear- 
 ings, be liable to a thousand unforeseen obstructions, and 
 involve the operation of a thousand principles and powers, 
 means and agents, which are not easily formed, or excited, 
 or controuled. He, then, who is qualified to preside over 
 an empire so vast, and, while he watches over, the external 
 security of territories so remote, can carry into effect a sys- 
 tem of internal reformation so extensive and untried, must, 
 we repeat it, be no mean man. To the talents of a great 
 general he should add those of an enlightened statesman and 
 
 Character,
 
 62 
 
 e-reat magistrate. With a mind trained to hio-her views than 
 plans of profitable traffic alone can inspire, with a spirit 
 capable of more daring than they who have not been in- 
 ured to arms usually imbibe, he will be fitted equally to 
 conduct armies in Avar, or administer the affairs of govern- 
 ment in peace. He ought to possess, in an uncommon de- 
 gree, those enlarged and accurate views of the science of 
 ■ government, of the philosophy of human nature, of national 
 and local peculiarities, which may enable him to avail him- 
 self, in the best manner, of men and measures, to break in 
 upon long-established usages with the least annoyance, and 
 to new-mould a system most artfully contrived, most closely 
 connected, and upheld by innumerable prejudices, without 
 noise and without violence. Mindful of the dignity and 
 generosity appertaining to the character of a British gover- 
 nor, he should also feel a particular interest in that engaging 
 people, over whom he presides. Partaking of the spirit of 
 freedom, and rejoicing in those liberties which are the birth- 
 right inheritance of every Briton, he should account it his 
 glory to communicate this invaluable blessing to those placed 
 Administra- Under his Care, as far as their circumstances will admit. His 
 
 Uon, 
 
 intellect should be commanding and comprehensive. H is pro- 
 bity and approved honour should be a security to his consti-
 
 tuents, that his powers will not be abused. His abilities and 
 force of character, should be a pledge that, what man can 
 do for the good of the empire, he will accomplish. To others 
 may be left the care of the subordinate arrangements. They 
 may manage the routine of business, and the investments 
 of the Company: they may digest the laws, or dictate judi- 
 cial decisions : they may attend to the forms of court eti- 
 quette, and conduct diplomatic procedure : they may regu- 
 late the discipline of the troops, and arrange the details of 
 provincial administration. But he is destined to preside and uients 
 over all ; the soul of the system ; the potent arm that puts 
 in motion the whole machine of government; the mighty 
 master-mind that illuminates and controuls the whole ope- 
 rations in subserviency to the grand design. His presence, 
 by the efficiency of the means he employs, and the univer- 
 sality of his influence, should seem to be felt everywhere. 
 His hand, by the well-arranged energies of administration, 
 must appear always ready to reward the industrious and the 
 good, to protect the weak, to stimulate the slothful, to fall 
 upon the head of the insurgent and oppressor. And his 
 should be that rare adaptation of character and talent, 
 which will suit circumstances as they arise. For it is not to 
 be forgotten, that whatever abilities may have been display-
 
 64 
 
 ed in the government of India, (and these have not been 
 small) the an'angement and execution of plans of improve- 
 ment so complicated and novel as the circumstances of 
 that great empire demand, will, in all probability, require 
 that new talents and new energies be called forth into ac- 
 tion. 
 
 ^^' The external security of the empire is an obiect of pri- 
 
 ■Tranquilhty. *^ ^ J r 
 
 mary importance in itself: and, if not essentially necessary, 
 will be greatly conducive, to the promotion of any scheme 
 of amelioration. It is not amid the agitations of the tem- 
 pest, but under the serene sky, that the husbandman prose- 
 cutes his labours, or scatters the seed of his future harvest. 
 And, without that degree of tranquillity which peace creates, 
 or that confidence which adequate means of defence (under 
 Its necessity Providence) inspire, projects of internal improvement can- 
 
 and advan- 
 tages, not \yQ prosecuted by the individual, or by the government, 
 
 with sufficient steadiness and success. Not only does war 
 (though alas ! too often necessary) violate the laws of huma- 
 nity, but also induce a certain ferocity of character, and 
 divert the attention from those arts of industry, from that 
 application to mental and moral improvement, which are 
 essential to civilisation. To provide against this evil, Avill br
 
 6.5 
 
 a principal object of the policy of a wise and good govern- 
 ment. But it is obvious, that, in proportion to the extent of 
 the British empire in Hindostan ; to tlie extreme length of 
 boundary, unprotected by natural barriers, which it presents; 
 and to the juaiibcr of hostile, powerful, and restless tribes on 
 this open limit, nmst be the difficulty of maintaining peace, 
 and providing for the public safety. In the present improved 
 state of modern tactics, to dream of securing the latter by a 
 wall of defence, similar to that Avhich defends China from 
 the incursion of the Tartars, were as ridiculous as to environ 
 France Avith a bound-hedge, or Britain with a breast-work, 
 to defend them from external alarms and invasion. To com- 
 mit the safety of our empire in Indiii to a chain of military 
 stations, extending the whole length of the exposed frontier, 
 would be an expedient, if not ineftectual, yet extremely 
 precarious and expensive. The attainment of a secure tran- 
 quillity, however, must appear an object of the first import- 
 ance, not only to the stability, but also to the improvement 
 of our empire in the EasL 
 
 To what circumstances, then, must we look for the defence Means of ob- 
 taining it. 
 and tranquillity of our Asiatic possessions ? 
 
 That policy, which placed the domains of the East India 
 
 Company under the protection and controul of the state^,
 
 66 
 
 though originally resisted Avith obstinacy, and at last ac- 
 ceded to with reluctance, must, upon reflection, appear to 
 have been wise and salutary for both parties. On the one 
 hand, a territory so vast, a trade so rich, and in some of its 
 branches interfering with the interests of the mother coun- 
 try, mercantile or manufacturing, held exclusively by any 
 one corporation, must necessarily be an object of jealousy 
 to government, of umbrage, perhaps of injury, to the other 
 commercial interests of the country, and therefore require 
 to be put under a common controul. On the other, a pri- 
 vate Company being less respectable in the eyes of foreign 
 nations, and of resources more circumscribed, both more 
 readily invites, and is less able to repel attack, than a great 
 state. But, placed by the incorporating union under the 
 broad shield, and defended by all the energies of the Bri- 
 tish government, the East India Company assumes a digni- 
 fied and formidable attitude in the eyes of the world. She 
 is, what Britain is. The whole weight of the empire goes to 
 increase her respectability ; the whole resources of the em- 
 pire go to ascertain the permanence and safety of her pos- 
 sessions. This union, so important to both, and so greatly 
 subservient to the peace and prosperity of Hindostan, ought 
 to be sedulously maintained and strengthened. If ever a
 
 67 
 
 time amve, when this auspicious association shall be dissolved, 
 by factious intrigue on the one side, or impolitic concession 
 on the other, there can thenceforth be little reason to hope, 
 that a possession so remote, so enviable, and thus separated 
 from its great protector, will remain long either, in internal 
 peace, or in subjection to British influence. 
 
 But the political connection of the territories of the Com- Military 
 
 force. 
 
 pany with our powerful nation, will not be enough of itself 
 to maintain their tranquillity, or deter the neighbouring 
 tribes from acts of hostility. The immense distance betwixt 
 India and Britain will incessantly allure the envious and 
 restless to invasion ; and, without an adequate military es- 
 tablishment, and such arrangements for defence and for 
 avenging aggression as may appear formidable in the eyes 
 of surrounding states, the pemianency of our government in 
 India must be very precarious. A respectable standing 
 army, disposed in such places, and in such proportions, as lo- 
 cal circumstances, the spirit of the country, the temper and 
 views of contiguous powers, and the purposes of concentra- 
 tion and co-operation may require, seems, at least for the 
 present, essentially necessar}^ both to the security of the 
 empire, and to the steady prosecution of any plans of po- 
 lity which may be adopted. And whoever considers the
 
 68 
 
 small number of British forces in India, and compares this 
 with the immense extent of territory, with the vast amount 
 of the population, and the large armies that can be speedily 
 raised and brought into the field by some of the neighbour- 
 ing powers, will be satisfied, that our military establishment 
 in that quarter would require very considerable augmenta- 
 tion. Besides these scattered cantonments, a considerable 
 disposeable force ought always to be kept about the seat of 
 government, ready to act as emergencies require. This 
 measure has been adopted under other governments, where 
 the proportion betwixt the troops and the territory was very 
 unequal, and seems not only expedient but necessary in the 
 present case. 
 Conciliation This Is uot all. One of the chief means of security must 
 
 of natives. 
 
 be derived from the conquered or ceded countries them- 
 selves. Domestic disaflfection or rebellion is the most power- 
 ful allurement to external aggression. But a confederation 
 of states, a close and cordial imion and co-operation among 
 the members of the empire, opposes a formidable barrier, a 
 firm and compacted phalanx, not only to predatory incur- 
 sion, but also to more regular warfare. We speak now, not 
 merely of a political association, which may be often appa- 
 rent or nominal, and will prove, without the other, faithless
 
 69 
 
 and inefficient ; but of an union of affection and of ener- 
 gies. And, "with the view of cementing this amicable con- 
 junction, it must be the uniform object of all arrangements, 
 political and military, and of all the executive administra- 
 tions, not only to awe but to conciliate the natives ; to teach 
 them that it is at once their duty and their interest to sub- 
 mit to the reigning powers ; and to convert, by a train of 
 benefits, the law of force into the government of friendship. 
 A mild and enlightened, an equitable but energetic system 
 of policy must be pursued : a policy Avhich, while it does 
 not insult their prejudices, or invade their rights, may shew 
 that government has power, and will have the spirit, to cause 
 itself to be respected : a policy which will evince, that al- 
 though determined to maintain its own ascendancy, the ad- 
 ministration will never lose sight of those means which may 
 promote the best interests of their subjects. 
 
 While the government is thus upheld and fortified by its British set- 
 tlers. 
 
 own resources, and the affections of the natives, it may be 
 farther strengthened by the introduction of colonists from 
 Britain, That the scheme of colonial policy pursued by 
 most nations, both in ancient and modern times, has origi- 
 nated too often in accident, and been circumscribed too 
 much in object, is not to be denied. If foreign and un-
 
 70 
 
 inhabited districts have been peopled, it has been owing more 
 to necessity, to the violence of persecution, to individual 
 adventure, to narrow views of traffic, or to the desire of dis- 
 burthening a parent state of its overgrown population, or of 
 public nuisances, than to any liberal or enlightened consi- 
 derations of political economy. It is time that governments 
 should awake to a better sense of their true interests, and 
 avail themselves of those means of self-preservation, which 
 a judicious colonisation might aft'ord. Were some of the 
 vacant or thinly-peopled spots of Hindostan occupied by 
 British planters ; were suitable encouragement given to so- 
 ber, peaceful, industrious emigrants, to settle on its fertile 
 plains, which, on equal terms, would doubtless be prefeiTed 
 to the dreary wilds of the new world ; were the colonists 
 inured to arms ; were an engagement of military service, 
 similar to what the ancient feudal system exacted, to be 
 stipulated as one provision of the tenure, by which they 
 should hold their lands ; each of these scattered colonies 
 Avoidd prove a kind of open camp, each might repel preda-. 
 tory troops, and each, in succession, by continually inter- 
 rupting the progress of the more powerful armaments of re- 
 gular warfare, woiUd prevent them from over-running the 
 country, until a force sufficient to save the empire could be 
 
 3
 
 71 
 
 collected. In short, they would act as advanced posts of 
 a great army, spread abroad upon the face of the country, 
 the commander in chief of which would hold his head quar- 
 ters at the seat of government. An high authority, exactly 
 in point, may be adduced. " Sometimes," says Montes- 
 quieu, " one monarchy subdues another. The smaller the 
 latter, the better it is checked by fortresses : and the larger 
 it is, the better it is preserved by colonies *." Experiments 
 made not only in an adjacent country, but on the very scene 
 to which our inquiries direct our attention, by their success 
 amply confirm the suggestion of their policy. Alexander, 
 upon conquering Persia, established a great number of Gre- 
 cian colonies in that country. He pursued the same policy 
 in India. By these means so well were his acquisitions se- 
 cured, that, although after his death the empire was broken 
 to pieces, yet both Persia and Hindostan continued under 
 the dominion of the Greeks. And it is particularly remark- 
 ed by historians, that not one province of the former revolt- 
 ed ; and, in the latter, even the tributary kings whom he 
 had gained over to his interest by his humanity and benefi- 
 cence, as well as the districts he had subdued by force, re- 
 
 * Spirit of Laws, b. x. ch. 10. Vide Nole K.
 
 gi lance, 
 
 7^2 
 
 niained subject to one of those generals, who, after exhi- 
 biting an example of insubordination, calculated to shake 
 the fidelity of the allied or conquered provinces, by an 
 undeserved felicity slmred the unresisting empire among 
 them *. 
 Political vi- In addition to these arrangements for the security of our 
 
 empire in the East, other precautions, not of a character so 
 magnificent, but not less necessary, may be adopted. By 
 the expedients usually employed in such cases, a vigilant 
 eye must be kept upon the motions of those neighbouring 
 powers, whose friendship is dubious, or who are most likely 
 to be corrupted by foreign influence ; Avhom motives of re- 
 sentment or of jealousy, of pohcy or of restlessness, might 
 incite to aggression. In particular those intrigues with the 
 Mahrattas, carried on by a certain unfriendly European 
 state, who has long envied the extent of our possessions, as 
 well as the ascendancy of our influence in India, and is de- 
 sirous either of expelling us from that favoured region, or 
 sharing its riches with us, must be watched with unceasing 
 and jealous care. Taught by the example of the great Ma- 
 cedonian chief, we nmst also cement, by every kind office, 
 
 * Robertson's India, pp. 27. — 29.
 
 73 
 
 our alliances with such tribes as, by their situation, their 
 courage, their resources, their attachment, are most able, or 
 most disposed, to counteract the intrigues, and intercept or 
 repel the attacks, of our enemies. These remarks apply 
 chiefly to the Mahrattas ; and the above seem to have been 
 the views of policy Avhich dictated the sacrifices made to 
 the Poonali tribe after the late conquests : sacrifices which, 
 considering the power and vicinity of this people, appear to 
 
 have been both wise and moderate. But, with respect to Alliances ad- 
 jacent and 
 all the other country poAvers, should a steady plan of ame- 
 lioration, rural commercial and political, be pursued, such 
 alliances will be easily formed ; since it must soon appear 
 to be both the interest and honour of the adjacent states to 
 put themselves under the protection of Britain ; to form the 
 most intimate relations with a government at once generous 
 and powerful ; who, blessing her subjects and friends, is for- 
 midable only to her foes ; who demonstrates that she .knows 
 so well, both how to assert her own rights, and humble her 
 aggressors, — to defend her allies, and rule but for the benefit 
 of the human race. 
 
 The splendour of a policy so noble, will shine abroad, remotr. 
 and enable the government farther to secure the tranquillity 
 of the Company's territories by arrangements with distant 
 
 K
 
 74 
 
 powers. At length the importance of Egypt, as an avenue 
 to Hindostan, is perceived ; and all our interest and exer- 
 tions must be employed to prevent our enemies from regain- 
 ing possession of that country. The friendship of Persia 
 would prove a barrier on the west. On the east, an alliance 
 with the Burman empire would establish our security in that 
 quarter. The possession of the Cape of Good Hope would 
 give us, in a great measure, the command of the navigation 
 from Europe. Nor may it be accounted romantic to hope, 
 that, in the course of time, our settlement in South Wales 
 may be of essential advantage, in several respects, to the es- 
 tablishment and support of our empire in Asia. 
 
 III. Besides these securities against external aggression, which 
 
 Internal ar- 
 rangements, seem necessary to obtain such a measure of domestic tran- 
 quillity, as is essential to a steady and successful prosecu- 
 tion of any scheme of reformation, there are certain internal 
 objects of a general character, which will be highly con- 
 ducive to this end. 
 Order, Of these, order, being one of the most obvious, may be 
 
 first mentioned. There must be a certain concentration in 
 the economy of the empire. Nothing will contribute more 
 to tranquillity and success, than compactness in the consti-
 
 75 
 
 tution and administration of affairs. A loose and detached 
 policy, consisting of parts ill sorted or feebly connected, is 
 ever ready to fall to pieces of itself; and, amid such con- 
 cussions of society as may ordinarily be contemplated, es- 
 pecially in a new state of things, will probably soon sink 
 into disorganisation and anarchy. But a scheme of govern- 
 ment, intimately connected and harmoniously conspiring to 
 one object, promises, in the natural course of events, to sur- 
 vive long, and prove efficient. This concentration may be 
 local : and, in order promote it more perfectly, it is submit- 
 ted, whether the seat of government in the Deccan, where 
 the chief danger now lies, and where the bounds of the em- 
 pire have 'of late been most enlarged, should not be re- 
 moved from Madras on the coast, to Seringapatam, a cen- 
 tral city, capable of being strongly fortified, and the ancient 
 residence of majesty. An exactly organised system of com- 
 munication, betAvixt the capital and the remote parts of the 
 empire, Avould contribute also, in a high degree, to the 
 same desirable end. The hicidus ordo of detail, the metho- 
 dised, systematic plan, is as indispensable in the constitution 
 and administration of a government, as in the composition 
 of a discourse. To insure the effect, the observance of unity 
 of design and distribution is not less necessary, in the high-
 
 er departments of political economy, than in the plot and 
 incidents of a well-wrought tragedy. 
 Disclosure of To this cxact arrangement of parts may be added a gra- 
 
 plans< 
 
 dual and judicious developement of the scheme. In domg 
 this, it seems most expedient to begin Avith the superior 
 parts ; because these, being comprehensive and command- 
 ins in their nature and intluence, involve and secure the 
 lower ; whereas to set out, as the timid and impolitic are apt 
 to do, with trying the inferior, and thence proceeding to the 
 higher, is as if an army, in the face of an enemy drawn 
 up in extended line and expecting hourly the arrival of a 
 powerful reinforcement, should prefer the slow and succes- 
 sive mode of firing by platoons or fdes, to the vollied dis- 
 charge, which might at once achieve the victory *. 
 Cordial sub- Much wiU depend upon a willing subordination of the 
 
 jection of the 
 
 natives. conqucrcd provinces. Far indeed will a wise government 
 
 be from iniagining they have gained every point, when they 
 have only suppressed opposition, and extorted passive sub- 
 mission from their subjects. No ; it is not the stillness of 
 fear which produces torpor, but the tranquillity of satisfac- 
 tion, and of good order, that is favourable to useful and h.o- 
 
 * Vide note L,
 
 77 
 
 nourablc activity : it is not the death-like cahn, which fre- 
 quently portends the desolating tempest, but that pleasing 
 serenity which attends the higher order of operations and 
 enjoyments in the universe, and is conducive to the produc- 
 tion or display of all the beauties of the earth, of all the 
 splendours of the heavens, that good rulers will seek to create, 
 or delight to contemplate. But how is this pleasing result 
 to be obtained ? How is the cordial subjection of the natives 
 to be insured ? Those forces which are competent to repel 
 invasion, may also be sufficient, in ordinary cases, to subdue 
 disaffection. But, in executive policy, as in criminal juris- 
 prudence, it is better to prevent than to punish the viola- 
 tions of law; and, under a prudent administration, an ap- 
 peal to arms will always be the last resource, and very in- 
 frequent. i\nother measure, not less efficient, though less 
 obvious, than the terrors of a standing army, offers itself to 
 our adoption. It is the construction of cities in favourable 
 situations, to be occupied by colonists and natives, in such 
 proportions and with such privileges respectively, as circum- 
 stances may require. This is no theoretic suggestion. It 
 has been tried, and tried with complete success. Alexander 
 the Great, to whose policy we have already appealed, and of 
 whose talents as a statesman the world seem hitherto to have
 
 78 
 
 formed an imperfect idea, in order to consolidate his em- 
 pire, and controul or conciliate his new subjects, had re- 
 course unifomily to this expedient : " In every province 
 which he subdued, he made choice of proper stations, Avhere 
 he built and fortified cities, in which he placed garrisons, 
 composed partly of such of the natives as conformed to the 
 Grecian manners and discipline, and partly of such of his 
 European subjects as were worn out with the fatigues of 
 service, and wished for repose and a permanent establish- 
 ment. These cities were numerous, and served not only as 
 a chain of posts to keep open the communication betwixt 
 the different provinces of his dominion, but as places of 
 strength to overawe and curb the conquered people. The 
 farther he pushed his conquests fi'om the banks of the Eu- 
 phrates, which may be considered as the centre of his do- 
 minions, he found it necessary to build and to fortify a 
 greater number of cities. Several of these, to the east and 
 to the south of the Caspian Sea, are mentioned by ancient 
 authors ; and, in India itself, he founded two cities on the 
 banks of the Hydaspes, and a third on the Acesines *." He 
 who considers attentively the influence which such esta- 
 
 * Robertson's India, pp. 24, 25.
 
 79 
 
 blishnients arc calculated to have, will not be surprised that 
 enlightened and reflecting men have ascribed to this mea- 
 sure the wonderful permanency of his conquests, amid the 
 subsequent concussions of his empire. The same plan was 
 adopted by the Romans, at an early period of their history, 
 and, having been pursued from the commencement of that 
 astonishing career of conquests which terminated in the sub- 
 jugation of the world, contributed in no small degree to con- 
 solidate the extended empire. To its auspicious influence, in 
 uniting the vanquished with the conquerors, Sallust foicibly 
 alludes in the following passage : " Hi postquam in una mceiiia 
 convenere, dispari genere, dissimili lingua, alius alio more vi~ 
 ventes : incredibile memoratu est, quam facile coaluerint *." 
 
 This remark of the judicious historian suggests the ten- Acquired 
 
 confidence. 
 
 dency of this measure to promote another effect extremely 
 desirable, which may not have been so commonly noticed : 
 I mean its influence in kneading the divided community of 
 natives and foreigners into one mass, so as to create mutual 
 confidence. Men often require only to be brought together 
 to love each other ; and there seems to be a natural alliance 
 betwixt the gentleness of the Hindoo, and the generosity of 
 
 * Cat. ch. vi. p. 7.
 
 80 
 
 the Briton ; the valour of the one, and the interesting simpli- 
 city of the other. AVith correspondence of character, other 
 circumstances may concur to beget confidence. Sometimes 
 Providence puts it in the power of conquerors, by a single 
 act of humanity or generosity, to touch the finer sensibilities 
 of the heart, and to attach a whole people unalterably to 
 them. When such glorious opportunities are presented, 
 they ought to be seized and improved with avidity. So did 
 Scipio : and the result was more honourable to him, and 
 more propitious to the interests of Rome, than the most bril- 
 liant victory he ever gained in the field. But occasions of 
 such splendid beneficence seldom occur in the history of 
 human affairs ; and it is by a certain temper of spirit, train 
 of deportment, and tout ensemhk of character, that either an 
 individual or a government usually acquires confidence. Let 
 the magistrate then, who would attach the hearts of the Hin- 
 doos to himself, labour to support and adorn the native 
 character of Britons ; and study, by a wise and moderate, 
 by a beneficent and energetic system of administration, to 
 cause himself to be at once loved and feared. Let him 
 consider well the importance of this attainment, since with- 
 out it no plan of improvement, which involves the moral 
 and intellectual proficiency of mankind, can possibly sue-
 
 81 
 
 ceed. liCt him mark well the difference betwixt this confi- 
 dence, and mere passive acquiescence in his government. 
 Let him dread, by any impoUcy on his part, to inspire that 
 deep-rooted prejudice, Avhich may steel them against his 
 kindness, and cause them to suspect even his liberalities : 
 " Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes." Let him revolve, and 
 study to obviate, those unfortunate circumstances, which 
 might prevent him from conciliating their regard : that jea- 
 lousy, which is natural to a conquered people ; those vesti- 
 ges of the miseries of war, which tend to perpetuate aliena- 
 tion ; that abuse of authority, which may possibly exist, or 
 arise, in any of the departments of government ; and those 
 intrigues of the disaffected natives in the bosom of the em- 
 pire, or of foreign emissaries insidiously introduced, which 
 may be instilling prejudice or fostering discontent. Let 
 him, in a word, ponder, and be emulous to copy, the illustri- 
 ous character thus delineated by an admired historian : " Be- 
 neficio quam metii, ohligare homines malit; eiterasque gentes,Jide 
 ac societatejiinctas habere, quam tristi subjectas servitio *." 
 
 If, together with confidence in government, an interest in interest iu 
 
 object. 
 
 the success of the plans themselves could be inspired, every 
 
 * Liv. lib. 26. 
 1.
 
 82 
 
 thing might be augured from this happy concuiTence. Be- 
 fore the natives have experienced the benefit of their opera- 
 tion, this interest cannot exist unless measures be taken to 
 create it. Confidence in the administration of the govern- 
 ment may indeed contribute to inspire it, but an imphcit 
 confidence is seldom given to a government of conquest, at 
 least in its early stages ; and, though it were given, yet it is 
 an enlightened interest alone that can rouse the activities of 
 the soul, and give to a scheme the impulse of all the ener- 
 gies of a nation. By- a candid, though prudent disclosure 
 of the project, in its details and design, to some men of 
 rank, who stand high in the estimation of the natives, much, 
 it is evident, would be gained, ^heir concurrence would 
 probably be secured by this confidential communication ; 
 and, as any influence which they might exert to promote 
 the object, would be regai'ded with an unsuspicious eye, so 
 their example would have a mighty effect in creating a cer- 
 tain favourable bias among the lower orders of the people, 
 who are usually guided, in their feelings and opinions^' as 
 well as in their fashions of less consequence, by those wlidm 
 they are accustomed to admire and obey. 
 Co-operation Filially : carc must be taken to rouse the natives, if pos- 
 
 with govern- ^ 
 
 ment. siblc, to an active and strenuous prosecution of the views of
 
 83 
 
 government. Already has it been remarked, that a certain 
 original lethargy of sjjirit (much increased, no doubt, by the 
 uniform subjection of their nation) strongly marks the cha- 
 racter of the Hindoos. To awaken them from this ancient 
 and universal torpor, to an ardent pursuit of the new career 
 of glory set before them, must appear to be an object of 
 much moment. Nor is it less arduous than important. To 
 hold up to the public mind, in a light sufficiently attractive, 
 plans which it might be impolitic fully to disclose almost to 
 any ; to improve every favourable circumstance, in the cha- 
 racter or situation of a people, and in the occurences of the 
 times ; to awaken those latent principles of action, which 
 our benevolent Creator has implanted in the human consti- 
 tution ; to distribute rewards and punishments, in suitable 
 proportion and fomi, the sunshine of favour or the lightning 
 of wrath in their various irradiations ; to infuse a new spirit 
 into the body of the nation, and rouse a listless race from 
 the slumber of ages, — is an enterprise, which requires talents 
 and an attention that few possess ; a knowledge of human 
 nature, and an adaptation of human polity, that is rare in- 
 deed ; in short, (if we may be allowed the expression) a cer- 
 tain creative energy, that can be expected only in minds of 
 the first order.
 
 84 
 
 IV. In the body politic, the institution of its government may 
 
 Polity. 
 
 be considered as the heart, whence all the life and motion 
 of the system proceed. How this shall be modified in In- 
 dia ; or how its arrangements may be made most conducive 
 to the improvement of the subjects, must then appear to be 
 questions of primary importance on this subject. The inquiry 
 divides itself into two parts : First, A\ hat farther regulations 
 it may be expedient to introduce into the economy of the 
 ruling power itself? and, Secondly, If any, what improve- 
 ment can be suggested upon the system of government, pur- 
 sued in reference to the subjected states, who have been 
 hitherto permitted to live under their OAvn laws unchanged .'' 
 What done. I. Already much, perhaps all, has been done, that can 
 
 well be devised, to guard the pecuniary interests of the Com- 
 pany against the peculations of their servants, and to secure 
 the due administration of their immediate concerns in the 
 provinces, and in the seats of government. Nor are such 
 regulations to be contemned. They enter deep into the 
 moral character of the governors, and must contribute, in 
 no small degree, to the stability, the dignit}^ and the pro- 
 sperity of our settlements and conquests in that quarter. 
 Yet other measures, though not so iumied lately connected 
 with commercial aggrandisement, are not to be overlooked.
 
