GIFT OF 
 HORACE W. CARFENTIIER 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE EFFECTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BRITISH GOVERNMENT 
 
 ON THE 
 
 STATE OF INDIA: 
 
 ACCOMPANIED WITH 
 
 HINTS CONCERNING THE MEANS 
 
 OF CONVEYING 
 
 CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION 
 
 TO THE 
 
 NATIVES OF THAT COUNTRY. 
 
 By the Rev. WILLIAM TENNANT, L. L. D. 
 
 '! 
 LJTB CHAPLAIN TO HIS MAJESTY'S TROOPS IN BENGAL. 
 
 Btnejtctt quam metu oUigare homines malit, exterasque gentes,jide ac societatejii/tcias 
 habere, quam trist't subjectas seryith. Titus Livius. 
 
 EDINBURGH : 
 
 IPrintetJ at ttft ajniticwitg ©re00, 
 
 FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME, LONDON ; AND PETER HILI» 
 AND J. ANDERSON, EDINBURGH. 
 
 1807. 
 
'J -" c " • i 
 
 
 GlHjmntl^ 
 
BEBICATIOM. 
 
 TO 
 
 The Right Ho)h LORD TEIGNMOUXH, 
 
 tATE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA, PRESIDENT 
 
 OF THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE 
 
 SOCIETY, &C. &C. 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 The following pages are addressed to you, not 
 with a view to pave the way for the solicitation of 
 future favours, nor for the purpose of flattering you 
 on the happy apphcation of those talents, which you 
 have carefully improved, and which have raised your 
 Lordship from a situation comparatively obscure to 
 the highest rank, and to the most important offices 
 in the state. The pubhc, in justice to your long ex- 
 perience in active employments, has called you to 
 
 be 
 
[ iv ] 
 
 be the President and Representative of a great Insti- 
 tution, which has lately been formed, for the impor- 
 tant purpose of communicating leligious instruction 
 to the ignorant and unenlightened portion of the 
 human species, of every country and denomination. 
 
 Among the patrons of this association, so credita- 
 ble to the generosity and benevolence of our native 
 country, there appear many highly respectable names, 
 which must afford to the public the fullest pledge 
 that its contributions will be applied with diligence, 
 fidelit}', and zeal, in promoting the valuable ends for 
 which they are raised. The enterprize, however, in 
 which the British and Foreign Bible Society is en- 
 gaged, will perhaps be found as difficult and arduous 
 in its execution, as its object is laudable and impor- 
 tant. 
 
 A long and intimate acquaintance with the Orien- 
 tal character and manners, must have fully apprised 
 your Lordship, that great patience, skill, and address, 
 are necessary to remove the inveterate prejudices of 
 the Asiatics, to stimulate their curiosity, and to over- 
 come their natural and habitual indolence of mind. 
 Among the foreign agents of other societies, how- 
 ever, and even of our own, many prejudices yet re- 
 main, and much additional knowledge must be dif- 
 fused, 
 
[ V ] 
 
 fused, before they can be fully enabled to over- 
 come these difficulties, and avoid the many errors, 
 which have hitherto strongly impeded, and too often 
 frustrated the labours of all their predecessors. It 
 is a melancholy, but a certain fact, that our European 
 missions and other attempts to dispel the ignorance 
 of the Eastern regions, even within our own Empire, 
 have not been generally attended with much suc- 
 cess. 
 
 The cause may perhaps be traced in Britain it- 
 self: our knowledge of this interesting subject is hi- 
 therto far from being commensurate with our zeal. 
 
 A residence for several years in India during the 
 period of your Lordship's peaceful administration, 
 has afforded me many favourable opportunities of 
 examining the condition of the natives, and has pre- 
 sented strong inducements to enquire after the means 
 of improving their knowledge, which could not other- 
 wise have occurred. If the following hints and ob- 
 servations do ijot place the subject in an aspect al- 
 together new, it is hoped that they may at least im- 
 part some additional information on a matter but 
 imperfectly understood by the public. The remarks of- 
 fered concernincp (he mode of instructina; the natives 
 are chiefly intended for the members of that nume- 
 rous 
 
t vi ] 
 
 rous and respectable society of which your Lordship 
 has been chosen the representative, and to them the 
 author begs leave to request, that you will have the 
 goodness to communicate them. This small tract is 
 thus offered to your Lordship, from no confidence in 
 its literary merits (though it has already received the 
 approbation of a learned society in this part of the 
 kingdom*) but from a conviction that every scheme 
 or suggestion for the improvement of the natives that 
 are here proposed, have actually, in a greater or less 
 degree, been submitted to the test of experience, 
 and that their application to practice must be safe, 
 if they be not useful, in forwarding the benevolent 
 intentions of your excellent institution. 
 
 * The greater part of the following tract was submitted to 
 the University of Edinburgh j and adjudged by the Professors 
 to be entitled to the Buchannan Prize 
 
 THOUGHTS 
 
THOUGHTS 
 
 ON 
 
 THE EFFECTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BRITISH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 SECT. I. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ON THE LATE CAMPAIGNS IN ASIA, 
 AND THE RAPID EXTENSION OF OUR INDIAN 
 EMPIRE. 
 
 The views that were exhibited in a former work,* 
 of the domestic and rural economy of the Mahome- 
 dans and Hindoos, had suggested to a very compe- 
 tent judge, that an inquiry into the effects of the 
 British government, on that celebrated portion of its 
 subjects, might prove both interesting and useful. 
 This hint he communicated to the author, and it call- 
 ed forth the remarks contained in this tract: for 
 
 A how- 
 
 * Intituled Indian Recreations, which was composed in that 
 country, during the four concluding years of the past century. 
 
^ THOUGHTS ON 
 
 however (loiil)tful it may be, m hether the proper time 
 has yet arrived for justly appreciating the merits oi" 
 our government in Incha, there can be no diflerence 
 of opinion regarchng the general interest attached to 
 this subject. 
 
 Whether the comforts of so many millions of our 
 fello\v creatures are to be injured or promoted, by 
 the great increase of European intiuence in the East, 
 is a question which is becoming daily of more serious 
 import, in proportion to the extent of power and ter- 
 ritory acquired there, by the ditferent maritime na- 
 tions. W hether, in particular, the rapid extension 
 of the British empire in Asia, be destined to accele- 
 rate or retard the progress of the natives in know- 
 ledge, wealth, and happiness, is a question possess- 
 ing strong attractions to every contemplative being : 
 to the mind of a Briton it presents an interest pecu- 
 liarly powerful and commanding : since it cannot be 
 denied that, from the extent of our possessions in 
 that quarter, the enquiry becomes intimately con- 
 nected Avith the destinies of his native country, and 
 the honour of its government. 
 
 Nor is this speculation destitute of practical use. 
 A statement of the effects of European rule on the 
 condition of the Asiatics, if drawn up with tolerable 
 accuracy, could not possibly fail to suggest several 
 means of lesseninc: the evils attendins; distant con- 
 quest, and of increasing its beneficial influence in all 
 cases where its effects had been found salutary. 
 
 With 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 3 
 
 With regard, however, to the British power in In- 
 dia, the period of fairly ascertaining the nature of its 
 influence on the natives, is (according to the opinion 
 of some) hardly yet arrived. Forty years have scarce- 
 ly elapsed since we first enjoyed the quiet possession 
 of almost any portion of our Indian territory ; a pe- 
 riod, perhaps, too short fairly to judge of the nature 
 and effects of any government, on the comfort and 
 improvement of its suhjects. 
 
 That fpra, when it arrived at full maturity and vi- 