 H5 
 We have adverted already to the talents and character of Proper pr 
 
 (lent. 
 
 him, who may appear fitted to preside over this most exten- 
 sive and valuable appendage of the British empire. Tiiat 
 genius and abilities are confined to no class of the connuu- 
 nity, is readily admitted ; but it may be assumed, that a 
 spirit and views, suitable to a station of such eminence and 
 trust, are usually to be found, only among those who have 
 attained distinction by the exercise of their talents and \"ir- 
 tues in public life, or who, born to rank, have adorned here- 
 ditary dignity by personal excellence. The choice of com- 
 mercial men to fill the office of chief governor, may appear 
 most congenial to the character of the Company, and may 
 promise more parsimony in the expenditure of revenue; 
 but is not likely (in most cases) to give the greatest dignity, 
 or energy, or liberality and enlargement of view to the ad- 
 ministration of government. While the leger-book is ex- 
 actly kept, the record of public affairs may be sullied : while 
 the clerks are duly chequed, the enemy may be advancing 
 unopposed to the very gates of the presidency : while the 
 investments are regularly made, the honour of the British 
 name may be tarnished, the country itself may be lost for 
 ever. Who knows not that it is as difficult for the human 
 mind, as for the human body, to live out of its own element
 
 86 
 
 or climate ; to rise above its ordinary level in its actings ; 
 and to accommodate itself, with ease and effect, to nevr 
 habits and occupations. Minuteness of attention, and mag- 
 nificence of design ; the calm and uniform tenor of a life of 
 business, and the grand in exploit or the prompt and energe- 
 tic in military enterprise, are almost entirely incompatible. 
 Besides, it is of the utmost importance that he who is in- 
 vested Avith this high and remote trust, should, as a pledge 
 of his faithful administration, leave behind him in his cha- 
 racter, his fortune, and it may be his hereditary honours, a 
 deep stake in the mother country. 
 Tour. But, whoever be the governor, it may conduce much to 
 
 the permanency of the government, and the promotion of 
 the plans of improvement, that he be instructed, statedly, 
 and after an interval of no long duration, to make a tour in 
 his official capacity through the empire, attended with a 
 proper escort, and displaying an impressive majesty. Tliis 
 is an ordinance in China ; and might be adopted in some 
 other countries with good effect. Several salutary conse- 
 quences may be expected to result from this measure. It 
 would tend to conciliate the love and confidence of the na- 
 tives, by shewing that the chief took an interest in their 
 affairs, and, instead of immuring hin)self within the pre-
 
 87 
 
 cincts of a palace or the walls of a garrison, declined not to 
 trust himself among tliem, and to inquire into tiieir con- 
 cerns. By bringing all under his eye, frecjuently and uni- 
 formly, it would conduce continually to encourage the obe- 
 dient and awe the disaffected. And, by the influence of 
 his notice, and occasional remuneration, it would have the 
 effect of enlivening industry and exertion, of giving a power- 
 ful and frequent impulse to the course of public improve- 
 ment, in every place. Condescending, as a tribunal of the 
 last resort, to hear and redress the grievances of his sub- 
 jects, he would exhibit the attractive spectacle of majesty 
 attempered with humility, and encircle his character with a 
 lustre at once awful and amiable. 
 
 By the talents or exertions of one individual, however Co-operation 
 
 of other ser- 
 
 dignified or active, comparatively little can be accomplish- ^^"^^ ^^ ^^^ 
 
 1 .- i Company. 
 
 ed. If the other servants of the Company, in their several 
 stations, do not co-operate with the chief magistrate in the 
 good work ; if each, laying aside all selfish and mercenary 
 views, be not impressed with the consideration, that to him 
 is committed the high trust of supporting, by the example 
 of his obedience and public spirit, the dignity of the Bri- 
 tish character, and the energies of the provincial govern- 
 ment; if, lost to a sense of virtue and of usefulness, all.
 
 tons. 
 
 88 
 
 or almost all, think only of adding to their own gains, or 
 wallowing in the voluptuousness of eastern luxury, schemes 
 of civilisation the most judicious, prospects of success the 
 most flattering, cannot be realised, will end only in the bit- 
 terness of disappointment. 
 Preserve and Nor is this apprcheusiou altogether imaginary. It is un- 
 
 improve their 
 
 proper cha- fortunate, and somewhat surprisinaj, that, while the hardy 
 
 racter as Bn- r S' ' •> 
 
 texture of the British character has powerfully resisted the 
 influence of all other climates, and, like our native oak, en- 
 dured the fiercest extremes without bending, it should yet 
 have yielded, almost uniformly, to the insinuating blandish- 
 ments of Hindostan. In those who return fi-om other coun- 
 tries, you commonly see the original traits conspicuously re- 
 tained, though perhaps not a little modified ; but in the 
 eastern Nabob they are often effaced. He, not unfrequently, 
 brings back with him a certain squeamishness of taste, and 
 sickly sensibility of feeling ; a certain love of perpetual 
 gaiety without enjoyment, of travelling without curiosity ; a 
 dislike of home, and ennui of life, which are essentially diffe- 
 rent from the great lines of British temper, and render him, 
 among his countrymen at home, at once an object of sur- 
 prise and of pity. This fact shews, that there is danger lest 
 the bold and somewhat rugged elements of our national
 
 89 
 
 spirit, should, instead of assimilating the Hindoo character 
 to itself, be melted down into the softness of the country : 
 lest the voluptuousness of Hindostan should prove more 
 fatal than its wisdom or its valour; and, like the luxurious 
 ease of Capua, prepare the victors for being at length sub- 
 dued by those whom they had vanquished. Frequent emi- 
 gration from the mother country, and the rapid succession 
 of the servants of the Company, have hitherto contributed 
 to avert this event. But, in proportion to the stability of 
 the government, to its prosperity, and to the inducements 
 which are held out to a permanent settlement in India, must 
 be the strength of this assimilating influence, and the rea- 
 sonableness of our fears. To counteract this fatal tendency, 
 some new measures, it would seem, must be adopted. Let 
 government watch, with anxious jealousy, over the opera- 
 tion of those causes which tend to enervate the vigour of 
 the British mind, and so threaten to undermine the very 
 basis upon which the fabric of our power in that quarter 
 rests. Let promotion be the premium of maintaining its 
 energies unimpaijed. Sumptuary laws have been resorted 
 to by legislators, to restrain the influence of luxury, and they 
 may have some effect when enforced by the vigilance and
 
 90 
 
 remuneration of the public authorities. But such regula- 
 tions, like those which have been adopted in some other 
 cases, will soon become obsolete and useless, will serve only 
 to encumber the statute book, or at most to turn the cur- 
 rent of voluptuousness into other channels, unless, by the 
 example of the rulers, and the good sense of our country- 
 men in general, the aid of fashion be brought to support the 
 authority of law ; and unless the British, urged by every 
 consideration the most important, be persuaded, as a point 
 at once of honour and of duty, to guard assiduously against 
 the overpowering influence of those indulgences, which, 
 creeping insensibly upon them like a chilling frost, may be- 
 numb their vital energies, and at last induce such a consti- 
 tutional lethargy, as Avill prove the " Sleep of death." 
 System of go- 2. Let cvcry Briton remember that he is charged with 
 
 vernment as 
 
 it relates to ^jjg high duty of Supporting the honour and interests of his 
 
 the subject. ° '' ^^ ® 
 
 country, and that it should be his aim, not to bring down 
 his character to the Hindoo level, but to raise the national 
 spirit and institutions of that unfortunate people among 
 whom he dwells, to the high rank of those of his own coun- 
 try. And let the constituted authorities recollect, that a 
 British government, which shall surrender itself to the effe-
 
 any former 
 concession of 
 the British 
 legislature. 
 
 91 
 
 minacy of the country over which it presides, and be stu- 
 dious only to enrich itself with the spoils of the provinces 
 it has subdued, Avill deserve all those opprobrious epithets, 
 with which our nation has been sometimes so illiberally 
 stigmatised ; will disinherit itself of its true honour ; and, in 
 the language of Hindostan, lose its high cast among the go- 
 vernments of the earth. 
 
 With much wisdom Avas it resolved, that the inhabitants Changes not 
 
 contrary to 
 
 of India should be permitted to live under their own laws : ^'»<= *'P''"'' "^ 
 for, to change the laws of a covmtry is a perilous attempt ; 
 those of Hindostan are characterised by a humanity superior 
 in some respects even to those of Britain ; and it may be 
 presumed, that a constitution which lias stood the test of 
 ages, is, upon the whole, best adapted to the genius and 
 circumstances of that people among whom it has so long 
 subsisted. Notwithstanding, this resolution cannot be rea- 
 sonably supposed to preclude such partial changes as an 
 enlightened consideration of their polity may suggest, and 
 a due regard to their improvement may require. 
 
 This seems to have been contemplated by Sir William 
 Jones ; for he anticipates the introduction of a code, which 
 might remedy the many natural defects in the old jurispru- 
 dence of India, and, without deviating from its original cha-
 
 states 
 
 92 
 
 racter, accommodate its details to an enlightened and com- 
 mercial ao;e *. 
 Union of Disconnected states, or kingdoms which are but nomi- 
 
 nally associated under the same government, especiall}' 
 when a certain feebleness of character marks the whole, are 
 most liable to internal dissention, and violent disruption. 
 Of this remark the Mogul empire might be adduced as a 
 striking illustration. With this beacon before our ej^es, we 
 should be warned of impending evil, and admonished, that, 
 besides their accidental combination under the ruling power, 
 a political union of the detached native governments will 
 be an eligible measure. To give the plan of such a consti- 
 tution, or to delineate its ramifications, would lead us into 
 too minute a consideration of this part of our subject. 
 These arrangements must be determined by local circum- 
 stances, and by other peculiarities, with which those who 
 reside at a distance have not the means of being fully ac- 
 quainted. But a general convention of states, consisting of 
 persons of distinguished authority and influence in each, 
 (suppose the chiefs of the hereditary rulers,) assembled, 
 from time to time, with the sanctioji, and under the eye, of 
 
 * Pref. to Laws of Menu.
 
 93 
 
 the British government, to deliberate about such matters ol" 
 common concern as may be laid before them, might be 
 productive of various beneficial consequcnices. It would 
 assist in obliterating appearances of subjugation, which 
 must be ever galling in some degree to the vanquished. It 
 would highly gratify the feehngs of the rulers, and the par- 
 tialities of the people, who, in general, retain a high re- 
 spect for their native governors. It would cause the latter 
 to appreciate the advantages of union, and give them a 
 stake, in point of gratitude, of honour, and of interest, in 
 the support of that establishment, by which they should be 
 thus embodied. It would attach the hearts of the natives, 
 and secure their submission to the constituted authorities, 
 by giving it the appearance of obedience to their own rulers. 
 It would concentrate the administration of the empire, and 
 give it that compacted form of which it might be suscep- 
 tible, and which, as we have before suggested, would be 
 highly conducive to its security and interests. And, above 
 all, it would enable the presiding powers to avail themselves 
 of the wisdom of the native princes in forming their plans 
 of reformation, and of a more dignified and perfect co-ope- 
 ration in conducting them to a happy consummation. We 
 are sensible the apprehension, that such an association
 
 94 
 
 would afford the subordinate states facilities of combining 
 against the ruling power, might be urged as a formidable 
 objection to this measure. But this objection appears to 
 be more specious than solid. Assuredly, that they are not 
 constitutionally assembled, Avill not of itself prevent hostile 
 confederacies : and, since all their intercourse and transac- 
 tions must necessarily be conducted under the eye of the 
 general government, their being legally convened, when 
 duly considered, cannot be supposed even to facilitate such 
 conspiracies. 
 Present go- It might be expected, from the national character of the 
 
 Gentoos, that their native rulers would be mild in their 
 sway, and endeared to their subjects. Such is the fact. The 
 government of the Omrahs, Soubahs, Rajahs, &c. partakes 
 much of the patriarchal character ; and, though by the con- 
 stitution uncontrouled, is, we are told, seldom tyrannically 
 exercised. Each of them (genei'ally speaking) acts as a 
 patriot prince : each of them is regarded with reverence and 
 with love, as the father of his people *. Those territoi'ial ar- 
 rangements existing in India, similar to the feudal system in 
 Europe, which carry up the views of the subjects to the 
 
 * Dr Robertson's App. Disq. concerning India, p. S6S. 
 
 vernors.
 
 95 
 
 throne, as not only the seat of authority, but the source of 
 property, contribute greatly to confirm these attaclunents. 
 To tear asunder ties so intimate and sacred, by displacing 
 the Hindoo rulers, would be a measure violent, dangerous, 
 highly inexpedient ; and accordingly, by a wise policy, has 
 been declined. But the other extreme, which is probably 
 not less impolitic, has not been avoided with e([ual care. 
 To strip the native princes of their splendour, and of those 
 revenues which are necessary to maintain their consequence; 
 to reduce them to be mere pageants of state and shadows 
 of former royalty, is to make them appear, too obviously, 
 to be the degraded tools of foreign dominion ; is to deprive 
 them, however well affected, of all influence with the na- 
 tives, and of all power to promote either the British interests 
 or those plans of policy which have the progressive civiliza- 
 tion of the natives in view. While, then, they are intended 
 to serve as an intermediate link in that great chain of po- 
 licy, which binds the people to the presiding government, 
 let them not, by being spoiled of their hereditary emolu- 
 ments and honours, be so enfeebled as to be incapacitated 
 for fulfilling that important office, and holding together, with 
 sufficient firmness and dignity, the different parts of the 
 great system. Let not solicitude, lest they be exalted so 
 
 high as to be capable of doing injiu'y, induce us to de- 
 
 1
 
 96 
 
 press them so low, that they can prove of no essential ser- 
 vice. Anxious that they may not possess power sufficient to 
 disturb the tranquillity of the new order of things, or regain 
 their ancient sovereignty, let us also beware, lest, by op- 
 pressive exactions, and by bereaving them of every remnant 
 of their former greatness, we either inspire disaffection and 
 instigate them to rebellion, or, having stripped them of all 
 consequence, render them, if they maintain their allegiance, 
 entirely useless and idly cumbersome to our government. 
 Laws. That political, and even juridical institutions have great 
 
 influence in forming, or fixing, the manners of a people, is 
 readily admitted ; but, when sanguine theorists ascribe to 
 them an efiicacy almost omnipotent, forgetting at once the 
 history of human governments, and the character of human 
 nature, they only move our pity or our scorn. The trvith is, 
 that, except in a few extraordinary instances, both the ge- 
 neral system of policy, and the particular laws of every 
 state, have originated in circumstances previously existing, 
 and indicate a spirit already operating. This is the fact 
 with respect to the Indian legislation. It uniformly bears 
 the mild and discriminating characters of a race, inoffensive 
 and somewhat advanced in civilisation ; and seems to have 
 grown out of a state of things, which is known to have ex- 
 isted among that people from time immemorial. Every one
 
 97 
 
 may recollect the higli encomium bestowed by the celebra- 
 ted Montes([iucu 14)011 the criminal jurisprudence of Hin- 
 dostan. " The people of India," says he, " are mild, ten- 
 der, and compassionate. Hence their legislators repose a 
 great confidence in them. They have established very few 
 punishments, these are not severe, nor are they rigorously ex- 
 ecuted." — " Happy climate, which gives birth to purity of 
 manners, and produces lenity of laws * ! " The latter part of 
 this panegyric is not unmerited. Nor would it be wise in 
 us to alter the character of this division of their code. Even 
 any statute, providing a penalty for insubordination to the 
 new order of things, would be impolitic. It could give 
 no additional security to the established authorities, and 
 would serve only to remind the Hindoos continually, that 
 they were a conquered nation. Without introducing new 
 penal statutes, let it be the ambition of the government of 
 India, to assume, and, as far as circumstances Avill permit, 
 liberally to exercise, that high prerogative of dispensing- 
 mercy, which belongs to the supreme power. In presiding 
 over this interesting department of duty, the chief magis- 
 trate Avill have many opportunities of ingratiating himself 
 
 * Spirit of Lawsj vol. i. pp. 282, 283.
 
 98 
 
 with the natives, and of conciUating their affections to the 
 ruhng powers. Of these he ought judiciously to avail him- 
 self. " So many are the advantages which sovereigns gain 
 by clemency : such love, such glory attends it, that it is 
 generally a point of happiness to have an opportunity of 
 exercising it *." 
 
 Yet we conceive there are some important improvements 
 which may be made, either upon the distributions of punish- 
 ment, or upon the administration of justice. 
 More equal That partial and invidious distinction, in favour of the 
 
 legislation. 
 
 upper ranks of their factitious society and particularly of the 
 Bramins, which pervades the whole system, ought, in justice 
 and in equity, to be abolished as soon as the people are 
 prepared to receive the alteration. And, without trench- 
 ing on the integrity of a venerated code, it may be most ex- 
 pedient to attempt this innovation by a new provisionary 
 regulation, which, avoiding the odium of a direct repeal, 
 might serve as a directory to the proceedings of the courts 
 of justice, and thus, by degrees, insinuate the idea of an 
 equality of rights into the public mind, and introduce the 
 observance of it into authoritative practice. 
 
 * Spirit of Laws, vol, i. p. 112.
 
 99 
 
 " In every Pcrgunnah," according to Colonel Dow, " there Courts su- 
 
 tic'iary and 
 
 is established a cutchery, or court of justice." Let the go- ambulatory. 
 vernment, by appointing the most learned and deserving of 
 the natives to preside in these provincial judicatures, by 
 adopting and enforcing suitable regulations for their pro- 
 cedure, and, by securing adequate salai'ies, provide for the 
 dignity and independence of the tribunals, so that justice 
 may be administered in an able, impartial, and enlightened 
 manner. To these, borrowing a part of our judicial policy, 
 may be added the institution of circuit-courts, by directing 
 some of the most respectable of the judges, particularly of 
 that class of the Braminical tribe called Pundits, (with 
 whom the care of the laws, by the original constitution of 
 the empire, is specially entrusted) to make the tour of cer- 
 tain districts at stated seasons. Thus the people, having 
 the majesty of justice often, at least, before their eyes, would 
 be deteiTcd from the commission of crimes ; and, when 
 wrongs were done, the injured would have the privilege 
 of frequent and easy access to the proper courts for re- 
 dress. 
 
 The introduction of the trial by jury, if it was found com- Trial byjury. 
 patible with the safety of the empire and the genius of the 
 natives, would be another great improvement in the admi- 
 
 \ 
 
 i 
 t 
 
 •!
 
 100 
 
 nistration of justice. How much does Britain owe to this 
 admirable institution ! It is the palladium of her free con- 
 stitution ; and its glory, as well as its pledge of permanence. 
 Nor can it fail at once to adorn and uphold every system of 
 govenmient, into which it can with propriety be introdu- 
 ced ; and with Avhose spirit, and the temper of the subjects, 
 it may be found to accord. The bread-fruit tree of Britain, 
 it is a noble stock of British growth and culture ; and every 
 nation, among whom it may be planted and flourish, re- 
 joicing in its precious fiuits, will have cause to bless those 
 who shall convey to them this choice production of our 
 country. In the details of Indian juridical policy, we find 
 a singular approach made to the institution of a trial by 
 jury. It is required that the presiding judge shall be as- 
 sisted by certain persons skilled in the laws, and retain 
 at least ten Bramins in permanent fee for that purpose *. 
 A slight alteration would make the conformity exact. And 
 this, if accomplished, would contribute to rescue the Hin- 
 doos from that abject servility of mind, Avhich is a pro- 
 minent foible of their temper; and, by training them to 
 a spirit of more manliness, might, by degi'ees, create those 
 
 * Account prefixed lo Compilation of Indian Laws, by llallied, p. 114.
 
 101 
 
 energies of mind, and that force of character, of which 
 independence is the parent, but of which this etfeniinate 
 people are so extremely destitute. Whether it might not 
 retard and perplex the administration of justice, were the 
 trial by jury extended to civil as well as to criminal causes, 
 it is for an enlightened legislature to examine. Sir William 
 Jones, than whom none could be more competent to investi- 
 gate or decide the question, lamented the want of such aid in 
 his official character * ; but it is possible that the prevalence 
 of an overweaning modesty, or the partialities of a Briton, 
 may have too much swayed that enlightened patriot in ex- 
 pressing such regrets. Unquestionably India, forming an 
 integral part of the British empire, is entitled to a communi- 
 cation of all the privileges of Britons, as far as may be safe or 
 practicable ; and it is the duty of the ruling powers to 
 infuse into the system and administration of their Asiatic 
 government, as much of the spirit and provisions of freedom 
 as circumstances will permit. And, involving much of the 
 dignity and comfort of mankind, 
 
 Tis liberty alone that gives the flower 
 Of fleeting life its lustre and perfume, 
 
 * Works, vol. iii. p. 4. Vide Note M.
 
 102 
 
 And we are weeds without it. All constraint. 
 
 Except what wisdom lays on evil men. 
 
 Is evil : hurts the faculties, impedes 
 
 Tlieir progress in the road of science, blinds 
 
 The eye-sight of discovery, and begets. 
 
 In those that suffer it, a sordid mind. 
 
 Bestial, a meagre intellect, unfit 
 
 To be the tenant of man's noble form *. 
 
 Nevertheless, in politics, (as in some cases of morals when 
 duty is left to be regulated by circumstances) the quicqidd 
 oportet depends occasionally upon the quicqidd decet ; and, 
 in the above, as in other instances, the tendency of the cli- 
 mate to individual rule, the long oppression of the human 
 mind, and the recent establishment of British authority, may 
 render the immediate introduction of this institution inex- 
 pedient. Too sudden a communication of the blessings of 
 freedom, like an instantaneous effulgence of the light of day, 
 would prove hurtful. 
 
 But should any doubt be entertained, that the transfe- 
 rence of this characteristic glory of the British constitution 
 would be expedient, another measure, it would seem, could 
 not fail to be highly beneficial. I alhide to a connected 
 and minute distribution of the powers of the magistrates, 
 
 * Cowpet.
 
 103 
 
 throughout the empire, corresponding, in some measure to 
 that which is estabhshed in " hberty's cherished isle," and so 
 organised, that each, as he ascends in rank, shoukl be the 
 legal superintendant of him who is next in station ; and 
 all should carry up, in a regular gradation, their poAver, their 
 responsibility, and the accounts of their procedure, from 
 time to time, to the first magistrate. Such an arrangement 
 would bind together the official characters of the empire, in- 
 deed of the whole community ; and give the chief governor, 
 continually, a hold of their attachments, and a knowledge of 
 their affairs. It is thus that the various judges would not 
 only form a firm phalanx in support of law, of order, of sub- 
 ordination ; but, by their distribution, their character, their 
 influence, entering into the views, and obedient to the Avishes 
 of government, would powerfully promote such schemes of 
 amelioration as the latter might adopt. 
 
 Upon the body of the common law, as far as it respects 
 matters of civil right and trespass, little alteration, besides 
 what we have already mentioned, and what may be neces- 
 sary at once to accommodate the system to the new order 
 of things as it arises, and to bend it in subserviency to the 
 progressive improvement of the people, will, it is conceived, 
 require to be made. Upon inspeetioji, the institutes of
 
 104 
 
 Menu, and that compilation of laws wliicli was executed 
 under the- patronage of the late Governor Hastings, are 
 found to contain details, which, though often tediously, and 
 in some instances disgustingly minute, are yet founded, 
 except where the legislator was biassed by the partialities 
 of that unequal policy to which we have so often adverted, 
 " upon those great and immutable principles of justice 
 and equity, which the human mind acknowledges and re- 
 spects, in every age, and in all parts of the Avorld *." Who- 
 ever has read " The Comparison betwixt the Jewish and 
 Hindoo Codes," Avill be at no loss to which the preference 
 should be assigned : but from the latter, inferior as it is 
 to the Mosaic legislation, its due praise should not be 
 withheld : upon it indiscriminate censure ought not to be 
 passed. 
 
 The regulations Avhich require to be adopted in Indian 
 policy, must not only be in some instances supplemental, 
 but also, in others not less important, conective. There 
 are arrangements, both of institution and manners, highly 
 
 * Dr Robertson, App. Ind. Disq
 
 105 
 
 inimical to their civilisation, which must be rectified or re- 
 trenched. 
 
 Of" these the most prominent is the institution of casts. 
 Concerning the nature, the antiquity, and the injurious in- 
 fluence of this peculiar feature of Plindoo polity, we have 
 already spoken. 
 
 How shall this gigantic enemy of human improvement, 
 this Colossus of Braminical ascendancy, be overthrown ? — 
 Two methods oft'er themselves to our choice. 
 
 The cast may be abolished by a special legislative provi- 
 sion. But, when we reflect how long this institution has 
 subsisted ; how deeply it has wrought itself into the intel- 
 lectual prejudices and practical habits of the nation ; how 
 intimately it is incorporated with the whole system of their 
 policy, sacred and civil ; what high privileges it secures to 
 the superior ranks, especially to the priesthood ; what a 
 mighty influence they who ai"e thus most interested in its 
 support have upon the minds of the common people, parti- 
 cularly vmder despotic governments, above all in India ; and 
 Avhat a cheerful acquiescence the inferior classes manifest in 
 what they account the allotment of heaven — when we re- 
 flect upon these things, it may seem that an immediate and 
 direct abolition would be a perilous measure. Abrupt and 
 
 o
 
 106 
 
 revolutionary in a high degree, it would suddenly shock all 
 their prejudices, dissolve at once the Avhole fabric of Indian 
 polity, instantaneously convulse the established order of so- 
 ciety, and, exciting a mighty commotion, pi'obably ingulph, 
 and dash to pieces in its tremendous vortex, that power who 
 should attempt to direct the mighty movement. More than 
 mortal hand would it require to uphold a government which, 
 amid this vast fluctuation and collision, should appear to 
 have its basis " founded upon the seas, and set upon the 
 floods/' As the attempt to overthrow this institution, by 
 any authoritative abolition, may appear to be sufficiently 
 hazardous to deter a wise government from adopting this 
 alternative, so there is some reason to presume, that, al- 
 though tried with all this lisk, it would prove ineffectual. 
 Much of the success of any experiment in political econo- 
 my must depend upon its accommodation to the customs 
 and manners of the people, or to their modes of thinking. 
 To these every prudent legislator looks as to his most poAver- 
 ful auxiliaries. With these on his side, he may hope to pre- 
 vail ; unassisted, or opposed by them, he can reasonably 
 prognosticate nothing but ultimate disappointment. Such 
 in this case, there is cause to fear, would be the result. The 
 government might observe no distinction among the mem-
 
 107 
 
 bers of the different casts in their administration : but does it 
 follow that the people would at once abolish this arrangement 
 in their imaginations, or overlook it in their intercourse ? Are 
 not sentiments and habits too delicate, and too subtle, to be 
 changed by the gross application of compulsory statutes ? 
 Will the tempers and prejudices of a people obey the legis- 
 lative fiat ; and, like the spirits of the deep marshalled by 
 the rod of the magician, as we read in romance, move obe- 
 dient to the voice of authority, and arrange themselves as 
 the magistrate directs ? Or, can we forget how firmly this in- 
 stitution has withstood, not only the sapping influence of 
 ages, but the shock of successive conquests, and the vio- 
 lence of Mahometan despots ? 
 
 Hope and fear both forbid us to have recourse to this 
 bolder measure. A system of policy, less splendid and 
 daring, but also less adventurous and direct, seems more 
 eligible. This venerable and well-entrenched fortress must 
 be attacked by slow and silent means. If taken and de- 
 molished at all, it must be by siege, not by storm. But to 
 what circumstances may we look for its gradual, yet cer- 
 tain overthrow ? Christianity is already operating this effect 
 in a slight degree, by causing some, for the sake of a good 
 conscience, to despise the disgrace and inconveniences con-
 
 108 
 
 sequent upon tlie loss of cast : and, the greater the number 
 Arho do so, the more will the coercive energy of the system 
 be impaired, its terrors will become less formidable, and its 
 descent to ruin will be accelerated. Let then tlie progress 
 of this benign religion be promoted, and the institution of 
 casts will fall of coui'se. Let the rulers also, who, when 
 they use their authority well, will always have great influ- 
 ence in moulding the manners of a people, and regulating 
 even the arbitrary intercourse of society, shew, in all their 
 elections to places of power and trust, that the choice is in- 
 dependent of such distinctions, and rests alone upon consi- 
 derations that are personal, those of integrity and of talent. 
 Could some of the more estimable and popular of the high- 
 er casts, be induced to renounce the exclusive and fastidious 
 privileges of their orders, and mingle occasionally a\ ith those 
 of inferior stations, their conduct, if prudent, and accom- 
 panied opportunely with illustrations of the pernicious in- 
 fluence of the ancient arrangement, would have a powerful 
 influence both in abating the prejudices of others, and in- 
 citing them to imitate their example. The preferment of 
 some of the lower orders, whose abilities were cons})icuous, 
 and characters unexceptionable, if not to the functions of 
 religion, yet to the duty of instructing youth, to the dignity
 
 109 
 
 of magistrates, or to the honours of mihtary rank, might 
 have the double efibet, both of engaging them in the views 
 and interests of government, and of encouraging others to 
 aspire, by similar means, after such distinction. Even those 
 of the Pariars, who should be found deserving, might, Avith 
 the same design, be brought forward, and suitably employ- 
 ed. When these expedients should appear to have opera- 
 ted a considerable influence in loosening the firm cement of 
 this ancient fabric, its dilapidation might be hastened by 
 means more direct and forcible. Some of the exclusive 
 privileges of the higher orders, particularly those that were 
 most palpably invidious and unjust, might be Avithdrawn. 
 Encouragements mi&ht be held out to intermarriages. Writ- 
 ings, exposing the impolicy of the institution, particularly 
 as it depressesand injures the mass of the community, might 
 be dispersed. Express statutes might be enacted, forbidding- 
 regard to such distinction, in some of their most obnoxious 
 I views at all times, or to the whole on certain public occa- 
 sions, as on those of religious festivity, of which there is al- 
 ready one precedent in the customs of the country. Thus, 
 by degrees, the whole system would go into decay ; and these 
 political barriers, which a selfish ambition, or a perverted 
 ingenuity, have reared, forming a stiite of society the most
 
 110 
 
 unnatural and tlie most adverse to improvement, shall, like 
 those walls which Roman policy drew across our island to 
 sever one portion of the natives from another, either altoge- 
 ther disappear, or present only their scattered vestiges and 
 obscure fragments, as objects of antiquarian curiosity, or in- 
 citements to national gratitude. 
 
 While the attention of government is turned to the re- 
 moval of those injurious partitions, which separate one order 
 of the community from another, there is one class of the hu- 
 man race, who, in the extremes of political society, have 
 been always unduly depressed, and whose condition in In- 
 dia claims particular sympathy : We mean the female part 
 of the species. Amid savage tribes you find this interesting 
 poi'tion of mankind oppressed by drudgery ; in luxurious 
 and despotic states they are most commonly herded together 
 within the walls of a seraglio, guarded with jealous care, 
 and not unfrequently used, by their capricious and tyranni- 
 cal lords, with brutal barbarity. That the condition in which 
 Avomen are placed, and the manner in which they are treat- 
 ed, has a mighty influence upon the character of society, 
 none, who has considered the history of mankind with any 
 attention, will be disposed to deny. In countries where due 
 attention is paid to their education, with tlie view of ren-
 
 Ill 
 
 tiering them at once virtuous and enlightened ; where they 
 are allowed to rise to their proper level in society, and ac- 
 customed to mingle freely in the intercourse of life ; what a 
 zest do they give to the pleasures of existence ! what a de- 
 licacy and dignity to the forms and language of the social 
 circle ! what a softness to the manners, and what a fasci- 
 nating charm to the whole exterior of society ! But, in na- 
 tions where the cultivation of the female mind and heart is 
 altogether neglected, or injudiciously circumscribed ; where 
 women are used as beasts of burden, or as ministers of vi- 
 cious excess ; where they are depressed in the scale of so- 
 ciety, and thrown into the back-ground of the landscape of 
 life ; where they are forced to toil at the spade and the oar, 
 or immured in cloisters and harams ; — consequences the re- 
 verse of the above ensue, and there you observe, either a fe- 
 rocity of spirit and a rudeness of mind and manners, which 
 shocks the feeling, or a certain relaxation of mental tempera- 
 ment and voluptuousness of propensity, destitute alike of 
 vigour and of virtue, which moves your pity. The latter 
 part of this remark applies to the subject of our present 
 inquiry. In Hindostan they have never attained that rank 
 in society to which they are entitled, and to which it should 
 be the object of an enlightened and liberal policy to raise
 
 112 
 
 them. There jou see them confined like slaves, and trans- 
 ported from place to place like felons ; taught nothing but 
 the ai-ts of decoration, and inspired with no sentiment but 
 that of vanity. The laws themselves recognise their abject 
 state; and, descending from their dignity, speak of them 
 often in terms of contempt, of suspicion, of gross indehcacy, 
 and of opprobrium. But there are two circumstances, in 
 the policy or customs of the Hindoos, to which we wish es- 
 pecially to advert : the unrestrained indulgence of poly- 
 gam}^ and the horrid practice of immolating the favourite 
 spouse upon the funeral pile of her deceased husband. 
 
 AVhence the latter custom, so repugnant to the temper 
 and character of the Hindoos, and so anomalous in the ge- 
 neral system of their institutions, originated, whether, as some 
 have imagined, from a crafty design to preserve the life of the 
 husband amid the intrigues of faithless females, from some 
 motive purely religious, or from some occurrence which it 
 was thought proper thus to commemorate, might be a sub- 
 ject of curious investigation. But, assuming the fact with 
 its injurious and inhuman character, it belongs to our pre- 
 sent object only to ponder the remedy. The discovery is 
 not difficult ; nor is delicacy in this case necessary. Here 
 the lawgiver ought not to hesitate. It is moral turpitude :
 
 113 
 
 it is inconsistent with the first principles of humanity : it is 
 contrary to the genius of the nation : it is said to be going 
 into disuse : and let the practice be abolished by an imme- 
 diate and peremptory prohibition. The law itself, as if 
 conscious of its own enormity, dispenses with the sacrifice ; 
 but upon a most severe and impolitic condition*. This 
 dispensation is further counteracted by the promise, which, 
 in their mythology, is made to the fair victim, of an imme- 
 diate admission into the highest heavens, to dwell with 
 Brahma and a few of his first favourites. Hence the permis- 
 sion of burning is counted a privilege : " A Bramin once told 
 me," writes a scientific traveller, who had visited India, " that 
 his mother had been highly distinguished, by having obtain- 
 ed, as the reward of her virtue, the honour of being allowed 
 to burn herself with her deceased husband." 'Tis true, ac- 
 cording to Niebuyr, this cruel custom has been prohibited 
 both by Europeans and Mahometans ; but from recent ac- 
 counts we learn that it is still practised, and not a few are 
 sacrificed every year under the very eye of authority. Still, 
 
 The widow'd Indian, when her lord expires. 
 Mounts the dread pile, and braves the funeral fires ! 
 
 * Ch. XX. last sect. Halh. Comp. 
 P
 
 114 
 
 Let then the rule be rigorously enforced. Let it be ex- 
 tended to all the new acquisitions of the Company, and 
 made absolute. 
 
 The other practice to which Ave have alluded, is of an 
 origin less dubious, and, though in aspect not so inhuman, 
 is in influence even more unfavourable to the general in- 
 terests of society, and to the progress of true refinement. 
 Ib Hindostan polygamy is established by law ; and if the 
 common people content themselves with one wife, it is be- 
 cause crimes, introduced by this practice, and extremely 
 prevalent, supersede the necessity of maintaining more, and 
 because their extreme indigence cannot afford the means of 
 a large domestic establishment. Among the wealthy na- 
 tives, and especially among the Mussulmans, polygamy is 
 earned to the utmost extreme of licentiousness. It will ap- 
 pear hardly credible to a European, that some seraglios 
 have been knoAvn to contain hundreds, or even thousands * 
 of females, secluded from all the comforts of society, and 
 subjected to the capricious sensualities of an individual. 
 This institution is against nature ; for God, by creating 
 throughout the earth an almost equal proportion of the 
 
 * Vide note N.
 
 115 
 
 sexes, has, in the most unequivocal manner, intimated his 
 will, that only one woman should be assigned to one man. 
 ^nd it is no less against society. The history of the practice 
 has, in every age, been marked by mischiefs innumerable. 
 Distracted affections, or the total loss of them on the part 
 of the husband ; jealousies and contentions on the part of 
 the fair competitor ; destruction of the harmony and com- 
 forts of domestic society ; lasting feuds of families, with the 
 neglect of parental education ; voluptuousness on the part 
 of the rich, producing that imbecility and indolence, both of 
 mind and of body, which have long characterised the people 
 of the East ; the abasement of one half of the human species, 
 who are degraded into slaves of passion to the other half; 
 the frequent and often unnatural crimes into which the poor 
 are betrayed by this worst of all monopolies ; — such are a 
 few of the many evils attendant upon this institution *. But, 
 with all its concomitant mischiefs, so congenial is the prac- 
 tice to the licentious propensities of human nature ; so long 
 has it been sanctioned in Hindostan ; so intimately is it 
 connected with the fascinating pre-eminence of wealth and 
 
 * For the suggestion of some, and the confirmation of all, of these views, 
 the author is indebted to the late Archdeacon Paley.
 
 116 
 
 of honour, that it is probable no arguments could persuade 
 the legislature to incur the hazard arising from an imme- 
 diate abolition. To Avhat then are we to look for the reme- 
 dy of a practice which taints the temper and principles of 
 the individual, embitters the very source of social happi- 
 ness, and corrodes the vitals of public vigour and virtue ? 
 Whether the idea, connected Avith the practice among the 
 Hindoos, and recognised in their laws, that one of these 
 wives is the chief, might not be seized by the reigning 
 power, to invest her with such exclusive privileges, and with 
 an ascendancy so great, as to deter otliers from entering into 
 the household, — is an inquiry Avhich may merit considera- 
 tion, but which a knowledge of minute circumstances of a 
 domestic nature could alone enable us to determine. The 
 number of wives might also be restricted by a special statute, 
 or a tax might be laid upon their increase in a rising pro- 
 portion, and so heavy as would amount to a prohibition of 
 many at least. To mitigate the evils arising to the family 
 and to the public from the negligent education of the off- 
 spring, legislative authority might be interposed to sanction 
 and enforce the dictates of natural aft'ection ; and each wife 
 might be made responsible to the magistrate for the rearing of 
 her own children, who shoidd be committed, for this purpose, 
 
 5
 
 117 
 
 to her charge exclusively. After all, however, so inveterate is 
 this evil, so extensive is its prevalence in Asia, that, it Avould 
 seem, we can look for a complete cure only to the superior 
 illumination and benign inHuence of Christianity, Avhich has, 
 in so many other respects as well as in this, rectified the 
 views and reformed the manners of those nations amona: 
 whom it has happily obtained an ascendancy. 
 
 From the consideration of the general structure of the v. 
 
 Common 
 
 government, and of the subordinate arrangements of policy, ans. 
 we are naturally led to advert to the means of improving 
 those arts, upon which the subsistence and the comfort of 
 human life immediately depend ; and to promote which is 
 the primary care of every good government. 
 
 Of these the first, the most simple, the most important, is Husbandry. 
 agriculture. It ministers most obviously and powerfully to 
 the vigour of body and of mind. To it all the rest refer: 
 from it they derive the materials of their operations. " What 
 we call commodities," an ingenious author remarks, " is 
 nothing but land severed from the soil. Man deals in no- 
 thing but earth. The merchants are the factors of the world, 
 to exchange one part of the earth for another. Tiie king 
 himself is fed by the labour of the ox, and the clothing of 
 
 .^.■^^
 
 118 
 
 the army, and the tackling of the navy, must all be paid for 
 to the owner of the soil, as the ultimate receiver. All things 
 in the world are originally the produce of the ground, and 
 there must all things be raised/' 
 
 If agriculture be the nurse of the arts, she is also the pa- 
 rent of population, and the promoter of what is most esti- 
 mable in human character, or important in the condition of 
 human society. The labours of the field are calculated to 
 breed a hardy, an athletic, and a temperate class of men. 
 Without adopting the fanciful theory, that the heathen le- 
 gends were altogether allegorical, we may be permitted to 
 suppose, that the poets did not, without an important mean- 
 ing, assign the culture of the earth as the appropriate em- 
 ployment of mankind during the golden age, the reign of 
 peace, of innocence, and of happiness. No one can be ig- 
 norant of the influence of this occupation upon the ancient 
 Romans, and how it conduced to the aggrandisement of the 
 republic. Not only were her armies formed and recruited 
 from the fields ; her legislators, her generals, her dictators, 
 were often called from the plough to preside in the senate, 
 or lead forth the levies to victory, or save their country in 
 the most perilous crisis. In our own country, no classes of 
 the community are more respectable, independent, and en-
 
 119 
 
 lightened, than the yeomen of England and the peasantry 
 in Scotland. As they promote the fixed wealth, so tiiey con- 
 stitute a considerable portion of the aggregate wisdom, vir- 
 tue, and valour of the nation. 
 
 Than Hindostan, no region on earth more powerfully in- 
 vites, or more liberally rewards, the industry of the hus- 
 bandman. Genial in climate, and rich in soil, its fertility 
 has been proverbial from age to age. The Panjab in the 
 interior, and the plains of the Ganges toward the coast, 
 have been celebrated by all writers from classical times; 
 and if, owing to the want of foreign commerce, or the fruit- 
 fulness of neighbouring kingdoms, India has not proved, like 
 Egypt, the granary of the Avorld, it may yet be entitled to 
 the appellation bestowed upon it by Persian writers, " the 
 paradise of nations." But, with all its natural advantages, 
 the state of agriculture in this country is extremely rude. 
 To this imperfection of the primary art of life, various causes 
 have contributed. Necessity is the mother of invention ; 
 and it is not in countries Avhich yield a plentiful produce 
 almost spontaneously, but in those which are comparatively 
 barren, and Avhere the inhabitants are compelled to wring, 
 by skill and industry, from niggard nature, the wealth she 
 
 does not easily bestow ; it is in the latter that the culture of 
 
 1
 
 120 
 
 tlie soil has been carried to the highest degree of perfection, 
 Britain, placed under a sky by no means propitious, and 
 possessing a soil originally far fi'om prolific, surpasses all the 
 world in the arts of husbandry *. Besides, in India, the 
 husbandman wants those encouragements to increasing ex- 
 ertion and ingenuity, which arise from a home consumption 
 greater at all times than the supply, and from ready access 
 to a near foreign market ; the former of which incitements 
 is always, and the latter is occasionally, felt in this country. 
 Above all, the depressed condition of the peasantry -f, who, 
 by the impolitic arrangement of the casts, are herded toge- 
 ther in the lowest class of society except one ; the want of 
 capital ; the deductions made in kind by the proprietor and 
 zemindar |., which, being undetermined, are ever liable to be 
 raised ; the inactive character of the nation ; the simple 
 manner in Avhich the natives subsist ; the privation of ani- 
 mal food enjoined by their superstition ; the want of fences 
 and roads ; and the unsettled state of the country, have 
 operated as obstructions to the progress of agriculture in 
 Hindostan. 
 
 Some of these evils suggest their own remedy, and to 
 
 * Vide Note O. f Vide Note P. J Vide Note Q.
 
 121 
 
 others, expedients already proposed will apjjly. But to 
 meet the case fully, additional measures will be necessary. 
 Let the government shew that they hold the Ryot in high 
 estimation, and that he possesses, in their view, an honour- 
 able rank among the members of the community. Let him 
 be exempted, by a commutation ui money, from those ex- 
 actions in kind, which, wherever they may have existed, 
 under whatever name, have still retarded the progress of 
 agricultural unprovement. Let him be encouraged with 
 the sense of full security in holding his property, and the 
 assurance of reaping the entire fruits of his labours. Let 
 him be furnished also with those superior instruments of 
 husbandry, suited to his soil and climate, Avhich the skill of 
 our agriculturists has invented. And, if some of the latter 
 are invited, by adequate rewards, to settle in Hindostan, 
 and teach the simple natives the use of these implements, 
 together with the application of manures, the succession of 
 crops, particularly the advantages of green ci'ops, in short, 
 the practical details of our husbandry, the happiest effects 
 might ensue. With improvement, population, and home- 
 consumption, the demand would all necessarily increase; and 
 markets might be established, in various places, for the fa- 
 cilities of interchange or of sale. Premiums for superior ex- 
 
 Q
 
 eellence in the art, which, at a small expence, have, of late 
 3^ears, produced a wonderful rivalship, and a rapid improve- 
 ment throughout this country, might also be proposed and 
 awarded in a public and impressive manner. And, as the 
 ancient Romans were accustomed to introduce into their 
 sj^stem of warfare every military practice, or add to their own 
 accoutrements every piece of armour, which they could bor- 
 row with advantage even from their enemies, so it could not 
 be justly conceived as either derogatory to the wisdom, or be- 
 neath the dignity of a British governor, to imitate the example 
 of the princes of Persia in former times, or of the emperor of 
 China in our day, in bestowing an honourable notice upon 
 the state of agriculture in his dominions, and conferring 
 suitable rewards upon those who may attain eminence in an 
 art of such national importance and utility. The historical 
 relations of China mention a ceremony of opening the 
 grounds, which the emperor performs every year. " The 
 design of this public and solemn act, is to excite the people 
 to tillage. Farther, the emperor is informed every year of 
 the husbandman who has distinguished himself most in his 
 profession, and he makes him a mandarin of the eighth or- 
 der. Among the ancient Persians, the kings quitted their 
 grandeur and pomp on the 8th day of the month called
 
 123 
 
 Chorremruz, to eat Avith the husband men. Several of the 
 kings of India," adds the author from -whom this collection 
 of facts is quoted, " also do the same, and Venty, the third 
 emperor of the third dynasty, (in China) tilled the land him- 
 self, and made the empress and his Avives employ their time 
 in the silk works in his palace */' 
 
 Perhaps the encouragement and extension of agriculture 
 in the present state of Hindostan may seem unnecessary, 
 since the land easily produces enough to supply the inhabi- 
 tants, and little is required for exportation. But it ought 
 not to be forgotten, that a healthy and a virtuous populace 
 constitute the real strength of a state, while it has already 
 appeared, that the practice of this art is intimately connec- 
 ted Avith the energy of human character, and favourable to 
 purity of manners, as Avell as to the first interests of so- 
 ciety in other vicAvs ; so that every facility given to its ope- 
 rations, every honour conferred upon those Avho excel in it, 
 while it contributes to the respectability and happiness of 
 the husbandman, Avill also promote, in an high degree, both 
 the civilisation of the individual, and the improvement of 
 the nation. The country is by no means so fully cultivated 
 
 * Moat. vol. i. book 14. ch. S.
 
 124 
 
 iis it might be. According to recent accounts, a very con- 
 siderable proportion of the whole tenitory is still in the rude 
 state of nature, an unproductive and impenetrable jungle, 
 the haunts of beasts of prey, and of all manner of noxious 
 animals *. OAving at once to the unskilfulness and impro- 
 vidence of the natives, famine, which, with a more judicious 
 cvilture and better economy, might, in all ordinary cases, be 
 easily prevented in a region so fertile, is far from being un- 
 common. Populous as it is, Hindostan, by reason of its de- 
 fective agriculture, is not nearly so well peopled as China : 
 but, as no axiom in mathematics can be more certain than 
 this, that a country in time will people up to its resources ; 
 were the state of husbandry improved, the necessaries of 
 life would increase, the population would be augmented, 
 and, at the same time, the empire aggrandised. Though no 
 such effects should be supposed to follow, yet if, by the su- 
 perior skill of the labourer, and the improvement of his in- 
 struments, more work could be done, and the supports of 
 existence reared with fewer hands, a greater proportion of 
 the effective labour of the community might be transferred 
 to other kinds of lural occupation, which are not at present 
 
 * Bapt. Mag. No. I. 74. According to the writer of the report, no less 
 than one-sixth of the whole country is still in this slate.
 
 125 
 
 prosecuted to all that extent to which they may be carried. 
 Among these we may mention the culture of silk, cotton^ 
 indigo, opium, sugar, and tobacco. More also of the skill 
 and productive strength of the nation might be applied to 
 the mechanic arts, and to the staple manufactures of the 
 country. 
 
 The state of the latter, growing naturally and immediate- 
 ly out of the parent art, next claims our attention. 
 
 That art which contributes to protect the human frame Otiier com- 
 mon arts. 
 
 from the injury of the elements, forms the domestic circle, 
 affords security to this most interesting society, and enables 
 them in tranquillity to enjoy all the tender charities of life, 
 cannot be considered as unimportant. But, in Hindostan, 
 Architecture is confessedly in a rude state. Notwithstanding Architecture. 
 some magnificent monuments of its progress in former ages, 
 exhibited in palaces, mausoleums, pagodas, and other pub- 
 lic edifices, the general style of building is mean, and the 
 huts of the peasantry are as miserable as can well be ima- 
 gined. Far from roomy, lightsome, convenient, and health- 
 ful, they are constructed, in general, of the coarsest or slight- 
 est materials, combined in a rude and simple manner, with- 
 out windows, or with frames without glass, frequently almost
 
 126 
 
 without walls, low, confined, damp, and dark *. In some 
 countries the want of suitable houses arises from the im- 
 practicability of obtaining materials to construct them ; in 
 others, not so much from this deficiency, as from unskil- 
 fulness in the arts of applying them. The latter is the case 
 in India. 'Tis true, in a flat country, quarries of stone 
 are not to be expected ; but the mould and the climate af- 
 ford everywhere the means of making bricks, and the forests 
 supply abundance of timber, which is both uncommonly 
 lasting and susceptible of a fine polish. To excite and as- 
 sist the genius of the natives in improving these materials, 
 workers in brick, house-carpenters, &c. might be invited, by 
 the allotment of certain privileges, as Avell as by the pro- 
 spect of great gains in their professional labours, to settle in 
 Hindostan. For the sake of example, the buildings reared 
 by the government, such as those that may be required, in 
 various parts, for their auxiliaries in the great work of civi- 
 lisation, or for the tenants upon their particular demesneSj 
 should be of a superior kind. For encouragement, mate- 
 rials might be afforded in some cases gratis, or furnished, 
 to a certain extent in all, free of expence ; and premiums 
 
 * Dr Tennant, Ind. Rccic. vol. i. IQ'l, &c.
 
 127 
 
 might be given to those who take the lead in this species of 
 pubHc improvement. After all, however, it is to the pro- 
 gress of public industry and opulence that we must look as 
 the chief mean of creating a taste and exciting a spirit for 
 this, as well as for the other elegances of life. One part of 
 our own country may be adduced as an example. For ages 
 the style of common building in Scotland continued nearly 
 stationary; but at length, when the happy influence of the 
 Union upon the peaceful arts of life began to be strongly. 
 felt, and trade had diffused a greater portion of wealth 
 throughout the mass of the community, all ranks hastened 
 to vie with one another in architectural improvement. Then 
 those hovels, in which the lower orders had burrowed for 
 ages, Avith their walls of mud, or turf, or unplastered stone, 
 began to disappear: proprietors of lands contended with 
 each other in the extent of those domestic accommodations, 
 which were held out as an inducement to settle on their 
 estates ; and now, everywhere, the habitations of the te- 
 nantry are assuming the appearance, if not of elegance, 
 yet of cleanness, of snug comfort, and of increased conve- 
 niency. 
 
 That a similar result might be anticipated with sufficient Ship-buiid- 
 
 ing. 
 
 confidence in India, may be infeiTed from the improvement
 
 128 
 
 they have already made in the collateral art of naval archi- 
 tecture. Nothing could be more rude than the craft which 
 formerly navigated their rivers, and the seas around their 
 coasts ; but, taught by British skill, the natives make excel- 
 lent ship-wrights ; and some of the finest vessels in our navy 
 have been built in Hindostan. We have not yet availed 
 ourselves fully of the naval resources of this most valuable 
 acquisition. Were public docks and arsenals constructed 
 in commodious places, those immense forests of teak with 
 which this country, and especially the neighbouring king- 
 doms of Malacca and Siam abound, might be converted to 
 much public utility. A portion of the overflowing popula- 
 tion of this vast region might be advantageously employed 
 to augment the bulwarks of our country : while the hardy 
 oak of Britain is disappearing, an inexhaustible supply of a 
 wood equally excellent might be procured from the eastern 
 peninsula, or from Hindostan ; and those sunderbunds which 
 now deform the face of the latter in many districts, being 
 cleared, might soon be converted into productive land, and 
 adorned with the dwellings of a happy peasantry *. 
 
 Deficient in architecture, it cannot be expected that in 
 
 * Vide Note "R.
 
 129 
 
 some of the sister arts, whose productions increase the com- 
 forts of Hfc, and adorn the interior of the habitation, the 
 Hindoos should excel. For the manufactures of pottery, in- 
 deed, their country affords the principal material ; but, al- 
 though they fabricate earthen ware, yet they are far from 
 having reached that variety, expedition, and elegance, which 
 the artists of this country have attained *. Timber for the 
 various kinds of cabinet and carpenter's Avork, of the most 
 excellent qualities, they possess in abundance ; but their 
 tools are rude, and their workmen inexpert. In all the me- 
 chanic arts (except in a few solitary instances, such as in 
 works of ivory and in the cutting of precious stones *j-,) they 
 are greatly inferior, both in skill and execution, to the work- 
 men of Europe. In these cases it is fitting that the natives 
 should be enabled to avail themselves of the advantages 
 which their country presents, and that they should be sti- 
 mulated and aided by the superior ingenuity of British ar- 
 tisans. In some manufactures, however, they cannot be ex- 
 pected to attain eminence. Greatly destitute as their country 
 is of the coarser metals, of tin, copper J, and iron, they can 
 never hope to rival Britain in these important productions, 
 
 » Vide Note S. f Vide Note T. + Vide Note U.
 
 130 
 
 of which those are the materials, nor to cany to so high a 
 degree of perfection most of the handicraft trades, the tools 
 of which they supply. Yet let not the high-favoured inha- 
 bitants of India repine. Let them (amply endowed as they 
 are) submit cheerfully to that Avise and beneficent an-ange- 
 ment of Providence, which has ordained, that no country 
 on earth should produce every single comfort and necessary 
 of life, in such abundance or excellence as it may be found 
 in some other region ; and thvis indicated the intention of 
 heaven, that, by an exchange of commodities and the inter- 
 course of commerce, mankind everywhere should cultivate 
 union, and, urged by their common wants, incessantly mi- 
 nister to their mutual happiness. Let them avail them- 
 selves of the many valuable productions which their coun- 
 try so plentifully supplies, to trade in the general mart of 
 nations, and bless the great commonwealth of mankind with 
 an increase of the comforts of life. Let them apply assi- 
 duously to the cultivation of those commodities (the appro- 
 priate labour assigned them by Providence) ; and, while they 
 enjoy their grain and fruits in such variety and abiuidance, 
 with their sugar, their silk, their indigo, their cotton, their 
 mines of diamonds, and fisheries of pearls, let them not envy 
 other nations the advantages which may be derived fyom
 
 131 
 
 more hardy, though less luxuriant crops ; or from more use- 
 ful, though apparently less valuable metals and minerals. 
 Let them not grudge to barter a portion of their superfluous 
 produce, for the more ingenious and effective tools Avhich 
 our artists prepare, or for those more elegant and compli- 
 cated pieces of mechanism, Avhich they are enabled to con- 
 struct and execute, Avith singular beauty and accuracy. 
 Thus, Avith able instructors, with improved tools and excel- 
 lent models, Hindoo genius may approach nearer perfection 
 in many of the mechanic arts * ; and if in some, the scanty 
 materials which nature affords continue to preclude com- 
 petition, the natives of India, in return for those valuable 
 exports which her superabundant bounty in other respects 
 supplies, may furnish themselves amply from foreign mar- 
 kets, with whatever may minister to the comfort or to the 
 elegance of domestic accommodations. 
 
 Whether the art of weaving -f-, and the manufacture of 
 cottons, should be referred to the department of the mecha- 
 nic arts, or of commerce, may be doubtful. On the one 
 hand, this branch of labour is unquestionably conducted on 
 the principles of mechanics, and accordingly might be rank- 
 
 * Vide Note X. t Vide Note Y.
 
 132 
 
 ed amons the handicraft trades : on the other, it forms, as 
 every one knows, the principal export of India, and so may 
 be classed under the head of commerce. Of the excellence 
 of this production of the eastern loom, all the ladies of Eu- 
 rope, even in manufacturing countries, by their decided 
 preference and panegyTic, loudly testify*. Whence this 
 superiority arises, considering the rude and simple manner 
 in which the materials are prepared and put together, can- 
 not be easily ascertained. A late writer -f ascribes it to an 
 extreme niceness of touch, which he imagines the Hindoo 
 derives from the delicacy of his constitution, and the tem- 
 perance of his habits. Two facts in the history of this en- 
 vied production may convince us, that the fabric has not 
 reached that height of excellence, or of expedition in the 
 mode of its manufacture, Avhich it might attain. Being fabri- 
 cated chiefly in the rainy season, it is only an occasional job : 
 and so simple is the machinery employed, that the workman 
 erects his loom in the mornmg under the shade of a banyan, 
 and in the evening takes it down and caiTies it home. The 
 consequence is what might have been anticipated. The su- 
 periorit}'^ of the results of this temporary and simple process, 
 
 * Vide Note Z. t I>r Tennant.
 
 1 QQ 
 
 )0 
 
 consists, not in the fineness of the thread or the uniformity 
 of the texture, (for in both these it is exeelled by the Bri- 
 tish manufacture) but in circumstances, partly at least local 
 and accidental, viz. the durability of the colour, and the 
 elegant glossiness of the fabric. But if, with all the disad- 
 vantages under which he labours from an imperfect know- 
 ledge of machinery', the Indian manufacturer has obtained 
 a preference for his muslins, even at a higher price, and in a 
 far distant market, how unrivalled might be his practical 
 excellence, how decided his commercial triumph, were he 
 enabled to avail himself of all the advantages of European 
 invention ! Whether the British government ought, in sound 
 policy, to assist him in attaining such an ascendancy, at the 
 expence of an home manufacture, which employs so many 
 useful ha-nds, in which so much of the monied interest of 
 the country is embarked, and which procures such returns 
 from abroad, may justly " demand a doubt." Whether there 
 could be found, among any considerable proportion of the 
 natives, capital sufficient to embark in extensive undertak- 
 ings, may also be doubted. But that situations for erectmg 
 spinning machinery could easily be found, in a country- 
 abounding with rivers, may be presumed ; that the more 
 perfect construction of the principal instrument of his la-
 
 134 
 
 hours, agreeably to the mechanism of the British loom, 
 would enable the Indian operative to rise to farther excel- 
 lence in his art, must be obvious ; and that, with a popula- 
 tion so vast, labour so cheap, and workmen sober, tempe- 
 rate, industrious, and ingenious, the Gentoo manufacturer 
 would soon be able, were his advantages equal, to undersell 
 his British or European rivals, and drive them out of the 
 market, cannot, it should seem, be for a moment contro- 
 verted- 
 
 VI. Commerce derives her food from the arts, and nourishes 
 
 them in her turn. Without commerce, an high degree of 
 civilisation is not to be expected ; and has rarely, if ever, 
 been attained. By inspiring a sense of reciprocal wants, 
 interests, and enjoyments, it strengthens the social prin- 
 ciple : by opening intercourse with other nations, and shew- 
 ing human nature in every variety of attitude, and under all 
 circumstances of society, it liberalises the views of mankind : 
 by discovering communities, at least in some respects, in a 
 higher state of civilisation than ourselves, it at once enlight- 
 ens and stimulates the spirit of improvement: by throwing 
 around nations the ties of hospitality, of interest, of duty, 
 it promotes the exercise of the principles of benevolence.
 
 135 
 
 and binds them more closely together in the great political 
 compact : by putting into operation a thousand forms of 
 honest industry, it at once excites and rewards genius : by 
 opening, for the lower orders of the community, a field of 
 lucrative and useful employment, wide as the world itself, 
 it diffuses wealth, and tends, both to exempt them from 
 that spirit of servility which debases the conmion mind, and 
 to inspire that feeling of honest independence which is fa- 
 vourable to public virtue, liberty, and valour : and, in fine, 
 by all, it conduces, in a high degree, to polish society, and 
 accelerate the improvement and happiness of the human 
 race. 
 
 Commerce may be divided, most generally and obviously, 
 into foreign and domestic. The latter consists, when alto- 
 gether detached from the former, solely in the circulation 
 of indigenous productions ; and, even in the simplest times 
 and most fertile country, since no man by his utmost exer- 
 tions can supply himself with all he needs or may desire, 
 must necessarily be carried to some extent. However, it is 
 external commerce chiefly, that, while it quickens and ex- 
 tends the home trade, augments the fortunes of individuals, 
 enriches the country, and promotes the improvement of it& 
 inhabitants.
 
 136 
 
 The state of commerce among the Gentoos, as we have 
 before remarked, is far beneath what the resources of the 
 country might lead us to expect, and would easily support. 
 To this mercantile depression, so unfriendly in many re- 
 spects to the interests of the nation, various causes have 
 contributed. He who would account for it, or prescribe 
 appropriate remedies, must advert to the fertility of the 
 country itself, which, by producing many of the luxuries, 
 and all the necessaries of life, almost spontaneously, holds 
 out a temptatign to indolence ; must advert to the passive, 
 unaspiring, improvident, temper of the Hindoos, who, ac- 
 quiescing in their present condition, and careless about fu- 
 turity, are impelled by no anxieties, to acquire or accumu- 
 late the means of higher and remote gratification : — to the 
 abstinence which their religion prescribes, and the simpli- 
 city of dress which their climate requires : — to the absence 
 of a proper medium of exchange in some places, and of 
 easy communication in others : — to general deficiency of 
 capital, necessary especially for distant and expensive ad- 
 ventures : — to the total want of commodious and safe har- 
 bours, for vessels of any size, on the whole eastern line of 
 coast from Trincomalec in Ceylon to Calcutta in Bengal : — 
 to the cramping influence of the arrangement of the casts,
 
 137 
 
 and to the laws founded on that arrangement : — and to that 
 restrictive poUcy, which the government of a trading com- 
 pany usually adopts. 
 
 How is the influence of these causes to be counteracted, 
 and the evils flowing from them to be removed or allevi- 
 ated ? To convert the Hindoos altogether into a trading na- 
 tion, would neither be practicable nor expedient. But to 
 create a spirit of manufacturing industry among the lower 
 classes of the community; and to turn the attention of the 
 higher orders (who, though not prohibited by law from fol- 
 lowing the profession, consider themselves as above com- 
 merce) to schemes of mercantile activity and enterprise, 
 might prove highly conducive to the improvement of the 
 national character. With this view, let the natives be en- 
 couraged to bring; their commodities from the interior ta 
 the coast, by the assui-ance of inviolable protection, not 
 only from robbery, but from arbitrary and undue exactions ; 
 as well as by the prospect of suitable gains, and a ready 
 market. Let the comnmnication with the inland parts, by 
 removing obstructions in the course of the rivers by canals 
 and by highways, be opened in all directions, as far as 
 practicable. For the accommodation of inland traders, to 
 preserve and protect their property initil it can be disposed
 
 138 
 
 of, let suitable depots, the use of which shall be subject to 
 a moderate charge, be erected on the seat of the British 
 factories in the interior, and on the coast, especially at ship- 
 ping places. Besides the harbour of Bombay, which has 
 been formed at considerable expence, let others be con- 
 structed, particularly one, if possible, on the long range of 
 the eastern coast. In addition to these facilities, special 
 privileges might be granted to the native merchants, extend- 
 ing their powers to trade on their own account ; or certain 
 immunities and honours of a less valuable, but perhaps not 
 less stimulant kind might be conferred. Nor is it unworthy 
 the attention of the Honourable East India Company to con- 
 sider, Avhether it might not really be for their interest, having 
 secured their own investments and a preference in the Indian 
 market, to leave the trade in a great measure open, and to 
 make at least certain ports free to neutral and friendly powers, 
 or even to all Britisli traders, to whatever extent, upon con- 
 dition of paying a certain rate of impost for the privilege. In 
 this manner some of the dependencies of other powers, parti- 
 cularly in the West Indies, have raised themselves to opulence 
 and consideration : and, while the chartered rights of the 
 Company were preserved inviolate, while all the shipping 
 and capital they could command were employed on their
 
 139 
 
 own account, would they not thus ensure a surplus revenue ? 
 Would not the only diilerence betwixt what they exported 
 from India themselves, or allowed others to export, be, that, 
 in the one case, they would draw their profits in i\sia, in the 
 other, they would realise them only in Europe ? In truth, 
 there are not wanting some who say strong and plausible 
 things in favour of a trade altogether free, except for those 
 limitations relative to the character and relations of the 
 trading countries, and these checks with reference to all, 
 which are necessary to the security of the Company's in- 
 terests in that quarter of the world. " lias not the history 
 of all ages," they argue, " proved that such commercial 
 monopolies, when exclusively managed, have never suc- 
 ceeded in one instance ? Have not other East India com- 
 panies already fulfilled their destiny, and become insolvent ? 
 The reason is obvious. Such impolitic restrictions operate 
 as injuriously upon those by whom they are imposed, as 
 upon those against whom they are devised and enacted. 
 " The spirit of commerce, like the spirit of liberty, claims 
 to be unconstrained ; and they Avho would ' crib and hem 
 in' her free-born and expanding genius by coercive mea- 
 sures, act as unwisely as if they attempted to regulate the 
 motions of the heart by an additional system of contraction,
 
 140 
 
 or retard the current of the blood by new valves, or writhe 
 the intestines into new contortions. Provide solicitously 
 ao-ainst the entrance of disalfected foreiofuers into the coun- 
 try, or the dissemination of principles of faction and rebel- 
 lion : secure adequate compensations for the privileges and 
 acconnnodations conceded to the fair trader ; but, having 
 done this, all is done that ought to be attempted : the trade 
 should be left, in other respects, entirely free. Were it 
 thrown open, at least to all the subjects of the mother coun- 
 try, upon condition of their paying an equivalent to the 
 Company, the latter Avould probably gain more by the in- 
 crease of territorial revenue and of commercial impost, than 
 by all the advantages Avhich the present monopoly can con- 
 fer. Confessedly, the Company cannot take off more than 
 a third of the present produce of Hindostan, and why 
 should the other two thirds be lost, by restrictions injurious 
 at once to them, to Britain, and to India*? Individuals, 
 it has always been remarked, manage their particular con- 
 cerns more actively and economically than copartneries; 
 and the observation applies with accumulated force to a 
 commercial association, so extensive, and the grand scene 
 
 * See India House Debates on the Illicit Trade, in the Annual Asiatic 
 llegister.
 
 14J 
 
 (if whose concerns lies so remote, as that of the East India 
 Company. The market of Ilindostau being open to the 
 fair trader at a reasonable rate, no temptation wonld be 
 held ont to that illicit trade*, which, in similar circum- 
 stances, and there is reason to believe even in this case, has 
 intercepted much of that profit, which Avould otherwise have 
 been reaped by the Company and by the State. By the 
 increased energy, ingenuity, and competition of the Indian 
 manufacturer, the country market would be lowered ; and 
 the commodities being sold, in Europe and in Britain, at a. 
 cheaper rate, the demand would be augmented : tAvo ob- 
 jects, which it is the aim of political economy to unite, and 
 which, were they gained, by dismissing speculation Avould 
 render the trade both more securely gainful to the mer- 
 chant, and more extensively beneficial to the public. Grate- 
 ful, too, for the generosity of their new masters, easy and 
 happy under a benign administration, raised in the scale of 
 nations by an enlightened and liberal policy, the Hindoos 
 would rally around the English government, and, cordially 
 attached to the new order of things, would form their own 
 barrier ; so that the present expensive armaments, naval and 
 
 * Vide Note AA.
 
 142 
 
 military, which are necessary to the security of the empire, 
 AVOuJd become, in a great measure, supertiuous. Add to all : 
 the pleasure of having infused a new spirit into many mil- 
 lions of the human race, and conferred on them more ample 
 means of happiness ; the satisfaction of having raised an 
 amiable people high in the scale of civilised society, Avould 
 be enjoyed by those who have concurred in adopting a po- 
 licy so wise and noble : and these are some of the first and 
 purest joys that a good and generous heart can feel." Such 
 is the spirit and tendency of many reasonings *, which have 
 been held on this or similar topics ; but it is the less neces- 
 sary, at present, to inquire whether they be conclusive, be- 
 cause that day is probably distant, when the subject can be 
 agitated with propriety in its fullest extent; and because 
 the preceding suggestions, if they are carried into effect, 
 may meanwhile be useful in progressively ameliorating the 
 circumstances of the Hindoos, as a commercial people, and 
 in lessening, although they may not altogether obviate, the 
 evils attached to their present condition. Thus may we 
 " establish, under a just and benignant system of internal 
 administration, the prosperity of our finances and coni- 
 
 * By Dr A. Smith, B. Franklin, &c.
 
 143 
 
 merce, on the solid foundations of the afiHuence, ha]:)pinc!5S, 
 and confidence of a contented and grateful people *." 
 
 Revenue is an object of the first importance with inter- yu 
 ested governments : but we trust it will be at all times only 
 a subordinate consideration with that one, whose majestic 
 march, in the career of true glory, we have been feebly endea- 
 vouring to delineate and to guide. As operations of finance 
 belong to the legislative and executive powers of government, 
 we might have introduced this section under the fourth de- 
 partment in the detail, but, since the resources of revenue 
 arise fi'om lands, arts, and commerce, Avhich we have but 
 just considered, the position for which we have reserv^ed it 
 may seem not improper. 
 
 Than pecuniary exactions, none other have been usually 
 imposed with less ceremony, or with more coarse rapacity, 
 in most countries ; but there are none, which, in a nation 
 that the legislator would raise to Avealth and power, require 
 to be managed with a more delicate and gentle hand : none, 
 to devise and apportion which, demands greater knowledge 
 of human nature, or of the various relations of commerce 
 
 * Marquis of Wellesley's Address to the Students of Calcutta College.
 
 144 
 
 and of society. Taxation, according to the different modes 
 in which it is conducted, may either, by conciliating confi- 
 dence and augmenting the resources of a people, confirm 
 their attachment and promote their improvement in a high 
 degree, or, by infusing prejudices and exciting rebellion, 
 may greatly obstruct, if not altogether prevent, the attain- 
 ment of ends so desirable. Of the latter part of this posi- 
 tion, the history of many states aftbrds mournful examples : 
 the former is obvious, and i-equires no illustration. 
 
 The revenue of the British possessions in India, as has 
 been already noticed, is ample, but fluctuating, and, there- 
 fore, not capable of being exactly ascertained. In conse- 
 quence of the new acquisitions, by Avhich our empire has been 
 so much enlarged, new cares and new duties devolve upon 
 the government. Of these, beside the arrangement of the 
 details of political organisation and military defence, the chief 
 is, the imposition, the collection, and the application of 
 such levies, as ma}'^ at once support the general establish- 
 ment of a new system of administration, and be made sub- 
 servient to the civilisation of the people thus annexed to the 
 British dominions. 
 
 On the subject of taxation, the following maxims seem 
 founded in reason, deducible from the experience of past
 
 145 
 
 ages, and not inapplicable to our object. Indirect taxes 
 are preferable to those that are direct. Impositions on the 
 necessaries of life, to be consumed in the country, or upon 
 the raw material, in any branch of domestic manufacture ; 
 or such as are calculated to operate as a discouragement 
 upon any rising art, particularly upon the national staple, 
 are highly inexpedient. Arbitrary assessments, whatever 
 name they bear, (forced loans, general aids, public contri- 
 butions, &c.) except when intended as penalties, and under- 
 stood to be such, ought to be avoided : because they both 
 irritate the feelings, insult the judgment, exhaust the re- 
 sources of a country, and, at the same time, afford the as- 
 sessors easy opportunities of oppressing the subject, for 
 their own emolument, — of putting, without the fear of de- 
 tection, 
 
 " Into their overgoiged and bloated purse 
 The wealth of ' pillaged' provinces." 
 
 Those taxes which are most obvious in their grounds, and 
 most easily defined in their extent, are usually least felt, 
 mqst easily collected, and most productive. Levies, ac- 
 companied with their own palpable equivalent, such as tolls, 
 
 T
 
 146 
 
 tonnage, harbour-dues, and premiums for mercantile privi- 
 lege, when moderate, are least burdensome, and least ob- 
 noxious. The mode of farming the revenue, which an in- 
 dolent or avaricious government has always been prone to 
 adopt, if it be the most energetic and apparently the most 
 frugal, is also the most oppressive to the subject, and the 
 most hazardous to the empire. A rising country ought to 
 be more lightly taxed from the beginning, even in propor- 
 tion to what it can bear, than one that has been long flou- 
 rishing ; whose strength has been tried ; whose resources 
 have been accumulating ; and Avhose constitution, perad- 
 venture, has been consolidated by the very pressure of such 
 incumbrances. Though every government be entitled to li- 
 beral compensation for the superintendence and protection 
 extended to its subjects, yet no government has a right to 
 appropriate to its own individual or foreign concerns, those 
 funds which have been raised in a co.untry, if the latter be 
 not at the same time admitted to a participation, as entire 
 as its circumstances will allow, of the benefits of the poli- 
 tical compact. In conducting the financial concerns of a 
 country, so extensive and wealthy as Hindostan ; a country 
 into which the treasures of the West have been long flowing 
 in a copious sti'eam ; where the Company have acquired im-
 
 147 
 
 mensc territories and revenues, by the subjugation or ces- 
 sion of the native states ; and where the people are so mild 
 and so unresisting, there can be neither ditheulty in pro- 
 curing funds for all the necessary exigencies of government, 
 nor necessity for having recourse to violence in raising them. 
 Let then the rate of taxation be comparatively low from the 
 first, and rise with the rising prosperity of the country. Let 
 the government demonstrate, that they have other and 
 liigher ends in view, than pecuniary interest or selfish ag- 
 grandisement. Let the servants of the Company be watch- 
 ed with scrupulous solicitude in their fiscal operations ; 
 and, by avoiding a penuriousness equally unjust and un- 
 wise on the part of their employers, by a liberality of pro- 
 vision which may be worthy of the grandeur of the eastern 
 empire, let all temptations to peculation be removed. Let 
 the subject know exactly, what rates he has to pay ; and, 
 when aggrieved, let him not be resigned to the discretion 
 of his oppressor, or to any mode of adjvidication in which 
 the latter shall have an undue influence, but have easy ac- 
 cess to a tribunal of inquiry and redress, cheap, public, im- 
 partial, and expeditious. 
 
 In this way the British government will wipe away those 
 foul imputations that have been cast upon her administra-
 
 148 
 
 tion in the East ; will approve her genuine character of hu- 
 manity, of wisdom, of liberality ; and will provide at once 
 for her own support, and for the improvement of the na- 
 tives. 
 
 VIII. Since what have been called the Fine Arts flourish chiefly 
 
 in a state of freedom, of opulence, and of refinement, com- 
 merce, which, while it polishes the manners, diff'uses the 
 means of enjoyment, will hold out encouragements to their 
 cultivation ; and a state of liberty and comfort, which is 
 intimately connected with a wise and liberal policy in re- 
 venue, must be favourable to their improvement. And, 
 affordino; an elegant entertainment ; exhibitino- excellent 
 models of refinement, in a way the most impressive ; with- 
 drawing mankind from the grosser occupations of life, to 
 dwell on the melting emotions of the heart, to accompany 
 the sublime flights of imagination, or to inhale the pure and 
 enrapturing spirit of devotion, these arts. Poetry, Music, 
 Painting, and Sculpture, do, in their turn, minister highly 
 to civilisation *. 
 
 The Gentoos have exhibited respectable specimens of 
 
 * Vide Note BB.
 
 149 
 
 proficiency in the first of these arts : but they are few ; in- 
 ferior to the productions of some other nations, particularly 
 to the classical models of Greece and Rome ; and, trespas- 
 sing often against the laws of simplicity, are incorrect in 
 the taste they display. In music * and painting they have 
 not excelled, as far as we yet know : and the monuments of 
 their sculpture, corresponding to the ideas of their super- 
 stition, betray a conception unnatural and fantastic in a 
 high degree. 
 
 To refine their taste on such subjects, to furnish them 
 with more unexceptionable and excellent models, to mul- 
 tiply and sublimate their means of intellectual and moral 
 pleasure, to elicite the latent fires of Hindoo genius, and 
 mingle them with the corruscations of British talent, will 
 be no mean or useless project. But how are these noble 
 ends to be accomplished ? One obvious expedient is, to 
 transfer the more admired productions of foreign countries, 
 and especially of ancient times, to Hindostan. And were 
 the works of the celebrated masters of antiquity, for ex- 
 
 * As a practical art we mean: for while the venerable antiquarian to 
 whom we have often referred admits, that although they call music " the 
 language of the Gods," they are poor performers; he also affirms his be- 
 lief, that their system of music, as a science, was formed on finer principles 
 than our own.
 
 150 
 
 ample of Homer and of Virgil, naturalised, by being clothed 
 in an Indian dress, Avliat new sources of enjoyment would 
 be opened to the natives ! Were the poems of our celebrated 
 countrymen, of Milton, of Shakespeare, of Cowper, and of 
 Thomson, the children of sensibility, of genius, and of piety, 
 translated into the language of the East ; or were the Hin- 
 doos taught to understand them in their original tongue, 
 what pure and refined pleasure might the}^ taste ! Yet it 
 may be presumed, that productions of their own artists in 
 every branch, being more congenial to their spirit, Avould 
 operate a more powerful effect upon the public mind. By 
 the transference of these illustrious models, therefore, and 
 by other incitements, pecuniary academical and political, 
 let it be the peculiar care of government (what has never 
 yet been attempted in any due degree) to draw forth the 
 ebullitions of native genius. And be it remembered, that 
 genius is a plant of delicate fi'ame and culture. In vain 
 shall the fiat of despotism bid it arise. The tender flower 
 will shrink from the touch of the iron rod, from the breath 
 of the tyrant. Tlu^ nurseling, if not of liberty alone, yet of 
 love and of imagination, it can be reared only by means 
 congenial to its nol)le delicacies, by the gentle dews and the 
 soft sunshine of heaven. It is about the throne of the fos-
 
 151 
 
 tering parent of the arts, tlmt groupes of immortal geiiiuseSp 
 the illustrious ornaments of the age and of human nature, 
 have arisen. The powerful intluence which a generous and 
 enlightened ruler sheds around him, attracts the bright con- 
 stellation, and they gladly embellish his train, and follow in 
 his career of glory. Let, then, the governor-general of In- 
 dia be the Maecenas of his empire, and an Augustan age 
 will succeed. Let him imitate that munificent patronage, 
 of which the annals of his royal master afford so many bright 
 examples, and the irradiation of eastern talent will shed 
 lustre on his administration also : the luxurious regions of 
 India will emulate the classical scenes of Greece and of 
 Rome : the names of Mornington and Cornwallis, the streams 
 of Ganges and of Indus, will be given to the deathless song : 
 and that gentle and contented race, over whom he presides, 
 will become still more refined and happy. 
 
 The elegant arts are of the same family Avith the sciences. 
 The same circumstances are favourable or adverse to both : 
 they either rise and are improved, or they decline and fall 
 together. The arts are the organs of science : science is the 
 illuminator of the arts. Science fixes, embodies, expresses 
 herself in the arts : they, on the other hand, derive from her 
 taste, impression, and immortality. 
 
 4
 
 152 
 
 Nothing, it is obvious, can have a more direct or power- 
 ful influence upon civilisation than science. She illumi- 
 nates the mind, refines the taste, ameliorates the heart, po- 
 lishes the manners. She furnishes us with new motives to 
 piety ; Avith new views of human nature, and of the rela- 
 tions of human society ; with new sources of sublime gra- 
 tification ; with new and excellent means of improvement. 
 
 In Hindostan, those means of improvement have been 
 hitherto scanty. Confined to some astronomical calcula- 
 tions, founded upon principles which are no longer under- 
 stood ; to certain historical and mythological legends and 
 chronologies, remarkable chiefly for their extravagant claims 
 to high antiquity, and their meagre details of facts ; and to 
 a code of laws, excellent indeed upon the whole, but dic- 
 tated, in many instances, by the selfish spirit of a predomi- 
 nant sect, it is easy to conceive how ill calculated they are 
 to illuminate the public mind. Ignorant of the true theory 
 of the universe, in some at least of its grand bearings ; of 
 geography, to an astonishing degree ; of natural and experi- 
 mental philosophy, in its several divisions ; of the science 
 of mind] of the mathematical speculations, so high and so 
 useful ; of political economy, in a great measure ; of all the 
 invaluable information, of ancient and of modern erudition ;
 
 153 
 
 of the history of man, and of foreign countries ; in short of al- 
 most all that deserves the name of science, and which it im- 
 ports man most to know, — how little comparatively do they 
 possess * ! But, scanty as are these means of information, to 
 the great body of the people they are inaccessible. Written in 
 a dead language, and committed to the custody of one tribe 
 alone, these sacred guardians, as might be expected, watch 
 over this their exclusive prerogative with jealous care, and 
 contend, as others have done, that these mysteries ought not 
 to be profaned by being subjected to vulgar intrusion. Ac- 
 cordingly, all travellers concur in representing the common 
 race of Hindoos as among the most unenlightened of man- 
 kind. If their manners be soft, they have not been molli- 
 fied by the genial influence of science. If their spirit be 
 gentle, it is not owing to the illuminating instructions of 
 their appointed teachers. 
 
 The means of remedying these defects are simple and ob- 
 vious, though to organise them may not be easy, and their 
 operation must necessarily be slow. At this moment a se- 
 minary for teaching our countrymen, in Britain, the know- 
 ledge of the spoken languages of Hindostan, with accounts 
 
 * " It must be admitted," says Sir William Jones, " that the Asiatics, 
 if compared with our western nations, are mere children in science." 
 
 u
 
 154 
 
 and mathematics, is projected ; and, if carried into effect, 
 may contribute in some degree to the diffusion of science. 
 But to erect and endoAV schools and academies, in suitable 
 places throughout our eastern possessions, to which able 
 teachers, natives or Europeans, may be appointed, and by 
 which the knowledge of the arts and sciences may become 
 accessible to all our eastern subjects, is an expedient, more 
 direct and efficient, which will readily suggest itself to every 
 one on first consideration. How these seminaries are to be 
 supported, whether by the contributions of the students, or 
 the aids of the state, or by both together ; and, if the inter- 
 position of the second be necessary, Avhether the Braminical 
 colleges might not be so occupied, and their ample revenues 
 transferred altogether, or at least in part, to the support of 
 this more important national object, — are questions, which 
 cannot be decided without a minute knowledge of circum- 
 stances local and political, and of which the determination 
 must rest with the wisdom of the governors. Since the lands 
 of the priests are not only entailed upon the order, and 
 considered as sacred by the people, but exempted from 
 taxation ; it is probable any attempt to alienate or assess 
 them, would, at least for a time, be highly obnoxious, if 
 pot greatly hazardous. In addition to these institutions,
 
 155 
 
 endowed as may seem most expedient, much aid may be 
 derived from the art of printing. Every one knows how 
 much the press has contributed, in latter ages, to the im- 
 provement of Europe, and the illumination of the world. 
 Let then small British tracts, especially those that indicate 
 the state of society in Europe, in its most pleasing and in- 
 structive views, be published in the native languages. Or, 
 to encourage the study of the English, and thus, the more 
 effectually to incorporate the natives Avith their rulers, these 
 treatises may be retained in their original dress. By these 
 means, besides diffusing useful information, such a habit 
 of reading and reflection may be created, as will contribute 
 to relieve the languors of life, to stir up the mental indo- 
 lence of the Hindoos, and engage them to concur in the 
 salutary views of government. This is no new scheme. It 
 has been already tried. The annals of Hindostan present 
 us with an illustrious precedent. Abker, one of the best 
 emperors that ever sat on the throne of the East, ordered 
 his Vizier, Abul Fazel, to translate into a familiar style the 
 Hoetopades, or Amicable Instructor, (a book of great cele- 
 brity) that his subjects might be improved by the lessons on 
 science and on ethics which it contained.
 
 15t) 
 
 IX. We have reserved the consideration of Morals for this last 
 
 section of the first part of our Inquiry, both because of its 
 supreme importance to the community, and of its indispen- 
 sable necessity to perfect civilisation. Without morality 
 man can never reach the true dignity of his nature, or fulfil 
 the duties of his station in society with sufficient honoui 
 and advantage. Without it he cannot be so excellent, so 
 amiable, or so useful. Nations indeed may be pointed out, 
 the exterior of whose manners is most pleasing, while the state 
 of their morals is the most degraded. But who Avould say 
 that their state of improvement is the highest ; that they 
 admit of no amelioration ; that their character is not essen- 
 tially defective ? The face of their society resembles the 
 green but deceitful quagmire, not the firm and fertile field. 
 The polish of their manners reminds us of the superior parts 
 of the sphinx ; the pravity of their morals, may be com- 
 pared to the temper and hinder parts of that liideous mon- 
 ster. 
 
 A stranger who should survey for the first time the morals 
 of the Hindoos, or he Avho, Avith opportunities of more ex- 
 act investigation, should examine them superficially, might 
 be led to conclude, that no nation on the face of the earth 
 was more civilised in this respect, than that harmless, assi-
 
 157 
 
 duous, temperate, and obliging race of men. For, in what- 
 ever relates to the exterior of conduct, they are excelled by 
 none ; scarcely, perhaps, rivalled by any. Their love of 
 their country, their patient industry, and their implicit sub- 
 mission to the constituted authorities, are all conspicuous. 
 But a more attentive and intimate consideration will com- 
 pel us to forai a different conclusion. The morality of the 
 Gentoos is deficient, both in extent and in principle. Free 
 from the turbulence of passion, and the fever of ambition, 
 they are often, it is said, tormented by the stings of jea- 
 lousy, the natural consequence of the voluptuousness of the 
 climate, combined with the prevalence of a loose morality ; 
 and still more frequently actuated by avarice, than which 
 no vice, when it has once obtained the ascendancy, pos^ 
 sesses the soul more fully, reigns with a more debasing sway, 
 or hardens the heart with a more malignant influence. Be- 
 sides these evil tempers, many crimes, as we have already 
 noticed, are almost universally prevalent. They have no 
 perfect standard of morals ; none that is free from supersti- 
 tion, dignified in its motives, and not defective in its pre- 
 scriptions*. They have no idea of sanctity beyond that 
 
 * Vide Note CC.
 
 158 
 
 which is derived from corporeal ablutions ; nor any concep- 
 tion of the necessity of a more powerful remedy for the guilt 
 of sin than pilgrimages, devotions, and penances. If they 
 appear to possess some of the virtues, yet these are never 
 unmingled : their humanity is tarnished by many supersti- 
 tious cruelties ; their gentleness by many frightful orgies. 
 And of other virtues of a higher order and more difficult at- 
 tainment, which require vigour and fire of soul ; of the prin- 
 ciples of an elevated philanthropy, of active heroism, and 
 of a noble generosity, such as Christianity would inspire, 
 they are at once ignorant and destitute. 
 
 For correcting tliese evils, and exalting the moral cha- 
 racter of the Hindoos, we shall in vain look to the Bramins. 
 Panegyrised as they have been by some partial philosophers 
 in the West, their characters are often stained with enormi- 
 ties, even the most unnatural and infamous *. Among Chris- 
 tians, many know and approve the right while they do the 
 wrong ; but these sophists are not less ignorant of the prin- 
 ciples of true morality, than incapable of exemplifying them 
 in their own deportment. Recourse must be had to adven- 
 titious aids. The translation and dispersion of treatises, in- 
 
 * Asiatic Researches, vol. iv. 336. and vol. v. 372.
 
 159 
 
 culcating purer ethics, and explaining the genuine princi- 
 ples of moral science, may be highly useful. Academies or 
 schools, instituted partly or solely for this purpose, might 
 contribute greatly to rectify and enlarge the views of the 
 natives, on this most interesting subject. Illustrious ex- 
 amples of virtue in their rulers, would powerfully co-operate 
 in promoting their reformation. But we must confess, that 
 we look for the grand, decisive influence, which shall rege- 
 nerate the manners of this engaging people, only to the dif- 
 fusion of the Scriptures, and the prevalence of Christianity. 
 Reason, without revelation, is insufficient to renovate the 
 human character, or reform the Avorld. In support of an 
 assertion so mortifying to the pride of human understand- 
 ing, I appeal to the experience of ages, to the history of the 
 world. The whole human race, except one secluded and 
 despised people, were consigned to reason and philosophy 
 for four thousand years : but did the nations improve in 
 virtue under their uncontrouled tuition ? Where did these 
 instructors of mankind add to the rolls of goodness one real 
 virtue, that conscience or feeling had not previously inscri- 
 bed thereon ? Or where did they expunge one seeming vir- 
 tue from the catalogue of human excellences ? Where did 
 they raise the standard of morals, or reform anv degenerate
 
 160 
 
 people ? They might attempt to deUneate the character of 
 a perfect man; but were not their descriptions at once 
 discordant and defective ? And who, even of their most 
 admired philosophers, can be supposed to have realised 
 the lovely image ? Is not the character of each stained 
 with some degrading superstition, or still more debasing 
 vice ? And, in short, did not philosophy lend her aid, the 
 aid of her example, of her instructions, of her laws, to up- 
 hold the established superstitions, which, by many of their 
 rites, and by all their spirit, tended to dissever religion from 
 morality, to enfeeble the influence of virtue, and, in in- 
 stances not a few, to sanctify impurity ? 
 
 On the other hand, for how many. improvements in mo- 
 rality and civilisation have Europe and the world been in- 
 debted to Christianity ? It is this divine and ennobling re- 
 ligion that has mitigated the horrors of war, lightened the 
 bonds of captivity, loosened the chains of the slave, enacted 
 a humane and improved law of nations ; that has inculcated 
 a purer system of ethics, raised the tone of public opinions, 
 and the standard of morals ; that has illuminated the pub- 
 lic mind, refined the public taste, and carried learning with 
 her in her train ; that has kindly lent her aid J:o the dic- 
 tates of conscience, and given virtue such an ascendancy,
 
 161 
 
 that vice cither shrinks from the view, or cloi<es iierself 
 under the assumed garb of" this liigh arl)itress ; that has 
 given full scope to the exercise of human sympathies, and 
 adorned Europe, and especially our favoured island, with 
 innumerable merciful institutions, adapted to alleviate the 
 various miseries of man ; that has attempered the power 
 of the great, raised the condition of the poor, polished the 
 manners of Europe, and contributed, iu the highest de- 
 gree, to civilise the world. " Why do we no longer be- 
 hold around us the horrors of ferocious barbarism, or de- 
 grading superstition ; the impious obscenities of idolatry, 
 and the afflicting miseries of unmitigated slavery ; the ra- 
 vages of merciless cruelty, altars stained with human gore, 
 or funerals resounding with the groans of butchered gladia- 
 tors?" exclaims an animated advocate of Christianity. " It 
 is because at the commanding aspect of our holy religion 
 these abominations have evanished. Why are infants no 
 longer exposed to capricious destruction from unfeeling pa- 
 rents ? W hy are parents now secure from the snares and the 
 murderous designs of ambitious sons ? Why are servants 
 now protected from the tyranny and tortures of inhuman 
 masters ? Why is the wife now respected in her age, and 
 
 X
 
 W2 
 
 not capriciously dismissed to make room for the seducing 
 wanton, or tortured Avith the insolence of rival concubines ? 
 What has exalted the whole female sex to respectability, to 
 deference, to love ? Unquestionably it was Christianity. 
 No system of philosophy before its appearance ever pro- 
 duced such effects, or even attempted such designs *." 
 
 Such has been the influence of the religion of Jesus upon 
 the manners of mankind, and so indispensably necessary is 
 its propagation, to the introduction and ascendancy of a 
 perfect system of morals in any country. Without the 
 knowledge of the gospel, the principles of morality cannot 
 be so pure, or its spirit so high ; its motives cannot be so 
 sublime, or its particular illustrations so faultless and en- 
 gaging ; its sanctions cannot be so solemn, or its influence 
 so commanding and benign. How wonderful must be the 
 power of this divine system of goodness, when, even in its 
 feeblest and most defective state, it can operate svich effects 
 as those to which we have briefly adverted ! And, if among 
 the nations of Europe such benefits attend its most excep- 
 tionable fonns, proceed from its indirect influence, Avhat ex- 
 
 * Bcnnel's Sermon on Christian Morality.
 
 165 
 
 tensive and auspicious effects might it not be expected to 
 produce, on the state of individual, domestic, social, and 
 political manners and happiness, Avere it propagated plant- 
 ed and felt in any country, in its scriptural purity and ge- 
 nuine efficacy ! 
 
 It is then of the last importance to mankind that Chris- 
 tianity be universally diffused. 
 
 This introduces the second and most elevated department 
 of our Inquiry, viz.
 
 PART II. 
 
 M'lIAT ARE THE BEST MEANS OF DIFFUSING THE LIGHT 
 OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION THROUGHOUT THE EAST- 
 ERN WORLD ? 
 
 And this part of the Disquisition, in consideration of the 
 diversity of means which the Honourable the East India 
 Company, or the British nation, have access to employ for 
 the propagation of our holy religion, in each case, divides 
 itself into two questions : First, What are the means which 
 may be employed to diffuse Christianity throughout the 
 British empire in Hindostan ? And, Secondly, What me- 
 thods may be farther adopted to spread the light of the 
 Gospel through the East ?
 
 165 
 
 To form some idea of the necessity which exists for at- i. 
 
 tempting to introduce Christianity into Hindostan, and of 
 the nature of the means which may be adopted for accom- 
 phshing this holy enterprise, it may be expedient to begin 
 with taking a survey of the Religion of the country. 
 
 The present religion of Hindostan is a system of Pagan- Biamanism. 
 ism, more venerable for its antiquity, and more interesting 
 for its peculiarities, than almost any other in ancient or mo- 
 dern times. 
 
 If the opinions of persons of much research and reflection History. 
 are to be received, this alone, however, of all the institutions 
 of India, has undergone important alterations. First, the 
 pure primeval religion degenerated into idolatry ; and next, 
 about the 12th century, the worship of Boodh, who is still 
 adored in the eastern peninsula, was exchanged in the west- 
 ern for that of Brahma, the present superstition of the Gen- 
 toos *. 
 
 Their theoretic system is founded upon the assumption of Thcorv. 
 the existence of one invisible, immortal, omnipresent, al- 
 mighty, and most excellent Being f-. But, actuated by 
 those fears of guilt which are natural to sinful man, and ig- 
 
 * Maurice. Jones. 
 
 t Jones's Works. Ilalhed's Pref. &c.
 
 166 
 
 iiorant of the benevolent character of that supreme Intel- 
 ligence, who presides over the affairs of our race and the 
 destinies of the universe ; they imagine that he is too pure 
 and too high to be approached or addressed immediately 
 by men on the earth. Accordingly, like all other pagan 
 nations, they have introduced a class of inferior beings to 
 mediate betwixt them and the Most High. Among the su- 
 perior divinities, three, Brahma, Vishna, and Sheva*, are 
 conceived to be pre-eminent. As superstition proceeds 
 upon no fixed principles, and the vagaries of imagination 
 are endless, so the Debtahs, or inferior deities of Hindostan, 
 like the gods and goddesses of Greece and Rome, are in- 
 numerable. Emulating, or far surpassing the prolific poly- 
 theism of otlier Gentiles, it is reported that the demigods of 
 India amount to thirty crorc -f. The history of these intel- 
 ligences is similar throughout all nations : a motley tissue 
 of Avhat is mean and great, good and vicious, in human cha- 
 racter and conduct j.. All their deities arc worshipped un- 
 der the form of idols. Some of their most learned Bramins 
 
 * Enc3'c. Brit. Art. Hindostan. 
 
 t Edin. Review, No. VIII. A crore is 10,000,000. Ayeen Acbery, 
 Vol ii. Art. Numeration. 
 :|: Vide Note DD.
 
 167 
 
 (like the sophists of other superstitious systems which admit 
 similar practices) would persuade us, that these are intend- 
 ed, not as objects of adoration, but as excitements to devo- 
 tion ; but it is unquestionable, that the common people, and 
 even the majority of the Bramins, have no such refined 
 views *. Of these images every house is a mint, every ar-» 
 tisan a fabricator ; and nothing can be either more rude, 
 fantastic, and monstrous, than the forms under which deity 
 is exhibited, or more unceremonious than the manner in 
 which their idols are often treated. Worshipped with much 
 ardour in the morning, and thrown into the pond or the 
 river in the evening, is not unfrequently the short and event- 
 ful history of their deification. The Hindoos believe that 
 God is the enlivening Spirit of the universe, in such a sense 
 as that all beings derive from his immediate agency in them, 
 not only the continuance of their existence, and their phy- 
 sical powers of action, but also all the principles and im- 
 pulses of their conduct, evil as well as good. Hence they 
 account every man an integral part of the Divinity ; ima- 
 gine that he does nothing but what God does ; and hold 
 that he is not responsible for his crimes. In the sanctify- 
 
 * Bapt. Ace. vol. i. p. 138.
 
 168 
 
 ing virtue of the waters of the Ganges they fully confide ; 
 and, such is the simplicity of their minds, that, without 
 giving themselves the trouble of feigning celestial beings re- 
 sident in the river, they worship, with various rite, the stream 
 itself Like the ancient Egyptians, they entertain a high 
 veneration for some of the irrational animals, particularly 
 the cow and the ox*. This regard may be supposed to 
 proceed partly from gratitude ; but its want of discrimina- 
 tion shews, that it chiefly arises from their belief of the doc- 
 trine of transmigration, so prevalent in the East. They 
 imagine that the soul survives the body ; and, upon quit- 
 ting its present envelope, to be purified from its pollutions 
 or punished for its crimes, is compelled to animate, in a cer- 
 tain series, such of the inferior creatures as are most con- 
 genial in character to its former propensities, until, refined 
 from the dregs of corruption, it is fitted for its appropriate 
 station in paradise j-. Only in some very rare instances of 
 transcendent goodness is the spirit supposed to be spared 
 
 * Maurice's Mod. Hindostarij Intiod. p. 4. 
 
 f At Brahma's stern decree, as ages roll. 
 New shapes of clay await th' immortal soul ; 
 Darkling, condemned in forms ohscene to prowl. 
 And swell the midnight melancholy howl.
 
 169 
 
 this painful process, and honoured with an immediate ad- 
 mission into the presence of Brahma. Of heaven they enu- 
 merate six regions : of hell, seven. Into the highest heavens, 
 the residence of Brahma, none but the first favourites of di- 
 vinity are at all admitted. They believe that the suiferings 
 of hell Avill not be eternal ; and that all, after a certain 
 course of purification and of punishment, proportioned to 
 the degrees of their moral turpitude, will be conducted to 
 the land of blessedness. 
 
 Such are some of their speculative opinions in theology. Ritual. 
 Their practical piety corresponds to their theoretic belief. 
 With the simplest rites, and in the rudest manner, their 
 deities are worshipped by this artless people. Without any 
 religious obeisance, a small portion of food is set before the 
 idol, or some prayers and ablutions are performed. Many, 
 however, arc very cruel to themselves, and imagine that 
 their voluntary tortures are acceptable to heaven. One class 
 of devotees, called Faquirs, are the most rigid of ascetics, 
 and submit to mortifications that are almost incredible *. 
 They amount in nvunber, it is said, to an hundred and ten 
 thousand ; and, traversing the country in bands, become 
 
 * Bapt. Ace. vol. i. pp. 28. 59- 172, Sec. * 
 
 y
 
 Sacred 
 books. 
 
 extremely formidable to the unarmed inhabitants, and com- 
 mit many excesses, some of which are represented as to- 
 tally incompatible with their appaient self-denial and sanc- 
 tity*. 
 
 The mythology of the Hindoos is prescribed in the Vedas. 
 These Vedas (or Beids) consist of four volumes, which are 
 said to have issued from the four mouths of Brahma, and 
 contain the history of their nation, the records of their reli- 
 gion, the institute of their polity, and the precepts of their 
 morality. They are composed in Shanscrit, a language 
 which is no longer spoken in India, but is mentioned in 
 terms of high encomium by several of our countrj^men who 
 have been instructed in it-f-, and seems, like the Latin in 
 Europe, to enter deeply into many of the dialects of the 
 East. To give the contents of the sacred volumes a firmer 
 hold of the mind and heart, they are thrown into measured 
 prose, and divided into one hundred thousand ashlogues or 
 stanzas. So high do the Bramins cany their veneration for 
 these repositories of religious information, that they account 
 it profane for the vulgar to read them, or even to hear them 
 read ; and, like the ancient scribes, the learned commit 
 
 * Col. Dow's History of Hindostan. 
 
 •|- Sir William Jones, jMr Ilitlhecl, Colonel Dow.
 
 171 
 
 much of them to memory with exact and elaborate care. 
 Upon tliese sacred books, which they beheve to have been 
 written milhons of years ago, there are many volumes of 
 commentaries, entitled Shasters, which are also held in much 
 esteem by the natives, and studied by the Bramins. Of • 
 these shasters there are two of chief consideration, the Be- 
 dang and Neadirsen, which, coinciding in the fundamental secis 
 doctrine of a supreme God, disagree in some other tenets, 
 and divide the Hindoos into two great religious sects. Those 
 Avho reside on the Malabar and Coromandel coasts and in 
 the Deccan, adhere to the former : they who inhabit Ben- 
 gal and the provinces to the west and north, have preferred 
 the latter *. 
 
 Like all false religions established in a wealthy country, established. 
 displaying the pride of the human heart, and preposterously 
 attempting to embellish the solemnity of worship by the 
 garnishings of art and the glare of riches, — the superstition 
 of Hindostan boasts of a magnificent institution. Rude as 
 are their images, and simple as are their otFerings, their 
 places of worship are frequently splendid, and the whole 
 system is extravagantly endowed. Who has not heard of 
 
 * Colonel Dow.
 
 175 
 
 Function- 
 aries. 
 
 Influence 
 upon public 
 manners. 
 
 the stupendous excavations in the isle of Elephanta and of 
 Salsette ? And one temple in the Deccan is said to have 
 once maintained forty thousand priests and females *. 
 
 The ministers of religion, under the most ancient institu- 
 tion, were called Boodhis or Brachmans : under the modern 
 establishment, they are denominated Bramins. They are 
 extremely numerous, and, like the Levites amongst the Jews, 
 divided into those who officiate at the altar, and those who 
 have no sacred function. The former are also far more ve- 
 nerated than the latter ; but these also have their dignity, 
 for, though they engage themselves as secretaries, soldiers, 
 &c. yet, with a most fastidious inconsistency founded upon 
 the imaginary sanctity and legal pre-eminence of their or- 
 der, they would account it pollution to eat even with their 
 princes. 
 
 The superstition of this country, like that of ancient 
 Greece and Rome, is calculated in several views to have a 
 very unfavourable influence upon the morals of the people. 
 Tlie sacred books indeed contain a system of ethics, which, 
 to our surprise, embodies those two grand precepts : " Love 
 your enemies, and do to others as you Avould they should 
 
 * Orme's Hist. vol. i. p. 178.
 
 173 
 
 tlo to you;" and, upon the whole, considered merely as a 
 scheme of rules, is excellent. But this code is little known, 
 and feebly inculcated, either by the instructions or the lives 
 of the Bramins. And, since it is believed that not man but 
 God sins when the former does evil ; — that the waters of the 
 Ganges can purify the soul ; — that it is meritorious to ex- 
 pose aged parents and friends, or even to accelerate their 
 death, by choking them with the mud of the sacred river; — 
 and that prostitution may, in certain cases, be an accept- 
 able homage to Divinity, it is easy to perceive how far this 
 system, in its principles and rites, tends to undermine the 
 interests, and to efface the impressions of humanity and 
 morality. 
 
 One peculiarity in the religion of the Hindoos deserves. Unsocial spi- 
 rit. 
 
 on this subject, to be particularly noticed. More exclusive 
 than any other system of superstition, it admits of no ac- 
 cessions. Even the economy of the Jews, although com- 
 mitted to one people, and limited in its solemnities of wor- 
 ship to one spot, was open to the reception of proselytes 
 from the Gentiles, and cherished an ardent zeal for the il- 
 lumination and conversion of all other nations. But the 
 religion of Hindostan, claiming an high antiquity and a 
 divine origin, is altogether unsocial. Partaking of the
 
 174 
 
 gloomy spirit of the cast, according with the illil^eral genius 
 of the whole Hindoo poHty, but repugnant to the feeHngs of 
 true benevolence, the system of Brama sternly interdicts all 
 religious intercourse Avith the rest of mankind, and indig- 
 nantly repulses their approaches to association. 
 
 Chrisiiauity. With pleasure we turn from this absurd and selfish super- 
 stition to the contemplation of our holy religion, which 
 is a ministration of the most exalted truth, and, as celebra- 
 ted in the song of angels, breathes " good-will to men." And 
 with no vain triumph, we may proceed to contrast the 
 scheme of Christianity with this splendid and imposing, but 
 unsocial and immoral institute of Paganism. 
 
 General By the former we understand revealed religion, especially 
 
 ew. 
 
 as it refers to that method of salvation through Jesus Christ, 
 Avhich constitutes the gospel of the grace of God, and is 
 most clearly propounded in the New Testament. 
 Theory. Assuming the information of natural religion, the sugges- 
 
 tions of common sense and common feeling concerning the 
 existence and attributes of Divinity, besides correcting, con- 
 firming, and enlarging those intuitive or acquired notices of 
 heavenly things, which constitute what has been called na- 
 tural religion, she adds to them her own supernatural and 
 
 view.
 
 175 
 
 singular but not incongruous, discoveries. In common with 
 the rehgion of Brahma, Christianity holds the unity of the 
 Godhead ; but she connects with this the mysterious yet 
 animating doctrine of Trinity, which, pervading the whole 
 system, gives life and interest to every part. The character 
 in which she represents the only object of worship, is at 
 once most sublime and condescending, most venerable and 
 alluring, most glorious and generous, altogether immaculate, 
 yet most propitious to sinful man. Let us hear her delinea- 
 tions. " He sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the 
 inhabitants thereof are as grashoppers before him : he 
 stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them 
 out as a tent to dwell in. He hath measured the waters in 
 the hollow of his hand, and meted out the heaven with his 
 span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, 
 and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a ba- 
 lance. Behold the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and 
 counted as the small dust of the balance ; behold he taketh 
 up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not suffi- 
 cient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-of- 
 fering. Yet, thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabit- 
 eth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy 
 place, with him also that is of a humble and contrite spirit.
 
 176 
 
 to revive the spirit of the humble and the heart of the con- 
 trite ones. For his name is, the Lord, the Lord God, mer- 
 ciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness 
 and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity 
 transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the 
 guilty/" But, at once to illustrate the benignity of his cha- 
 racter, to obtain satisfaction to his justice, and ascertain the 
 hopes of fallen and helpless man, we are told, that " God 
 so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son, that 
 whosoever believeth on him might not perish, but have ever- 
 lasting life/' And more clearly to develope the scheme of 
 salvation, it is added, that " All have sinned and come 
 short of the glory of God ; but we are justified freely by his 
 grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom 
 God hath set forth as a propitiation, (or expiatory sacrifice 
 for sin) through faith in his blood, to declare his righteous- 
 ness in the remission of sins, that he might be just, and the 
 justifier of him who believeth in Jesus/' 
 Distinguish- The glorious peculiarity of our holy religion is the media- 
 
 jng character. ^ 
 
 tion of Jesus Christ : the interposition, the atonement, and 
 the intercession of the great God our Saviour, on behalf of 
 our degenerate race. These are the characteristic disco- 
 veries of Christianity. These give a noble interest to its
 
 177 
 
 facts, dignity to its doctrines, force to its precepts, and sig- 
 nificancy to its institutions. It may be viewed in various 
 relations, but in all there is a perpetual recurrence to Christ 
 and his cross. Consider the Gospel as a compilation of 
 facts, and is not the account given of " God made mani- 
 fest in the ticsh," its grand historical peculiarity ? Consider 
 the Gospel as a system of theoretic truth, and Jesus is the 
 basis of the whole; for are not the Godhead and the me- 
 diation of Christ, the sum of its high discoveries .'' Is not 
 " Christ crucified," " the truth as it is in Jesus," its glorious 
 summary, its distinguishing doctrine '^ Consider the Gospel 
 as a scheme of salvation ; and does it not unfold, through 
 the interposition of the Son of God on our behalf, vica- 
 rious suiFerings, a surety-righteousness, and redemption en- 
 tirely of divine generosity *. Consider the Gospel as a 
 ministration of experimental piety, and Jesus Christ, with 
 the great truths concerning his death, are the vital spirit 
 of our religion ; for, realised by faith, they become the 
 food of the enlightened mind, the solace of the renovated 
 spirit: " His flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink 
 indeed." Consider the Gospel as an institute of religious 
 service, and, throughout the whole economy, Christ and his 
 
 * 2 Cor. -v. 21. Eph. i. 7, &c.
 
 178 
 
 death are exhibited ; in all our devotions we are instructed 
 to have recourse invariably to his mediation and grace. 
 Consider the Gospel as a practical code, and you will be 
 convinced that Christ is entitled to give the name to our 
 religion, because he both confers upon his people the prin- 
 ciples and the powers of new obedience, and presents them, 
 in his own conduct, with the most perfect model, in the 
 Scriptures, with the most prevalent motives of a holy life. 
 Consider the Gospel, in fine, as a system of consolation amid 
 the ills of life, and still it may justly be denominated Christi- 
 anity, because it uniformly directs us to the " grace that is 
 in Jesus Christ," raises our thoughts to his celestial interces- 
 sion and authority, invites us to contemplate him as seated 
 on the throne of the universe, presiding over the whole ad- 
 ministration of government in the kingdom of God, con- 
 trouling every event, dispensing every blessing, opening and 
 ascertaining the brightest prospects of eternal glory. 
 Vast range of But our holy religion, considered in a large sense, is the 
 
 most sublime 
 
 and useful in- religion of the Scriptures; and while every part of her inti- 
 
 formation. ^ 
 
 mations leads to the most interesting of all discoveries, the 
 mediation of Jesus, she does not confine her instructions to 
 this subject. Accompanied and attested by very many evi^ 
 denccs of inspiration, internal and external, the Bible blesses 
 mankind with a greater portion of important inlbrmatioa
 
 179 
 
 than ever was otherwise communicated to the world. Open- 
 ing the counsels of heaven ; delineating the character of 
 God ; explaining the origin of the universe ; sketching the 
 early history of man, of his primitive innocence and subse- 
 quent apostacy and corruption ; ascertaining the introduc- 
 tion of moral evil, misery, and death ; detailing the history 
 and the institutions of that singular people, who were, for 
 ages, the sole depositaries of the knowledge of the true 
 God ; supplying us with the varied materials and models 
 of acceptable Avorship ; establishing our faith in the future, 
 by recording many illustrious predictions concerning the 
 past, which have been exactly fulfilled ; narrating the won- 
 derful life and death, resurrection and ascension, of Jesus 
 Christ ; giving us, especially in his admirable discourses, a 
 perfect code of morality sublimely illustrated and happily 
 enforced ; suggesting the means of propagating his Gospel, 
 together with the form of government assigned to the evan- 
 gelical church ; illustrating the nature, spirit, design, and 
 influences, of his high mediation ; opening our view into re- 
 mote futurity; announcing the consummation of all things; 
 introducing us into eternity, — what a mighty accession does 
 the sacred volume bring to the knowledge of the human 
 race ! Who, considering these things, is not piepared to join
 
 180 
 
 ill the soliloquy of" a noble and celebrated personage *, and, 
 laying his hand on the Bible, to exclaim, " Here is true phi- 
 losophy. This is the wisdom that speaks to the heart. A 
 bad life is the only grand objection to this book !" Who is 
 not disposed to adopt the encomium of a great eastern lu- 
 minary ? " The collection of tracts, Avhich, from their ex- 
 cellence, we call Scriptures, contain, independant of a di- 
 vine origin, more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, 
 purer morality, more important history, and finer strains both 
 of poetry and of eloquence, than can be collected within 
 the same compass from all other books that were ever com- 
 posed in any age or in any idiom -f-." 
 Bituai. Incomparable in her intellectual information, Christianity, 
 
 as an institute of worship, is also unrivalled. Her ritual is 
 the most simple and spiritual that was ever inculcated by any 
 authority. Her forms of devotion are few and inexpensive ; 
 such as all may observe, and natural religion might sanction. 
 Her chief ordinances are venerably plain, and sublimely 
 significant. Recalling mankind from an excessive regard to 
 elegance of exterior in the rites of worship, she fixes their 
 attention on the sentiments of the mind, on the state and 
 
 * Earl of Rochester. t Sir William Jones.
 
 18J 
 
 frame of the heart. Raising them above the degrading 
 slavery of sense, she teaches them to aspire after converse 
 with heaven and with God. Rescuing them from low and 
 mercenary views of obedience, she invites them to serve the 
 Father of all and the God of salvation, from a principle of 
 faith in his high discoveries, from a sense of gratitude for 
 the inestimable gift of his Son, from confidence in his cha- 
 racter, and from love to him on account of his excellence 
 and his liberality. 
 
 Far from injuring morality, or overlooking its interests, the influence on 
 
 holiness. 
 
 Gospel has incorporated with her system, and enforced by 
 considerations the most sublime and the most affecting, a 
 code of duty the most pure, the most generous, in every re- 
 spect the most admirable, that ever was given to the world. 
 Here religion is not divorced from righteousness. On the 
 contrary, all her ordinances are calculated to inspire, to che- 
 rish, to excite, a love of practical goodness in all its forms. 
 A high and faultless example, which even unbelievers have 
 been compelled to admire and recommend, illustrates her 
 precepts, and gives life and the most engaging beauty to 
 the dead letter of the law. 
 
 Such is the frailty of our nature, that there is nothing Agency of 
 
 the Holy 
 
 which mankind feel so much in the hour of trial, as their ^P'"*-
 
 182 
 
 absolute dependence upon divine aid. All religions, ac- 
 cordingly, have supposed the inspiration and agency of ce- 
 lestial beings ; but it was reser\'ed for revelation and Chris- 
 tianity, not only to confirm this assumption, but to give the 
 conception transcendent dignity and interest, by assigning 
 this important Avork to the third Person of Godhead, by 
 connecting it with the plan of redemption, and by apply- 
 ing it to the consolation of good men under all the varied 
 services and suffeiings of life. The spirit of God is repre- 
 sented as dwelling in the saints ; so that, by a sublime figure, 
 their bodies become his temple. He perfects the work of 
 God within them. He supports them under all the pres- 
 sures of the present existence. He leads them to the land 
 of uprightness. 
 View of fu- And these intimations which the Gospel gives of a future 
 
 ture state of 
 
 teing. existence, are incomparably superior, in evidence and in 
 
 elevated interest, to those of Pagan superstition in any of 
 its forms. How pure and sublime that heaven which Chris- 
 tianity reveals, and after which the saint is taught to aspire ! 
 There, according to the delineation of the Scriptures, around 
 the throne of the Eternal, in the regions of immortality, are 
 assembled all good and great beings. There are no sen- 
 sualities, no frivolities, such as the Hindoo heaven or Ma-
 
 183 
 
 hometan paradise presents. There all is great, and pure, 
 and high. It is the seat of perfect intelligence, of perfect 
 rectitude, of perfect enjoyment, of perfect friendship, of per- 
 petual praise. It is such as reason approves, as a saint may 
 desire, and as God himself may enjoy. And the hell of the 
 Scriptures is exactly such as is best calculated to deter from 
 vice, to inspire an abhorrence of sin, to give a suitable sanc- 
 tion to the prescriptions of the law, to promote the interests 
 of the holy empire of God, to magnify his grace, and to 
 confer a solemn grandeur upon the scheme of redemption. 
 It is in unison with the other parts of the economy of hea- 
 ven. It exhibits an admirable, though an awful consistence. 
 It bears the same character of magnificent design, impres- 
 sive majesty, and boundless prospect. 
 
 And as the system of Christianity is thus most elevated Liberality of 
 
 her spirit. 
 
 and interesting in her references, as she carries her views 
 and consequences into an eternal state ; so she extends her 
 regards to all mankind, and would proselyte the world " to 
 the obedience of the faith." Far fi'om the selfish and ex- 
 clusive spirit of the superstition of Brahma, the religion of 
 Jesus is the religion of the whole human race. Her provi- 
 sions and promises respect them all. She seeks to embrace 
 them all. She is desirous of numbering the inhabitants of
 
 184 
 
 Reasonable- 
 ness of her 
 claims. 
 
 all lands among her disciples ; of adding them all without 
 distinction to the " nations of them that are saved." 
 
 Obviously divine in her doctrines and prescriptions, in 
 her references and spirit, Christianity is not less disinterest- 
 ed and dignified in her claims. For herself, she asks nothing 
 but a fair opportunity of promulgating her tenets ; for her 
 ministers, no splendid emoluments, no worldly pomp or 
 power, only that they may enjoy that protection in the ex- 
 ercise of their holy vocation to which they are so justly en- 
 titled, and that respectable support which befits their sta- 
 tion in society, and by which, exempted from the cares of 
 worldly pursuits, they may be enabled to devote themselves 
 entirely to the service of God and of man. 
 
 Importance 
 of our object. 
 
 The above sketch of the excellencies of Christianity, 
 though rapid and imperfect, may perhaps be sufficient to 
 shew its incalculable superiority to all other religions ; and 
 to convince us, both that, next to his O'wn Son, it is the most 
 precious boon that the Father of lights and of mercies has 
 bestowed on ening mankind, and that its introduction into 
 any Pagan country may be justly regarded as the happiest- 
 era, as the most benign revolution in its history.
 
 185 
 
 Conceraing the period when this may be attempted with Question re- 
 
 spciUiig the 
 
 the prospect of success, a controversy has of" kite years necessity of 
 
 ■* ' civilisation. 
 
 arisen. Some have contended, that civihsation is indispen- 
 sably necessary to the propagation of Christianity : others 
 conceive, that it is not at all requisite. This dispute, like 
 many others, it Avould seem may be superseded by a dis- 
 tinction. The want of refinement is not an insuperable ob- 
 stacle, for the Gospel has been addressed, with success, to 
 wanderino- and rude tribes of those we call savaoes ; and it 
 is accommodated, in its admirable doctrines and consola- 
 tions, laws and ordinances, to all classes of mankind, to the 
 Jew and to the Greek, to the Barbarian and to the Scy- 
 thian, as well as to the member of polished society. Yet, 
 who that reflects for a moment will den}^ that civilisation 
 affords many facilities for the execution of this holy enter- 
 prise ? — that tribes, which are scattered abroad over a wild 
 'and extensive track, and accustomed perpetually to rove, 
 are not easily assembled for the celebration of divine ser- 
 vice ? — that, to those who have made no progress in the arts 
 and sciences, many of the allusions used in scripture must 
 be unintelligible ? — that their language, scanty in terms, and 
 low in its range of ideas, must Avant expressions correspond- 
 ing to the sublime and various truths of Christianity ? — 
 
 2 A
 
 186 
 
 and that a missionary, who has been educated in a refined 
 state of society, ^vill find it extremely difficult to bring down 
 his thoughts and terms to the degraded level of their under- 
 standing and speech ? 
 Application Somctliing has already been advanced to shew, that the, 
 
 ot tiif ques- ° '' 
 
 object" """^ Hindoos are susceptible of farther progress in civilisation ; 
 but, unquestionably, they are already so far advanced in re- 
 finement, that the attempt to introduce the Gospel amongst 
 them, need not, on that account, be postponed. 
 
 Obstructions. Howevcr, otlicr obstacles, of a formidable nature, oppose 
 the execution of this benevolent project. The introduction 
 of a new religion into any country, is a work extremely deli- 
 cate, difiicult, and hazardous ; so that some, who, with rude 
 and rash hand, endeavoured to pull down a fabric consecra- 
 ted by the prejudices of a people, have not only perished 
 themselves through their imprudence, but involved that dy- 
 nasty to which they belonged in their ruin. Tlie underta- 
 king becomes exceedingly more hazardous, and its success 
 more uncertain, when that system, which we would subvert, 
 has been long venerated and upheld, not only by the pre- 
 judices of one generation, but by the habitudes, and attach- 
 ments, and institutions, of ages. If the religion to be in- 
 troduced, so far from according in its most essential intima-
 
 187 
 
 tions and claims, with the established belief, wages avowed 
 and direet hostilities with it, and proposes nothing else than 
 the utter expulsion of its rival and predecessor, the danger 
 and the difhculty Avill be exceedingly increased. But that 
 these remarks apply to the case before us, and that those 
 who would propagate and establish Christianity in Ilindostan, 
 will have to struggle Avith all these adverse circumstances, is 
 too obvious to require illustration. Nor with these alone. 
 A simple, spiritual, and holy religion, will have to contend 
 with disadvantages peculiar to itself. To turn men from the 
 devotion of the senses, to the piety of the mind and heart ; 
 from a ritual Avhich is pompous and magnificent, to one, 
 Avhich, however venerable in the eye of enlightened reason, 
 is yet unadorned and unostentatious ; from a system which 
 connives at human corruption, or even prescribes and in- 
 dulges, as an act of piety, the gratification of forbidden pro- 
 pensities, to one which professedly wars with human lusts, 
 in their most imposing and least perceptible operations, 
 which prohibits the latent thought not less than the open 
 act, the secret wish as well as the impure gratification, the 
 unholy principle as much as the sinful practice, — this must 
 appear an enterprise, which, if not impracticable, is incum- 
 bered with singular and complicated difficulties. Yet all
 
 188 
 
 these must, in this instance, be anticipated and overcome. 
 Other circumstances occur to oppose this desirable issue. 
 Universal indifference to all religious peculiarities prevails 
 in Hindostan. With them it is a favourite maxim, that all 
 worship is alike to Deity ; and that all classes of mankind, 
 while they sincerely follow the observances of their religion, 
 be it what it ma}^ are equally acceptable in his sight. Now, 
 is it to be expected, that men, actuated by such a persua- 
 sion, will listen with great eagerness to a Christian mission- 
 ary propounding a new religion ? Will they examine his 
 claims with much interest ? Will they forego much to em- 
 brace a system, which, while it is less indulgent, is not, in 
 their opinion, more acceptable ? Besides, howsoever simple 
 and affecting be the grand facts whereon Christianity rests, 
 they are connected Avith m3'steries Avhich it is impossible for 
 ingenuity to explain, or reason fully to apprehend. Grant- 
 ing that these were to be expected in a religion which pro- 
 fesses to come from God, and treats both of his nature and 
 of the higher arrangements of his government ; granting also, 
 that nothing but discoveries beyond the ken of reason can 
 justify the supernatural interposition of Deity in human af- 
 fairs, or the standing miracle of a divine revelation ; and 
 granting, moreover, that the religion of Hindostan, like
 
 189 
 
 every other false religion in any degree refined, lias its mys- 
 teries ; yet, after all, we must remember, that what is fami- 
 liar, though not less unaccountable, is easily admitted, while 
 what is only strange, not more inexplicable, will shock be- 
 lief, especially when, besides all, it goes to subvert ancient 
 and venerated institutions. Again, that abject submission 
 to the dictates of an interested and embodied priesthood, 
 to which the natives have long been trained, and these ter- 
 rors of a sentence of excommunication, more dreadful than 
 that of the ancient Jews, incessantly suspended over the 
 heads of those who might presume to desert the established 
 religion of the country, and embrace the new faith, must 
 not be forgotten in estimating those impediments which ob- 
 struct the progress of the Gospel in Hindostan. Perhaps, 
 too, the opinion which the natives have been led to form of 
 the religion offered to their acceptance from the conduct of 
 some of its professed adherents, may not have been corre- 
 spondent to its excellence. For it is a remark, not less com- 
 mon than mournful, that the unbecoming lives of many 
 Christians, suggest the principal objection to Christianity. 
 " O great Sir, (is the simple expression of the feelings of 
 some Hindoos addressed to a Christian missionary) though 
 we thought that many nations had many kinds of shasters,
 
 190 
 
 yet in the country of the Enghsh we thought tliere was no 
 shaster at all ; for, concerning sin and holiness, those that 
 are here have no judgment at all. We have even thought, 
 that they were not men, but a kind of other creatures, like 
 devourers */' In fine, to be convinced that this is an " enter- 
 prise of some pith and moment," it may be proper to recol- 
 lect, that all the authority and influence of their ]\lahometan 
 masters, enforcing a religion suitable, in some of its capital 
 tenets, to the voluptuous propensities of the Indians, were 
 baffled. They avIio had easily overrun and subjugated Hin- 
 dostan, found the inhabitants in this view alone invincible. 
 They had power to exterminate ; but they Avere unable to 
 convert this mild but inflexible race of men. 
 Facilities -^^^ while, ou the one hand, to possess ourselves Avith a just 
 
 idea of the magnitude of the undertaking, to regulate our 
 plans, and to prevent over-sanguine expectations Avhich might 
 induce despondency, Ave contemplate the obstacles Avhich are 
 to be surmounted ; on the other, let us not overlook those 
 circumstances that are promising. The condition and cha- 
 f racter of the natives may inspire hope. Having reached a 
 
 state of considerable civilisation, no difiiculties similar to 
 
 * Bapt, Mag.
 
 191 
 
 these which tlie enterprising heralds of North America ex-- 
 perienced in convening the rude and roaming savages of the 
 New World, or to those which the patient and adventurous 
 Moravians encountered, Avhen they j)enetrated into the 
 dreary and inhospitable regions of Labrador and Green- 
 land, can occur to the propagators of Christianity in Hin- 
 dostan. The climate is good, the country populous, the 
 communication not dithcult, and the Hindoos everywhere 
 may be easily assembled. Their attention also may be ob- 
 tained without much difficulty ; nor will they fail to com- 
 prehend terms borrowed from the usages, labours, and feel- 
 ings of civilised life. Of a mild and complacent cast ot 
 spirit, and, with all their veneration for the shasters, dis- 
 posed to hear, even with patience, their authority contro- 
 verted, and their statements exposed, a Christian missionary 
 may be assured of civil treatment, and a fair audience from 
 this interesting people. A comparison of the two religions, 
 of Christianity and Braminism, will suggest other encourage- 
 ments. There are certain correspondencies of facts and 
 views, of which a judicious missionary may successfully avail 
 himself. A striking resemblance to the Trinity of the Scrip- 
 tures may be found in the pre-eminence of their three prin- 
 cipal divinities, and the peculiar honours which they re-
 
 192 
 
 ceive. That there is nevertheless one Supreme Being, to 
 whom they ascribe several of the attributes of Jehovah; 
 that he is to be worshipped and served ; that the soul is im- 
 mortal ; that we have all sinned ; and that an atonement 
 is necessary, are truths (we are told) believed by them all : 
 and these are also the fundamental tenets of the Christian 
 religion. The Hindoos are all predestinarians ; and, while 
 the missionary will avoid their dogma of fatalism, he may 
 graft upon their views the doctrine of election, taught in the 
 Scriptures, and lying at the foundation of the gospel scheme 
 of redemption. There are also facts recorded in the narra- 
 nves of their mythology, which, whether imagined by fancy, 
 or conveyed by tradition, as is most probable, bear a won- 
 derful resemblance to the accounts given in the INIosaic 
 Avritings, concerning the leading events in the early history 
 of our world, and of the human race. The Hindoos also 
 celebrate occasionally, with much pomp, the incarnation of 
 their god Vishnu. These circumstances afford openings, 
 which a man of judgment will know how to improve to ad- 
 vantage, as Paul did that peculiarity in the ritual of the 
 Athenians, from which he took occasion to preach unto 
 them " the true God and eternal life." By recent accounts 
 too, the subjects of the British empire in India, are disposed
 
 193 
 
 to listen to the Gospel : a spirit of inquiry is said to be ex»- 
 cited among them in some places ; and they read with avi- 
 dity, such religious tracts, or translations of the Scriptures, 
 as are put into their hands. They are represented, besides, 
 as attached but slightly to their idols, readily confessing the 
 insufficiency of their shasters, and looking for a more per- 
 fect revelation. What happy omens are these ! It might 
 have been presumed, considering the long usurpation and 
 ample emoluments of the Braminical priesthood, that they 
 would have been seduced to idleness, carelessness, and vice : 
 and, if this be the fact, and it be also true, as has been sug- 
 gested, that the respectability and influence of the order 
 are greatly on the dechne ; the chief obstacle to the propa- 
 gation of Christianity in the East, is already, in a great 
 measure, removed by the hand of Providence. But the 
 Gospel seeks her counterpart in human nature itself; and, 
 in her facts, her doctrines, and institutions, appeals to views 
 and feelings that are universally prevalent. Her Jesus is 
 represented, in ancient prophecy, as the " desire of all na- 
 tions ;" and a mediation such as his, is unquestionably the 
 common desideratum of mankind. " A certain man, on the 
 Malabar coast, had been directed, as a punishment for his 
 ^ins, to make a journey of four hundred and eighty miles, 
 
 2 B
 
 194 
 
 "vvith spikes driven through his sandals. In one of these 
 halts, Avhich loss of blood and exhaustion of strength com- 
 pelled him to take, he happened to hear a missionary preach 
 from these Avords : ' The blood of Jesus, God's Son, clean- 
 seth from all sin/ Struck Avith the grandeur and suitable- 
 ness of the fact illustrated, the AvayAvorn pilgrim thrcAV off 
 his blood-stained sandals, exclaiming, ' This is Avhat 1 Avant,' 
 and thenceforth became a disciple of the cross *." Thus 
 Hindoos feel their need of a SaAdour like others : and thus 
 the doctrine of the Gospel approves itself, as equally suit- 
 able to the case of sinful man amongst all kindreds, tongues, 
 and nations. In short, the dignity and poAver of the British 
 government concurring in this enterprise, as far as may be 
 consistent Avith the rights of conscience, and Avith the na- 
 ture of Christ's spiritual and holy empire, Avould both in- 
 sure protection to the missionaries, and incline the natives 
 to give them a Avelcome reception and a candid hearing. 
 
 This last reference might suggest the consideration of the 
 means to be employed in propagating the Gospel among 
 this interesting and complacent tribe of men. 
 
 It may not be improper, hoAvever, first of all, to take a 
 
 * Bapl. Mag.
 
 195 
 
 Ijricf review of what has already been done toward the exe- 
 cution of this high project. 
 
 Most of the European powers, who have possessed any History of 
 
 former at- 
 
 considerable settlements in the peninsula, have used some tciipts. 
 endeavours to proselyte the Hindoos to Christianity. The 
 Portuguese, the Dutch, and the Danes, have all attempted, 
 each in their own way, and agreeably to their own opinions, 
 this desirable end. The success of the first of these nations, 
 introducing a very corrupt and accommodating form of 
 Christianity, can scarcely be supposed to have forwarded 
 the main design. The ease with which the converts to 
 Popery relapse again to heathenism, shews, that the alliance- 
 betwixt these two forms of religion is very intimate, while" 
 the Roman Catholic, like the Hindoo, is too often " washed 
 only to fouler stains." With both, the same neglect of mo- 
 ral duties ; the same veneration for images, for holy water, 
 and frivolous rites ; and the same discrimination of days, 
 meats, &c. prevail. Yet even Popery, with all its evils, ne- 
 cessarily includes the diffusion of some of the great truths 
 of revealed religion ; and it is the opinion of a Protestant 
 missionary in Bengal, " That even this con-upt Christianity 
 may serve to prepare the way for some good to themselves 
 (its professors) and to others." Although engrossed in com-
 
 196 
 
 raercial speculations, the Dutch have not been altogether 
 unmindful of the prosecution of higher interests; and, in 
 Ceylon and their other settlements, they have had consider- 
 able success. Ilindostan has derived still greater illumina- 
 tion from the Danes. They have made Tranquebar, not 
 only an emporium of commerce, but a centre of missionary 
 exertions; and, having pursued the benevolent enterprise 
 with unostentatious but lively zeal, they have at length the 
 satisfaction of learning, by recent accounts from India, that, 
 although " the beginnings were small," and for a long time 
 almost hopeless, yet " the latter end" promises great in- 
 crease *. But Christianity perhaps owes more in India to the 
 exertions of a religious body in this country, unconnected 
 with any local interests, than to all those who have for ages 
 possessed territories in that region. Some years ago, a me- 
 dical gentleuian of the society of Particular Baptists in 
 England, who had been in India, conceived, and, upon his 
 return, communicated to some religious friends, the gene- 
 rous design of attempting personally the conversion of the 
 natives. A minister of the same persuasion, whose heart 
 Ood had previously inclined to the same good work, soon 
 
 * Bapt. Mag,
 
 197 
 
 came forward, and engaged to accompany liim to this scene 
 of precarious but honourable exertion. Introduced clan- 
 destinely into the country ; viewed for some time with a 
 jealous eye by our government there ; even compelled by 
 circumstances to take up their residence at first in the ter- 
 ritory of another European power ; after having set them- 
 selves assiduously to learn the language of the province, 
 they began to address the natives, and by degrees excited 
 some stir amongst them. At length, having erected a print- 
 ing press, having translated and dispersed, from time to 
 time, portions of the Scriptures, together with small evan- 
 gelical tracts, they found the emotions of the public mind 
 greatly increase. By their prudent and peaceful conduct, 
 they have also obtained the countenance of the colonial go- 
 vernment, and are now flattered with prospects of rapid suc- 
 cess. Several of the natives, even of the Braminical order, 
 have voluntarily renounced cast, and submitted to baptism : 
 a church is formed, and gathering : a spirit of inquiry is 
 roused : the plan of the mission is enlarging : the prospects 
 of accelerated progress, in this glorious career, are opening. 
 
 Such is the brief sketch of the history of former exertions Defects of 
 
 former ;it- 
 
 for evangelising the natives of India, which it seemed expe- tempts, and 
 dient to premise. Carried on upon a small scale, by a few
 
 198 
 
 persons, in distant parts of the country, with slender means, 
 
 without concert, almost without plan, and in the last case 
 
 transition to witliout the couutenancc of the public authorities, the trial 
 
 the present 
 
 project. }^as never been fairly made, the enterprise has never been 
 
 conducted with all those advantages which it might have 
 possessed. 
 
 General pre- Let US impress our minds continually with the persuasion, 
 
 liminary con- 
 sideration, that all the success is of God. The light, the impulse, the 
 
 efficacy, must proceed from him. As he can bless the most 
 feeble and unpromising attempts, so he can as easily frus- 
 trate schemes the best laid, exertions the most strenuous, 
 and a combination of circumstances the most magnificent 
 and favourable. " Paul may plant, (says the great mission- 
 ary of the Gentiles) and Appollos water, but God alone 
 giveth the increase. Not by might, nor by power, but by 
 my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts." The history of the first 
 and most glorious era of the propagation of the Gospel 
 among the Gentiles, amply illustrates and confirms the for- 
 mer part of the preceding position. In revolving the annals 
 of that interesting period of ecclesiastical history, we con- 
 template a singular and sublime spectacle. A few despised 
 Jews, Avithout wealth and without worldly infiuence of any 
 kind, too candid to use art, too simple and uninformed to
 
 199 
 
 avail themselves of the powers of eloquence and philosophy, 
 are seen going forth to convert the nations to a taitii, new 
 in its facts, mysterious in its doctrines, and decidedly hostile 
 in its spirit to all the established superstitions. They went 
 forth in the name of the Lord, and God went with them. 
 He eminently blessed their labours. He was pleased, " by 
 the foolishness of preaching," to save very many. For the 
 reverse of this view, and the illustration of the other part of 
 the position, we may advert to the history of latter times. 
 In our days we have seen at least one splendid missionary 
 undertaking * fail in its object, abandoned by its projectors, 
 and disastrous in its consequences to those zealous but un- 
 fortunate men, by whom it was prosecuted, and who em- 
 barked in it with the most sanguine hopes of success. The 
 Sovereign Ruler of all has seen meet to frown upon it. 
 
 But while we recollect that nothing can be done effec- Necessity of 
 
 means. 
 
 tually Avithout the blessing of heaven, let us also be admo- 
 nished, that, since miracles have ceased, we must resort to 
 ordinary means ; and that, to found a reasonable hope of 
 success, these means must be adapted, as exactly as humaa 
 wisdom and power can, to the object we would attain.. 
 
 * To the South Sea Islands.
 
 ^00 
 
 !\rust be Christianity, in the dictates of the Saviour and his apostles, 
 
 evungelical. 
 
 as well as in the example of the first ministers of the word, 
 has prescribed the means of her own propagation ; and it 
 is indispensably necessary, that those which we employ be 
 scriptural in their character, spirit, and relations. If the will 
 of God be not consulted, we cannot reasonably expect the 
 blessing of heaven : if his institutions be transgressed, we 
 shall be in fact fighting against the Most High, while we 
 may imagine that we are promoting his cause. Besides, as 
 Christianity is a perfect whole, as each part of the system 
 harmonises with every other, he who would propagate Chris- 
 tianity by methods different from those which she autho- 
 rises, must necessarily misrepresent her economy to the 
 world, and ultimately injure her interests. 
 Open a field At the Same time, it was impracticable to give all the de- 
 
 for inquiry, 
 
 tails in this case ; and, while we adhere with exactitude to 
 the grand outlines of the plan, as far as they are prescribed 
 and exemplified in the Gospel, in filling up these, not a 
 little is necessarily left to Christian wisdom and prudence. 
 The limits of the divine law must not be overstepped ; but, 
 within that holy circle, human discretion and holy ingenuity 
 will find enough about which to exercise themselves.
 
 201 
 
 When the Gospel began to be pubhshed, all the consti- Tiie investi- 
 
 palioii in this 
 
 tuted authorities were adverse to the rising; cause : and hi- case new and 
 
 ° diliicult. 
 
 therto tlie world has seldom seen even Christian govern- 
 ments exerting themselves in their proper sphere, lor the 
 propagation of the religion of Jesus. Attempts made by 
 the rulers of nations, particularly of conquered countries, to 
 introduce and enforce a spurious form of Christianity, by 
 all the teiTors of despotic authority, and all the cruelties of 
 unrelenting persecution, the world has indeed too frequent- 
 ly witnessed. But exertions, on their part, to introduce the 
 religion of the cross, in its primitive simplicity, and by 
 means according with its mild genius, is a spectacle almost 
 as novel, as it is interesting and honourable. On this sub- 
 ject, then, as the precedents are rare, as the circumstance is 
 extraordinary, so the speculation is difficult, and the con- 
 clusions, having seldom or never been subjected to the test 
 of experience, must be regarded Avith less confidence. 
 
 Various circumstances render it extremely delicate and Danger of 
 
 political in- 
 hazardous for civil governments to interfere at all in this ''^''icrence. 
 
 matter. Christianity claims conviction, a free, unbiassed 
 conviction in her disciples : but, when the authority and in- 
 fluence of the reigning powers are all avowedly and strenu- 
 ously exerted in support of her cause, a temptation to dis- 
 
 S c
 
 202 
 
 ingenuous compliance is held out, which, it may be feared, 
 will prove too powerful for multitudes. Thus we shall, in 
 man}'^ cases, have only specious hypocrites, when we wish 
 real converts. Besides, religion, like genius, is too delicate a 
 principle to be subjected, without injury, to the rude grasp 
 of power. Faith, like love, cannot be created by any fiat, but 
 that which is divine. Religion and faith are both the gifts 
 of God, and claim to be free in their movements, as the 
 light and the air of heaven. Here then, as in many other 
 cases in which human legislators indiscreetly interfere, 
 " laissez nous faire," is an admonition, which it would be 
 wise in them more frequently to revolve. And, to combine 
 the security and stability of government (especially in a con- 
 quered country) with liberty of conscience in the subject, 
 particularly when any change in the established religion is 
 attempted or in contemplation, must ever be a task of no 
 small delicacy and difficulty. 
 Concurrence Yct there are certain things which, it would seem, jgjo- 
 
 of the civil o ' » & 
 
 authorities, vemment may do in this case, without prejudice to the in- 
 terests of religion, or the rights of conscience. She may ex- 
 tend her protection to the missionaries, point out certain 
 local arrangements, suggest plans, and give her aid towards 
 a systematic combination of their measures. She may so
 
 in Ilindostan. 
 
 20S 
 
 frame her polity and instruct her servants, as, in various 
 ways, indirectly to promote the grand design. She may 
 suppl}' funds for the midertaking, build the necessary liouseSj 
 and guarantee, by the sanction of her authority, a compe- 
 tent support to the teachers of various classes. She may 
 require a suitable pledge of fealty from them, and claim, 
 that, according to the true spirit of our holy religion, " they 
 lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty." 
 
 From unconnected and desultory efforts, however wise Systematic 
 
 co-operation 
 
 and vigorous, the same good effects cannot be expected, as oft'ietnends 
 
 '-' ^ ^ ot tlic Gospel 
 
 from a methodised and extensive system of operation. To 
 combine and arrange well the measures of this holy enter- 
 prise, and to render these commensurate to their object, 
 must then appear of the first importance. AYith this view 
 a common council of the friends of Christianity, a grand 
 evangelical society, may be formed, which, while it would 
 not exclude but invite the assistance of other societies 
 abroad who are employed in the same general cause, might 
 have the Indian missions under its particular superintend- 
 ance. That this society should be numerous, is not ne- 
 cessary : and indeed it may be feared, that many eligible 
 persons, resident in India, might not easily be found. Few 
 will promise more cordial union, and will be sufficient to
 
 204 
 
 watch over the execution of the plans. Let them be such 
 as choose voluntarily to associate for this purpose, and con- 
 tribute their counsels and labours gratis, that malevolence 
 may not have cause to throw any imputation upon the li- 
 berality of their motives. Let them be men, whose charac- 
 ters will be a security, to government and the country, for 
 the rectitude of their measures ; and whose exemplary good- 
 ness may reflect lustre on the undertaking. Let them be 
 united in sentiment and spirit, — in the faith, and hope, and 
 practice, of the Gospel. Let them meet, if possible, in 
 some central situation, and be intrusted (under a suitable 
 responsibility) with the application of the funds devoted to 
 this noble purpose. And let it be determined, that they 
 shall regulate the religious concerns of the mission, uncon- 
 troulled by aught except the sacred prescriptions of the word 
 of God, the enlightened dictates of their own minds, and the 
 sense of that important duty they owe to God, — their coun- 
 try, —and the human race. Theirs be the glorious, but 
 dulj'-limited task, not of encroaching upon the rights of 
 conscience, not of interfering with powers strictly ecclesi- 
 astical, not of exercising civil authority; but of creating 
 funds and watching over their expenditure ; of arranging 
 plans, of selecting proper persons, of suggesting to then"
 
 205 
 
 their stations and labours, of providing acconnnodations, of 
 extending protection, of opening facilities for missionary ex- 
 ertion, &c. Above all, it is of the highest importance that 
 this should appear to be a truly Christian association. In 
 the character of the members, and in the apparent design of 
 its formation, it must be essentially unlike to that mission- 
 ary society (doubtless a satire upon the name) Avhich is said 
 to have been instituted not long ago by one, who, openly 
 and unblushingly, has made religion more a matter of state 
 trick than was almost ever done before ; and which is repre- 
 sented as composed of the clerks of the different bureaus of 
 government, alike ignorant (we may presume) of the doc- 
 trines of the Gospel, and inattentive to the duties of reli- 
 gion : acquainted not with the laws of Jesus, but with the 
 details of a Ioav and tortuous policy : the mean creatures of 
 an infamous usurper, not the dignified servants, the upright 
 vicegerents, of the God of heaven : their lives a scandal to 
 the profession of Christianity, neither illustrative of her ex- 
 cellence, nor calculated to advance that noble cause in sup- 
 port of which they profess to be embodied. 
 
 Liberal, though well principled, Avill be that association. Room for the 
 
 cxcrlions of 
 
 whose character we have been delineating, whose powers we a'l the fncnds 
 
 '-' ^ of cvan;;c-lical 
 
 have been attempting to define. Far from them be the [I 
 
 truth rami he» 
 ncss.
 
 20(5 
 
 spirit of a jealous and exclusive corporation, — of a selfish 
 monopoly. The harvest is great, while the labourers must 
 of necessity be comparatively few. Sufficiently ample is 
 the sphere of action for every evangelical auxiliary ; nor, if 
 matters are judiciously arranged, can there be any hazard 
 of their interfering with one another. The cause is common 
 to all Christians ; and the success of each, while it does not 
 lessen the triumphs of another, will enhance the joy of all 
 who are actuated by the temper and views of our benevo- 
 lent religion. Nothing but prejudice the most illiberal, or 
 an arrangement the most injudicious, can prevent this pri- 
 mary association from availing themselves of the labours of 
 other societies or individuals, who, coiTesponding in their 
 views of the religion of Jesus, may be already embarked, or 
 may be disposed yet to engage, in this holy and benevolent 
 enterprise. For cordial co-operation, as well as ultimate 
 success, a coincidence of religious sentiment, feeling, and 
 views, is necessary. The disputes betwixt the Jesuits on the 
 one side, and the Dominicans and Franciscans on the other, 
 occasioned the expulsion of both from China, after they had 
 made considerable progress in proselyting the natives, and 
 attained high favour with the court. And, for the security 
 of the government, as avcII as the dignity of the mission,
 
 207 
 
 persons whose characters, principles, and abilities, are not 
 suthcicntly accredited, ought to be accounted inadmissible. 
 But, with these limitations, all who arc " willing to give 
 themselves to the Lord" in this field of honourable and use- 
 ful activity, should be heartily welcomed. This Christian 
 union Avill be productive of many obvious advantages. A 
 certain holy emulation Avill thus be excited, and the diffe- 
 rent societies and labourers " Avill provoke one another to 
 love and to good Avorks." The expences, being shared by 
 others, and drawn in part from foreign sources, will be less- 
 ened to the chief institution. Consistency of plan, harmony 
 of operation, will thus be secured : and, while the attempt 
 is carried on systematically and jointly, it is likely to prove 
 more efficient, than if it had been conducted only by one 
 society, or by several societies without any concurrence of 
 views or correspondence of exertion. Already in Hindos- 
 tan there are missionaries from the Societ}^ in England for 
 propagating Christian knowledge, from the Association for 
 the conversion of the Heathens more recently formed in the 
 capital of the empire, from the Danes, and above all from 
 the Particular Baptists, whose humble and unostentatious, 
 but active and well-directed labours, seem to have occa- 
 sioned a mighty sensation among the subjects of the British
 
 20« 
 
 empire in the North. Let none of these, who may prove 
 himself, by his principles and conduct, worthy of the privi- 
 lege, be excluded from the work, or forgotten in laying the 
 scheme of the grand project, b}" which it may henceforth 
 be conducted on a scale somewhat suitable to its own mag- 
 nificence. 
 Translation jjy the excrtions of the last of these classes of missionaries 
 
 and disper- 
 sion of the chieflv, an expedient of primary importance for dift'using the 
 
 Scriptures. ^ ' r r j i o 
 
 knowledge of Christianity has been provided, viz. the trans- 
 lation of the Scriptures into the language of the country. 
 The Bible is the grand record of our holy religion, in the 
 phraseology of Hindostan, the only divine shaster. To 
 translate this faithfully into the languages of the natives, 
 and disperse it through the provinces of the empire, seems 
 a measure, which would naturally have suggested itself and 
 been adopted, as the very first that ought to have been 
 taken. It prepares the way for the preaching of the word ; 
 it is putting into the hands of the unenlightened that text 
 book, the commentary upon which you are afterwards to 
 illustrate by more particular instructions. A great charac- 
 ter, of whom, whether Britain or India, literature or reli- 
 gion, were most indebted, it might be difficult to deter- 
 mine, after having filled a high station in the latter coun-
 
 209 
 
 try for several years, and given great attention to the sub- 
 ject, has added the authority of his name to this suggestion. 
 " The Hindoos," he says, " cannot be converted by the 
 missionaries of the Cathohc, or any other church ; but the 
 best, and only means, is to translate some portions of evan- 
 gelical prophecy, with one of the Gospels; to print these, 
 accompanied with a prefatory discourse, illustrative of the 
 certainty of the facts contained in the latter, as Avell as of 
 their accomplishment ; to disperse these quietly among the 
 natives that are best educated, and leave them to their in- 
 fluence, which, if not successful, would at least shew the 
 strength of prejudice." This measure, though too long de- 
 layed, has at length been carried into effect. And the in- 
 fluence produced upon the Hindoos has exceeded the most 
 sanguine expectation. By late accoinits, an amazing spirit 
 of religious inquiry has been excited in Bengal ; thousands, 
 notwithstandmg the most artful, determined opposition on 
 the part of the Bramins, eagerly snatch and peruse the small 
 tracts or portions of Scripture which have been translated for 
 their use, and many are coming, time after time, even from 
 considerable distances, to solicit books, to inquire after the 
 new religion, and to request visits from the missionaries. 
 Thus the train of their labours has been somewhat changed. 
 
 2 D
 
 210 
 
 Now the press, as one of tliem v. rites, is pouring out its 
 thousands of missionai'ies. And these messengers of hea- 
 ven possess many advantages. They easily find their way 
 into the bosom of every family. They preach in silence. 
 They deliver their message with divine authority. They re- 
 peat the same instruction again and again, according to the 
 ability or inclination of the disciple. But, although not a 
 little has been done to put this excellent mean of evange- 
 lising the heathen into operation, much more remains to be 
 accomplished. The Scriptures are rendered as yet only into 
 one or two dialects *, and dispersed through a small portion 
 of the country. Translate them into the other languages of 
 Hindostan, disperse them throughout the empire. The work 
 is laborious, but the country itself will afford every facility 
 for executing it, and many of our own countrymen can as- 
 sist in the translation. Large funds Avill be required ; but 
 Providence, in the recent formation of a society for trans- 
 lating the Bible into foreign languages, seems to have been 
 providing these by anticipation. And who can doubt that 
 an association, of Avhich Lord Teignmouth is the president, 
 will extend a liberal aid to promote Christianity in that 
 country, which he formerly illuminated by his professional 
 
 * Vide Note EE.
 
 211 
 
 and scientific labours, and to whose interests he is still 
 powerfully attached ? 
 
 To facilitate the distribution of the Scriptures thus trans- Aids lo be 
 
 derived from 
 
 lated into the lano;ua2;es of the country, and enable the ti"institu- 
 
 ^ ® "^ lion ol' !)r<)- 
 
 Hindoos to understand them, it will be expedient to have '"":'•'' ■"^"^'" 
 schools erected, in convenient situations throughout the em- 
 pire, similar to the parish schools in Scotland. How much 
 of the illumination of the public mind in the northern part 
 of the island, is owing to this simple but most important 
 institution, every one is aware, and we have lately heard 
 from liigh authority. Slenderly endowed as they are, at an 
 expence scarcely deserving of consideration, they have raised 
 high the national character, and contributed more than all 
 other means put together, (if you except one) to the diffu- 
 sion of religious knowledge. An attempt, exactly similar to 
 that which we are recommending, has been made by a so- 
 ciety instituted for promoting the knowledge of Christianity 
 in the Highlands and Isles of Scotland, and with great suc- 
 cess. Schools have been erected : teachers and catechists 
 have been appointed : ambidatory preachers have been al- 
 lotted to certain remote districts. What has been the con- 
 sequence ? Civilisation and Chi-istianity have been diffused 
 together. They have reached places formerly inaccessible
 
 212 
 
 to either, or into which the last alone, and in a very imper- 
 fect form, had penetrated. Barbarism and ignorance have 
 fled apace before their benign influence. Law, order, reli- 
 gion, now preside where their opposites once reigned. The 
 remote Highlander, once " wild as the wind Avhich wanders 
 over his mountains," now submits to the restraints of social 
 life : and he whose mind and heart were once strangers 
 to the auspicious eflicacj of the light of revelation, now 
 feels the sacred, the reviving influence, and rejoices in the 
 sublime and interesting discoveries of Christianity. Simi- 
 lar eifects will, in all probability, arise from the adop- 
 tion of the same expedient in Hindostan. In a coun- 
 try where the means of subsistence are so cheap, and the 
 Avages so low ; Avhere the natives are so numerous, so com- 
 placent in their manners, not destitute of an inquisitive 
 spirit, and desirous of being fitted for entering into the ser- 
 vice of the Company, it cannot be doubted, that, as these 
 institutions would be supported at a trifling cxpence, so 
 they would be resorted to by the Hindoos, and become the 
 means of rapidl}' promoting their improvement, civil and 
 religious. With a special view to the latter, the instruc- 
 tions therein given, might be adapted, in part at least, to 
 convey a knowledge of the elementary principles of Christi- 
 
 3
 
 213 
 
 anity. Let the Bible, or some evangelical treatise, or lor- 
 mula of catechetical instruction, be the manual of educa- 
 tion, in the native tongue or in J'^inglish ; and let pupils be 
 encouraged to attend, not only by the high views suggested 
 by religion, and the ordinary gratifications attendant upon tlie 
 acquisition of knowledge, but by the prospect of promotion, 
 civil or literary. Accordingly, let those who excel be ad- 
 vanced to be teachers themselves, and secured, during their 
 good behaviour, in a salaiy, which, while it cannot operate 
 as a temptation to hypocrisy in assuming a religious pro- 
 fession, may yet be competent to their decent support. 
 
 To these preparatoiy arrangements another may be add- Number an<i 
 cd. Besides stationary teachers, itinerant catechists and 
 missionaries will be required. ^Vhat number of the latter 
 might be necessary cannot be easily determined ; but it may 
 be suspected, that, when it is presumed twelve or twenty 
 would be sufficient to perambulate all Hindostan once or 
 twice every year*, the computation is too low, especially 
 considering the great extension of British territory by the 
 late conquests. At present, the full complement of chap- 
 lains for the establishment of the East India Compan}^ is 
 
 * Bapt. Mag. vol. i. p. 329-
 
 214 
 
 only nine : tlie actual number usually five or six. Three 
 are stationed at the respective presidencies : the rest, scat- 
 tered over a vast tract of country, enervated by the climate, 
 discouraged by the forbidding aspect of an unyielding su- 
 perstition, are seldom seen, scarcely ever deliver a sermon 
 to the natives, and are not easily obtained to officiate at the 
 usual solemnities of religion *. If the suggestion be true, 
 that they are not always men of the most exemplary con- 
 duct, and too often tainted Avith sinful conformity to the 
 spirit and manners of gay life, it will easily be perceived how 
 inadequate and inefficient, not to say adverse, to the pro- 
 motion of Christianity in India, such a system must prove. 
 In general it may be remarked, that there will be no neces- 
 sity for circumscribing the number of itinerant missionaries, 
 as the sphere of their ministry can easily be contracted ac- 
 cording to their increase, and the application of their la- 
 bours more and more concentrated, until they become sta- 
 tionary in a particular charge. Of far more importance it 
 must be to secure a conformity of principles, of spirit, of 
 views, and of character, to their high trust, and sacred func- 
 tion. It is presumed, from the design itself, that none 
 
 * Tenn. luU. llec. vol. i. pp. 96, 97.
 
 missionarit's, 
 
 215 
 
 who do not believe and profess their rcsohition to teach character of 
 " all things whatsoever Christ has conunandcd ;" — that none 
 who do not a])pear to possess a simplicity of heart to re- 
 lish the Avords of " the truth as it is in Jesus," and oivc 
 evidence, hy a suitable deportment, that th(>y have felt 
 the power of the Gospel, and submit to the laws of Chris- 
 tianity from a cordial attachment to our holy religion, 
 ought to be employed in this holy, evangelical enterprise. 
 A lively and active spirit of vital religion, accompanied 
 with a competent knowledge of evangelical truth; — a 
 warm sensibility of soul to the best interests of mankind, 
 especially to the state of the poor, perishing Hindoos ; — 
 knowledge of human nature and of the living Avorld, or at 
 least that natural acuteness which readily enters into cha- 
 racter, and quickly suggests what is fit to be spoken and 
 done, in every varied circumstance of human intercourse ; 
 — courage to brave danger, accompanied with prudence, 
 which does not unnecessarily provoke trials ; — that self-de- 
 nial, which is satisfied with little, and is willing, perhaps has 
 been trained in the school of adversity, to submit to the 
 disposals of Providence; — that enterprise of spirit, which 
 incites to action, united with that perseverance, which is 
 not soon cooled or overcome ; — and that lowliness of mind,
 
 216 : 
 
 which inclines the person both to think meanly of his at- 
 tainments, and to submit checit'uUy to whatever is neces- 
 sary for his information and improvement ; in short, piety, 
 missionary zeal, firmness, prudence, and docility, will ap- 
 pear desirable requisites *. To crown all, an evangelical 
 missionary must resemble, as much as possible, the lowly 
 and lovely Jesus, forming himself, in spirit and manners, 
 upon this most illustrious Model, and copying, in his minis- 
 try, the heavenly instructions of the great Apostle and High- 
 Piiest of our profession. 
 Mode of in- By what means he shall introduce and recommend him- 
 
 stiuction. 
 
 self and his message to the unenlightened and preoccupied 
 natives, must be left, in a great measure, to casual occur- 
 rences and Christian discretion. That aptitude to teach, 
 which can readily seize upon circumstances, and insinuate 
 itself, unawares, into the subject and the hearts of the hear- 
 ers, will be an invaluable talent. The formal, didactic 
 mode of instruction seems altogether imsuitable : the collo- 
 quial and the Socratic are far better adapted, both to strike 
 and to persuade. Never, however, must he forget the dig- 
 nity of his Master, the purity of his doctrines and laws, the 
 
 * The above delineation was copied, amid the hurry of composition, from 
 a. circular Letter ol" the (Glasgow Missionary Societ}' ; nor docs it appear 
 expedient or necessary now to alter it.
 
 ^217 
 
 grand object of his mission. His directory, both for his 
 personal conduct and public ministry, is given Avith much 
 brevity, but Avitli achiiirable precision, by the great apostle 
 of the Gentiles : " Thou, O man of God, tlce youthful lusts, 
 but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that 
 call on the Lord, out of a pure heart. But foolish and un- 
 learned (piestions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. 
 And the servant of God must not strive, but be gentle to 
 all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those 
 that oppose themselves, if God perad venture may give them 
 repentance to the acknowledging of the truth ; and that they 
 may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who 
 are taken captive by him at his will." Beautiful, also, is 
 the portrait drawn by Cowper : 
 
 There stands the messenger of truth, there stands 
 
 The legate of the skies : his theme divine. 
 
 His office sacred ; his credentials clear. 
 
 By him the violated law speaks out 
 
 In thunders ; and by him, in strains as sweet 
 
 As angels use, the Gospel whispers peace. 
 
 He stablishes the strong, restores the weak. 
 
 Reclaims the wand'rer, binds the broken heart. 
 
 And, arm'd himself in panoply complete. 
 
 Of heav'nly temper, furnislies with arms. 
 
 Bright as his own, and trains by every rule 
 
 2 E
 
 218 
 
 Probable 
 consequen- 
 ces, and 
 
 Of holy discipline, to glorious war. 
 The sacramental host of God's elect. 
 
 How far these arrangements and exertions for evange- 
 lising the inhabitants of Hither India may succeed, depen- 
 dent as the result must be upon a variety of causes, over 
 which human wisdom and power have no controul, and par- 
 ticularly upon the blessing of the Supreme Ruler of all, it 
 becomes not us confidently to predict. But that, if steadily 
 prosecuted, they will, in all probability, produce some hap- 
 py intiuence, though perhaps more slowly than we are will- 
 ing to anticipate, may be concluded from the ordinary 
 course of events, and from the impression which seems al- 
 ready to have been made. When this effect shall have be- 
 finai organi- couic Considerable ; Avhen the great mass of the people shall 
 
 sation ot the 
 
 Indian con- havc been detached from their present superstitions, and 
 enlightened in the principles of the Christian faith ; when 
 the spirit of religious inquiry shall have become general, and 
 a considerable body of the natives shall have embraced the 
 new religion, then other measures may be adopted for car- 
 rying on and consummating the blessed work of this holy 
 revolution. The rest of the seventh day may be enjoined 
 by public authority, so that at length " the land may enjoy 
 her Sabbaths." Either at the expence of government, or by 
 
 verts.
 
 219 
 
 the voluntary contributions of the converts to Christianity, 
 churches may be erected evcrywliere, according to a regu- 
 lar and approved plan, for the conveniency of social wor- 
 ship. The stated dispensation of public ordinances may be 
 instituted ; and the congregations of the faithful organised 
 and afliliatcd upon the scriptural model *. Thus, as in pri- 
 mitive times, the whole body of the disciples of Jesus in In- 
 dia will, by degrees, assume the appearance of a grand, re- 
 ligious association ; and the magnificence of the result will 
 correspond to the benevolence of the project. 
 
 In the natural order of things, the diffusion of the light 
 of the Gospel amongst the subjects of our own empire, 
 ought to precede, as it will prepare the way for, any at- 
 tempts to spread the knowledge of the truth among sur- 
 rounding nations. Hindostan, once evangelised, would af- 
 ford the model, and the means, of illumination to the East. 
 It Avould assume a new station in the universe : it would ac- 
 quire a new species of glory. Always interesting, it would 
 now be surrounded with new . and brighter attractions. 
 Having produced, from age to age, a powerful influence 
 upon the affairs of men, it would now give another and bct- 
 
 * Vide Note FF.
 
 220 
 
 ter impulse to the fate of nations, and the destinies of the 
 human race. Having; enriched those who were so fortunate 
 as to enjoy its commerce, by pouring profusely into their 
 bosom the riches of the earth ; it would turn, in its career 
 of beneficence, to other objects, and bless those, who perad- 
 venture neither needed nor desired its worldly commodities, 
 with incomparably higher benefits, " the precious things of 
 the heavens." 
 
 And it must be confessed, that Hindostan possesses mighty 
 advantages " for diffusing the light of the Christian religion 
 throughout the Eastern World." Situated almost in the 
 centre of Asia, and suiToundcd by popvdous empires, to 
 Avhich the access is easy ; having alliances with several, and 
 commercial connections with many ; holding a command- 
 ing attitude amongst all ; possessing considerable territories, 
 and some trading stations, beyond the limits of Hindostan ; 
 the British government in the East would be wanting to God, 
 to their country, and to the world, if they did not avail them- 
 selves of such facilities for spreading the " light of life" among 
 those who are yet " sitting in the region of darkness and of 
 the shadow of death." " How beautiful upon the moun- 
 tains of Thibet would be the feet of them who," ascending 
 from the plains of India, " should bring good tidings of
 
 221 
 
 good, should pviblish salvation, and say" unto the outcast 
 heathens, dwelling in their vicinity, the great " Cod," the Sa- 
 viour, " reigneth ! " " The wilderness and the solitary place 
 would be glad for them, and the desert would rejoice and 
 blossom as the rose, it would blossom abundantly and re- 
 joice even with joy and with singing r the glory of Lebanon 
 would be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sha- 
 ron, they would see the glory of the Lord, and the excel- 
 lency of our God." 
 
 And still it spreads ! see ' Hindostan' send forth 
 Her sons, to pour it on the farthest north: 
 Fir'd with a zeal peculiar, they defy 
 The rage and rigour of a polar sky. 
 And plant, successfully, sweet Sharon's rose. 
 On icy plains and on eternal snows. 
 
 Thus our government, in that part of the world, opening the 
 path of " the day-spring from on high" to visit the benight- 
 ed regions around, would realise the beautiful delineation 
 of David still more exactly than the benign administration 
 of one man could accomplish, and be " as the light of the 
 morning, when the sun riselh, even a morning without 
 clouds, as the tender grass springing out of the earth, by 
 clear shining after the rain."
 
 222 
 
 There are several circumstances which may encourage us 
 to undertake this most honourable enterprise. Among others, 
 two merit particular notice. The character of tlie supersti- 
 tions which prevail in many of tlie regions to the East, is 
 uniform. Throughout the Burman empire, and 8iam, the 
 religion of Boodh, which is nearly allied to the rehgion of 
 Brama, and the doctrme of transmigration, which is the 
 capital tenet of Hindoo superstition, constitute the national 
 faith and worship. The Malays are Mahometans. Now, 
 both these forms of superstition are familiar to the English 
 in the East, and the same education which would fit a per- 
 son to be a missionary in Bengal, will prepare him for 
 spreading the Gospel through these countries. Besides, the 
 primary languages of the eastern parts of the globe are few, 
 and several of them borrow nmch from the bhanscrit. By 
 some only five are enumerated, the Hindostanee, Pei-sian, 
 INIarrasda?, Malay, and Chinese. The last but one is spoken 
 extensively, and has been called, from its elegant and melli- 
 fluous idiom, the classical Latin and Italian of the East. 
 It is the common tongue of the exterior India, Sumatra, 
 Java, Borneo, Celebez, the Philippine Islands, &.c. And 
 the Persian is almost universally understood to the west. 
 That the latter may be perfectly learned in India, where it
 
 223 
 
 is generally spoken, cannot be doubted ; and that the means 
 of acquiring the language of a country so adjacent as Ma- 
 lacca, may also be obtained there, it should seem, may be 
 fairly presumed. Hence a singular facility will arise to the 
 undertaking. Missionaries may be fully prepared in Ilin- 
 dostan itself, by a perfect knowledge of the languages, the 
 laws, and the customs, of the surrounding nations, for enter- 
 ing upon the various scenes of their labours. 
 
 Nor do our countrymen in India possess inconsiderable 
 means for executing the grand design. Strangers Avill always 
 judge of the excellence of any new system proposed to their 
 approbation or adoption, by the influence which it shall ap- 
 pear to have vipon its professed votaries. Let then the sail- 
 ors, and other servants of the Company, be instructed to re- 
 commend, by their spirit and deportment amongst foreign 
 nations, Christianity to the reception of those they may 
 visit; and let some person, who knows how to write for 
 them, compose a brief address, illustrating the importance 
 of the object, and enforcing their duty in the most persua- 
 sive manner. In every ship's company there will usually 
 be found, it is to be presumed, one or more who are at least 
 seriously inclined : let such persons be intrusted with the 
 dispersion of Bibles and evangelical tracts, previously trans-
 
 224 
 
 lated into the languages of those countries at which tlicy 
 are to touch. To facihtate and insure this distribution, in 
 trading with the inhabitants of foreign countries, let such 
 good books, as often as possible, be given away in ex- 
 change ; and where this cannot be done, let proper persons 
 be selected, and if necessary, engaged to circulate them in 
 the course of business, or to carry them on purpose into the 
 interior, and give them away in the progress of their excur- 
 sions. Let every factory, which the British may possess in 
 foreign countries, become an evangelical depot ; and a per- 
 son be either appointed with this sole design, or those sta- 
 tioned there principally with another view, be invited by 
 such considerations as may prove successful, to exert them- 
 selves in scatterino- abroad the " word of life" amonost the 
 natives. By and by a chaplain might be attached to each 
 considerable trading station, Avith orders to endeavour, by all 
 means in his power, particularly by mingling and conver- 
 sing with the inhabitants, and by making such journies into 
 the country as circumstances will permit, to avail himself 
 of the elementary information previously diffused by the 
 Avritten word, and to impress the natives with a sense of the 
 truth of Christianity, and of the importance of salvation. 
 Besides, itinerant preachers might be sent forth to take a
 
 225 
 
 wider range of labour, and pervade the country in all direc- 
 tions. For such persons the British government will be 
 able easily to procure passports and letters of protection, if 
 not direct countenance, from the ruling powers of at least 
 several of the countries of the East. And let all who go 
 forth under such sanction be strictly enjoined not to inter- 
 meddle with affairs of government ; not to entangle them- 
 selves even with mercantile transactions, Avhen this might 
 retard their progress, or throw suspicion upon the purity 
 and dignity of their motives ; not even rudely and imneces- 
 garily to shock the prejudices of the natives. To facilitate 
 the accomplishment of these purposes, and promote in ge- 
 neral the grand design, it might be expedient to erect one 
 or more missionary seminaries in Hindostan, where persons, 
 who are destined for the good work, might be instructed 
 in the language, laws, customs, superstition, &c. of that 
 country, which may be allotted to each, as the scene of 
 his future labours. 
 
 Where it might be expedient to begin such evangelical 
 exertions, is an inquiry, which must depend for its decision 
 upon a great variety of circumstances. In general, if other 
 things be et|ual, that scene whicii is nearest the centre of 
 movement, for obvious reasons, ought to be preferred. A 
 
 2 F
 
 220 
 
 well-informed writer"*, liOAvever, avIio seems to have taken 
 great pains in investigating the point, and whose memoir is 
 now before the public, has strenuously recommended China. 
 Plow far his arguments, upon a fair comparison, shall ap- 
 pear conclusive, it is for others to determine. Unquestion- 
 ably, while several adverse and unpromising circumstances 
 Avill suggest themselves to all who are acquainted with the 
 subject, it must be admitted, that the degree of previous il- 
 lumination which the Chinese enjoy, the state of civilisation 
 they have attained, the correspondence of their worship with 
 the Hindoo superstition, the singular fact, that almost all 
 the New Testament has already been translated into the 
 language of that country, and is preserved in one of the 
 public repositories of this island, and the assurance, that 
 success there would open up an easy access to several of the 
 suiTOunding countries, — ^all present strong incitements to 
 comply with the wishes of the benevolent author, and com- 
 mence the holy enterprise among that distant people, Avho, 
 yielding to a very exceptionable form of our religion, had 
 once almost assumed tlie dignified appellation of Chris- 
 tian. 
 
 May the Avriter of this Essay be permitted, Avithout in- 
 
 * Mosclcv.
 
 227 
 
 curring the charge of invidious arrogance, to suggest ano- 
 ther scene of evangelical labours ? Various concurring cir- 
 cumstances seem to him to point out the Burnian empire as, 
 in the case before us, perhaps not less eligible. It is nearer 
 than China ; and vicinity of situation affords many facilities. 
 But this is not its only recommendation. This extensive 
 kingdom * contains no fewer than eight thousand towns and 
 villages. Though living under the same parallels, the Bur- 
 mans, unlike to their lethargic neighbours the Hindoos, are 
 active, ardent, and inquisitive. Their sacred language, de- 
 nominated Palli, from which the letters in common use are 
 derived by an easy process, is evidently only a form of the 
 Shanscrit. What is singular, though not a scientific people, 
 yet so widely diffused is a certain portion of learning, that 
 almost every man can both read and write. In spirit and 
 manners they are courteous, obliging, and kind to strangers. 
 The established religion of the country, the worship of 
 Boodh, is more closely allied to Braminism than any other 
 superstition. The government is extremely tolerant, and 
 the adherents of all other religions, provided they conduct 
 
 * The following consideialions were suggested by the Narrative of 
 Syrne's Embassy to Ava: a work to which the public are indebted for al- 
 most all the information they possess about a powerful people, bordering 
 upon our empire in the East.
 
 228 
 
 themselves with discretion, are permitted to profess their 
 own faith, and observe their own modes of worship, without 
 molestation. Polygamy is prohibited, and, although con- 
 cubines be allowed, yet, while residing in the house, all 
 who come under this denomination, are compelled to serve 
 her who alone is invested by law with the name and pi'e- 
 rogatives of a Avife. The month is divided into four weeks ; 
 and every seventh day is observed as a day of rest and of re- 
 ligious worship. The Gospels are already translated into the 
 Malay language *, which it is to be presumed many of the 
 Burmans understand. Their government has at present some 
 loose alliance with ours ; and a common Christianity, by 
 forming a closer and stronger bond of friendship, would con- 
 vert this poAverful empire into an eastern barrier, and thus 
 contribute greatly to strengthen and secure our interests in 
 Hindostan. Commercial intercourse, some trading stations 
 in the country, and the proposed settlement upon Prince of 
 AV ales' Island on the coast, would greatly facilitate the dif- 
 fusion of the light of the Gospel throughout this country. 
 
 But, while these circumstances shew that Ava is an in- 
 viting scene of evangelical labour, whether they decide 
 the question of preference, it is not for us to say. In- 
 
 * Bapl. Mag. vol. ii. 537.
 
 229 
 
 deed, the decision is not, in our present iiKpiiry at least, 
 of immediate importance. Without determining where the 
 foreign enterprise shall begin, means preparatory to the 
 propagation of the Gospel, by the dispersion of the Scrip- 
 tures, as soon as they could be translated into the lan- 
 guages of the surrounding countries, might be provided and 
 put into oj)eration in many of these countries, or in all of 
 them at once. It is not necessarj' to confine our attention 
 and exertions to one. The process may be going on in all at 
 the same time, as fast as circumstances will permit. 
 
 But whether the attempt be partial or general, be carried 
 on upon a small scale or a more magnificent plan, argu- 
 ments and motives to stimulate the prosecution of the good 
 work, cannot be wanting. They are also of a character 
 correspondent to the undertaking itself; — interesting and 
 sublime. Hiunanitij prompts. If he who refuses to give 
 food to him who is languishing for Avant, or extend succour 
 to the perishing, be stigmatised as unworthy of the name of 
 man, shall we withhold the bread of life, the means of re- 
 deniption, from the fainting, perishing heathen, and claim 
 to be compassionate ^ Reason urges. The illumination of 
 the mind, the extension of the views of man, are the objects 
 of revelation.
 
 230 
 
 'Tis reason our great Master holds so dear; 
 'Tis reason's injured rights his wrath resents; 
 'Tis reason's voice obeyed his glories crown ; 
 To give lost reason life he pour'd his own. 
 Believe, and shew the reason of a man ; 
 Believe, and taste the pleasure of a God ; 
 Believe, and look with triumph on the tomb. 
 On argument alone our faith is built. 
 Reason pursu'd is faith, and unpursued. 
 Where proof invites, 'tis reason then no more : 
 And such our proof, that, or our faith is right. 
 Or reason lies, and heav'n design'd it wrong. 
 
 Religion obtests. Shall we not promote that glorious cause 
 for which Jesus bled and died ; — that faith upon which our 
 best hopes are built ;— that Gospel Avhich has blessed man- 
 kind from ao-e to ao;e with such inestimable benefits, even 
 of a public and common nature ; — and that redemption 
 which fills and enraptures the heavens with its high and 
 glorious results ? True glory calls. " That which it is good 
 to receive, it is glorious to give." No service which an 
 individual may render to society can be more honourable 
 than this. It is a labour of love, of all others the noblest. 
 The promotion of this good work will be glorious also to our 
 nation. Then only, when the enlargement of our empire, the 
 increase of our wealth, the exercise of power, and the pursuit 
 of glory, are made subservient to the extension of the king- 
 dom, and triumphs, and glories oi" Jesus, shall wc cither dis-
 
 231 
 
 cover the spirit of the (iOspel, or deserve tlie honouraljic- 
 appellation of a truly Christian people. 
 
 Be tliesc lliy trophies, queen of many isles ! 
 
 On tliese liigh hetiv'n shall shed indulgent smiles. 
 
 First by thy guardian voice to India led. 
 
 Shall truth divine her tearless victories spread ; 
 
 Wide and more wide, the heaven-born light shall stream, 
 
 New realms from thee shall catch the blissful theme ; 
 
 Unwonted warmth the softened savage feel. 
 
 Strange chiefs admire, and turbanned warriors kneel ; 
 
 The prostrate East submit her jewelled pride. 
 
 And swarthy kings adore the crucified. — 
 
 Britain, thy voice can bid the dawn ascend. 
 
 On thee alone the eyes of Asia bend. 
 
 High arbilress ! to thee her hopes are given ; 
 
 Sole pledge of bliss, and delegate of heaven. 
 
 In thy dread mantle all her fates repose. 
 
 Or bright with blessings, or o'ercast with woes. 
 
 Oh ! to thy godlike destiny arise ! 
 
 Awake, and meet the purpose of the skies * ! 
 
 Jehovah enjoins. Thus we shall co-operate Avith him in 
 his most olorious desicrns. Thus we shall contribute to the 
 accomplishment of many blissful prophecies and promises. 
 Thus we shall promote the most magnificent revolution in 
 the kingdom of God on earth, and prepare the way for the 
 final triumph of religion and righteousness — for the ultimate 
 aggrandisement of his moral empire in the universe. 
 
 * Vide Note GG.
 
 232 
 
 How delightful the prospects which open upon the eye of 
 faith in prophetic vision ! Christianity prevails universally, 
 and the consequences are most blissful. Our race assumes 
 the lovely appearance of one vast, virtuous, peaceful family ! 
 Our world becomes the seat of one grand, triumphant, ado- 
 ring assembly ! — At length the scene mingles with the hea- 
 vens, and, rising in brightness, is blended with the glories on 
 high. The myster}" of God on earth is finished. The times 
 of the regeneration are fulfilled. The Son of God descends. 
 The scene closes with divine grandeur. " And I heard the 
 voice of a great multitude, as the voice of many waters, and 
 as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying. Hallelujah ! the 
 Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. The kingdoms of this world 
 are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. And 
 I saw a new heaven and a new earth ; for the first heaven 
 and the first earth were passed away. And I saw the holy 
 city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of 
 heaven : and I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, 
 Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will 
 dwell with them, and he shall be ^vith them, and they shall 
 be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be 
 their God. Amen and amen."
 
 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Note A. Page 2. 
 
 J. HE epithet " general" has been inserted, because the remark cannot be 
 admitted without considerable exceptions, which will occur to the intelligent 
 reader. 
 
 Note B. Page 6. 
 Perhaps a slight anachronism may be here suspected, since it may be 
 doubted whether, when the act of incorporation was passed, the number of 
 our subjects in the East was so great as is supposed in the text; but, view- 
 ing the whole subject complexly, it was thought unnecessary to be scrupu- 
 lously precise in this particular. 
 
 Note C. Page 8. 
 It will be obvious, that the scope of the inquiry led the author to'consider 
 the truth of the allegation, only in so far as, in this view of the subject, re- 
 lated to the East Indies. And considering that credible accounts vary so 
 much, that great reformations have been made, and a rigorous controul is ex- 
 ercised; to be impartial and just, it was necessary to strip declamatory in- 
 vective of its colouring, and to distinguish betwixt the evils inseparably at- 
 tendant upon warfare, or the abuses of unauthorised criminality, and the 
 spirit of government, the sanctioned oppressions of the public body. 
 
 Note D. Page 13. 
 Montesquieu, though it may seem no friend to Christianity, could not 
 withhold the following encomium upon her amiable spirit and benign ten- 
 dency, which his penetrating mind enabled him to discover, and his candour 
 would not permit him to suppress : " The Christian religion," says he, 
 
 2 G
 
 234 
 
 " which ordains that men should love each other, would, without doubt, have 
 every nation blessed with the best civil, the best political laws; because 
 these, next to this religion, are the greatest benefit good men can give or 
 receive. How admirable," adds he soon after, " that religion, which, while 
 it seems only to have in view the fehcity of the other life, constitutes the 
 happiness of this !" Sp. of Laws, vol. i. b, 24. 
 
 Note E. Page 14. 
 The considerate reader will perceive, that the author is here adverting to 
 the diffusion of Christianity, and comprehending in his view of those discus- 
 sions which are most interesting and important to mankind, tlie knowledge, 
 the belief, and the improvement, of divine revelation. Unless these had been 
 included, he is well aware the position in the text would be inadmissible, as 
 Christian theology is unquestionably, both in its matter and object, the sub- 
 limest of all sciences and studies. 
 
 Note F. Page 33. 
 
 " I knew," writes a Baptist missionary, " an instance of a man whose cast 
 is gone, through a woman in the family being obliged to live with a Mussul- 
 man, during the Mogul government, and though he has offered a lack of 
 rupees (or L. 10,000 sterling) to have it restored, it cannot be done." Bapt. 
 Mag. No. III. p. 235. 
 
 However, Verelst, in his " View of the English Government in Bengal," 
 has stated, that it may be recovered, provided the delinquent's own cast, the 
 Bramins, and the rulers, unite in soliciting the restoration. Hopeless con- 
 currence ! amounting to a prohibition ; and, we may presume, never reali- 
 sed in one instance. 
 
 Note G. Page 34. 
 The amazing and invincible obstinacy wit!) which even the lowest, and, in 
 other respects, the most obliging of the Hindoos, resist every attempt to 
 make them participate of the food of their masters, has been the theme of 
 every writer on Indian manners; — and of the importance which they attach 
 to smoking, and the forms and precautions they use in transferring the hooka 
 or pipe, several amusing instances are given in the Bapt. Mag.
 
 235 
 
 Note H. Tage 35. 
 Tradition sa3's, the division of the community into casts was instituted in 
 the time of Mahubad, who is conjectured to have lived soon after the flood. 
 The religion of Hindostan is also supposed to have been the first apostacy 
 from the pure and primitive faitiij established in Irani, the original residence 
 of the family of JNoah. Jones' Works. 
 
 Note I. Page 59. 
 The illustrious Bacon has inculcated this idea by the followingallusion, 
 which is happ3'j though quaintly expressed: 
 
 Quis novator, tempus iraitatur 
 
 Quod novationes ita insiimat, ut seiisus fallant. 
 
 Note K. Page 71. 
 
 To the general policy of such settlements, and to the benefits which might 
 be derived from a judicious colonisation, the public mind hitherto seems 
 not to have been sufficiently turned. Whoever would see the general sub- 
 ject discussed, may consult Smith's Wealth of Nations, Talleykand Essai 
 sur les Avaiitages a retirer de Colonies Noiivellcs dans les Circonstances pre- 
 stntes, and especiaUy Buougham's ingenious and original Work upon Colo- 
 nial Policy. 
 
 With respect to the point under immediate consideration, the propriety of 
 sending British colonists to the East Indies, the author is aware that this mea- 
 sure may be viewed as a dangerous expedient, and that the revolt of our colonies 
 on the great western continent may be adduced in support of the objection. 
 That the American revolution (if you except the enormous debt incurred 
 by the war, the waste of lives, and the temporary prejudices engendered 
 by it) has upon the whole been unfavourable to Britain, retaining as our 
 countrymen on the other side the Atlantic do, a strong predilection for us, 
 possessing, as we do, a decided commercial superiority, with a great rising 
 commonwealth, — may perhaps be questioned. But, without entering into the 
 argument, it may be sufficient for obviating the objection to remark, that the 
 two cases are not parallel. The American settlers, driven abroad by perse- 
 cution or by misfortune, felt their attachment to their native country dimi- 
 nished by the very causes of their emigration. On landing, they found » 
 
 1
 
 ^36 
 
 wide waste, where thej' could cherish their love of liberty unmolested ; where 
 the sceneryj by which they were surrounded, tended to cherish the ar- 
 dour with which they were inspired; where the occupations upon which 
 they entered, and the adversities they had to encounter, tended farther to 
 form them to a bold and hardy cast of spirit; and where the character 
 and attacks of those rude tribes, with whom they disputed the possession of 
 the New World, concurred to inspire them with a certain intrepidity and 
 energy of mind. Nor had the history of human affairs as yet contributed to 
 impress mankind so deeply as it has since done, with an idea of the dan- 
 ger of revolutions, of the dreadful licentiousness into which an ill-regulated 
 and unenlightened love of liberty may betray the body of a nation. But this 
 salutary lesson has now been given to the world, written in characters of 
 blood ; and it may be presumed will serve in future to repress that spirit of 
 wanton turbulence and lawless independence, which the inconsiderate have 
 been apt to cherish under the notion of liberty. Besides, the colonists would 
 go forth to India under the auspices of their country, and with all their pa- 
 triotic attachments unimpaired. Tliey would sit down at once in the fertile 
 plains of Hindostan ; and proceed to enjoy, without much exertion or moles- 
 tation, the comforts of life. United to the British government there by 
 many original associations, and by a new system of regulations, they would 
 continually recognise this connection. Lost amidst an immense mass of na- 
 tive population, whose manners and religion would, at least for a time, be 
 greatly unlike to their own, they might unite with the Hindoos in society, 
 but they could not soon form very intimate relations, or enjoy confidential 
 intercourse. Scattered in small groupes throughout a vast empire, they would 
 find it impracticable to unite, so as to become formidable to the constituted 
 authorities, or prosecute schemes of rebellion. Surrounded by those to 
 whom they are comparatively strangers, and in whom they can hardly con- 
 fide; exposed to the inroads of predatory troops, they will be urged by con- 
 siderations of safety, as well as of inclination, to maintain their connection 
 with the government of their country. Experience, too, may convince us, 
 there is more reason to fear the settlers will contract that lethargic softness 
 of temper, which both the climate and the character of the inhabitants are 
 calculated to inspire, than that they will imbibe a daring and lawless spirit suit- 
 ed to such enterprises. Thus, while considerable benefits, as has been shewji.
 
 237 
 
 maybe expected to arise from a judicious colonisation, there seems little 
 reason to dread those consequences, which it may be apprehended, on first 
 consideration, would flow from the measure. 
 
 Note L. Page 76. 
 The writer is not here speaking of the fact, or what necessity may dictate 
 dm'ing the noise and smoke of an engagement, but what a commander, 
 were he left to his own choice, would prefer in the circumstances supposed, 
 and what would be most likely to achieve the victory. 
 
 Note M, Page 101. 
 The words of this venerable civilian are these : " In the administration of 
 justice, a severe burden is removed from our minds by the assistance of 
 juries; and it is my ardent wish that the court had the same relief in civil, 
 especially in commercial causes, for the decision of which there cannot be a 
 nobler tribunal than a jury of experienced men, assisted by the learning of 
 a judge," 
 
 Note N. Page 114. 
 Golam Hossein Khan, in his Seir Mutakheren, vol. i. p. l66. mentions, 
 that one of the deputies of a viceroy of the Great Mogul had a haram of 
 500 women, which, after all, was not his principal establishment of that kind. 
 Such being the licentiousness of an officer so inferior, to what excess must 
 those of higher rank have carried these indulgences ! Accordingly we are in- 
 formed, that Acbei', who was comparatively temperate and virtuous, and 
 whose reigti is denominated the annals of glory, had a seraglio of 5000. 
 Ayeen Achcry, vol. i. p. 46. 
 
 Note O. Page 120. 
 It is to our island that Bacon applies the description of Terra, — potens 
 armis atque ubere gltba. 
 
 Note P. Page 120. 
 All the descriptions given of this useful class of men represent them as in 
 a state the most abject. " The Ryots, or actual cultivators of the soil," says
 
 238 
 
 Dr Tennant, " are still in the same state here (India) they were in among 
 the ancient Romans^ adscripti glebes, a sort of appendage to the land, and 
 sold along with it." 
 
 Note Q. Page 120. 
 The soils in Hindostan are very various, and the rich requires less labour 
 than the poor, but the tithe of the latter is exacted according to its scanty 
 increase. Indeed, from the circumstance of their not being strictly leased, 
 the condition of the peasant is nearly the same, whatever be the produce of 
 his labour: he is universally poor. His house, clothing, and implements of 
 every kind, do not amount to the value of a pound sterling. Tenn. vol. i. 
 p. 95. 
 
 Note R. Page 128. 
 While the author was engaged in preparing the above hints, he was 
 struck with agreeable surprise to learn from the public papers, that the 
 subject having been taken up, at the suggestion of Lord Melville, by the 
 Honourable East India Company, it had been resolved to form a dock, 
 and a considerable establishment for building vessels, on Prince of Wales' 
 Island. 
 
 Note S. Page 129. 
 A man who understands the manufacturing of glazed earthen ware would 
 be very useful in this country. Bapt. Ace. No. IV. p. 321. 
 
 Note T. Page 129. 
 Bernier says, That although Hindoo lapidaries will cut stones which 
 baffle the skill of European artists, yet the latter can superinduce a finer 
 polish. 
 
 NoteU. Page 129. 
 This metal is found in some of the northern districts, particularly about 
 Agra, but is neither frequent nor plentiful.
 
 239 
 
 Note X. Page 131. 
 Our own island affords an instance of extreme rapidity in the progress of 
 such arts ; and any unc, whose curiosity leads him to investigate the subject 
 minutely, may consult with pleasure the comparative statements first publish- 
 ed in the Edinburgh Courant, and afterwards inserted in the collection en- 
 titled Fugitive Pieces, pp. G3, Sfc. and 10 J, Sfc. 
 
 Note Y. Page 131. 
 It has been suggested by a late traveller in India, that as all the hosiery is 
 still knitted in Bengal, the introduction of the stocking-frames might be of 
 great service. 
 
 Note Z. Page 132. 
 There is some reason to presume, that the finer muslins were formerly ma- 
 nufactured in India. Tuvernier says, that when Ali Beg, the ambassador 
 from Persia, returned from Hindostan, he presented his master with a cocoa 
 nut, set with pearls, inclosing a turban of muslin 60 cubits long, and so fine, 
 that the cloth could scarcely be felt by the hand. 
 
 Note A A. Page 141. 
 Any one who wishes to form an idea of the extent to which this traffic is 
 carried, and the loss sustained by the India proprietors and the country, may 
 consult the discussions on the question respecting the house of David Scott 
 and Co. published in the Annual Asiatic Register for A. D. 1800. 
 
 Note BB. Page 148. 
 ' Scilicet ingenuas didicisscjide liter artes 
 
 Emoilit mores, ncc sinit esseferos. 
 
 Note CC. Page 157. 
 But let us not carry the matter too far. The cause of Christianity can 
 never be ultimately promoted by the indiscreet zeal of ignorance or of error. 
 It has been customary to assert, that the sages of the heathen world, ancient 
 and modern, were altogether ignorant of these two sublime rules of morality, 
 promulgated i the Gospel, " Whatsoever ye would that men should do to
 
 240 
 
 you, that do ye also to them," and " recompense to no man evil for evil, but 
 overcome evil with good;" and the assertion is almost universally true. But 
 it ought not to be hazarded without limitation. As a great eastern authority 
 remarks, the first rule is employed in the speech of Lysias, expressed in dis- 
 tinct phrases by Tliales and Pittacus, and delivered by Confucius, the cele- 
 brated Chinese philosopher; and, while he tenders a prudent caution to 
 Christian missionaries in India to beware of asserting what every learned 
 native will be able at once to disprove, he produces some beautiful illustra- 
 tions of the second, drawn from the Hindoo and Mahometan writings. "The 
 duty of a good man, even in the moment of destruction, consists not only in 
 forgiving, but in a desire of benefiting, his destroyer ; as the sandal-tree sheds 
 "perfume on the axe which fells it." Arya Couplet, 
 
 Learn from yon orient shell to love thy foe, 
 And strew with pearls the hand that gives thee woe : 
 Free, like yon rock, from base vindictive pride. 
 Emblaze with gems the wrist that rends thy side. 
 Mark where yon tree rewards the stony shower, 
 With fruit nectarious, or the balmy flower. 
 All nature calls aloud, Shall man do less 
 Than heal the sraiter, and the railer bless ! 
 
 Hafiz. 
 
 The truth seems to be, that the deficiency in prescription was almost al- 
 ways great and mournful ; and that even where the rule did exist, it was an 
 incidental suggestion, rather than an authoritative precept; was seldom 
 brought into the view of the common people ; was not enforced by a divine 
 sanction, or by motives sufficiently powerful to influence the conduct. The 
 same is the case at this day. Braminical or Chinese morality forms no ex- 
 ception. 
 
 Note DU. Page 166. 
 Bralima is represented as the patron of thieves : Vishnu is said to have 
 seduced 16,000 virgins: and Seeb, upon seeing a beautiful damsel, offer- 
 ed to abandon his wives, his family, and all his holiness, for her. Bapt. 
 Mag,
 
 241 
 
 Note EE. Page 210. 
 The author is speaking of liiose versions of the Scriptures which arc al- 
 ready dispersed, or about to be put into circulation. The 15aplist mission- 
 aries having some time ago printed the Scriptures in t!ie 15engalee, are now 
 preparing a translation into the Hindostanee, a dialect which is more gene- 
 rally spoken. Farther information on this interesting subject has been lately 
 communicated to the public. From the first Number of the Report of the 
 Foreign and British Bible Societi/, we learn, that they are in possession of a 
 version in the Malabar language, communicated by the Christian benevolence 
 of Grandville Sharpc, Esq. ; and that translations into the Tamulic, Hindos- 
 tanee, and Malay tongues, compose part of the library of the Elector of Wir- 
 temberg, to which, it is presumable, the society may have access. Such dis- 
 coveries are extremely opportune, and the facilities which they afford of 
 conveying the glad tidings of salvation to the tribes on the great Indian 
 peninsula, we may venture to hope will be speedily improved. A committee 
 of the above society has been appointed to correspond on the subject with 
 some of the most intelligent persons in Hindostan. The generosity of the 
 public in supporting the expences of the Baptist publication, has already 
 "been honourably approved. Let piety wisdom and zeal co-operate in pro- 
 secuting the grand object; and means will not be wanting. 
 
 Note FF. Page CI 9. 
 The author is not ashamed to avow himself a presbyterian ; and he con- 
 ceives, that much might be said to recommend the system lie has espoused 
 to the adoption of Christians; and he must wish to see it prevail. At the 
 sametime he respects the convictions of others — the institution of church- 
 government, though very important in itself, must, in the arrangements for 
 establishing Christianity in anj' country, be subsequent (as is supposed in the 
 text) to the dispensation of the Gospel there, — and, while it is the dut}' of 
 the ministers of the Word to teach and to inculcate authoritatively all the 
 doctrines and all the laws of Jesus Christ, while it is incumbent upon all to 
 co-operate in framing the church upon the evangelical model, it is also the 
 privilege of the people, and in the case before us, of the converts to Chris- 
 tianity, to select (under a high responsibility to their great Master) thai 
 
 2 H
 
 242 
 
 form of church order which shall appear to them most agreeable to the 
 Scriptures. 
 
 Note GG. Page 231. 
 The above lines are extracted from Grant's prize poem, and appeared so 
 beautiful and appropriate, that the author could not deny himself the plea- 
 sure, which the printing of the Essay offered him, of inserting them here. 
 
 FINIS, 
 
 Edihburch : 
 Printed by James Ballantyne. 
 
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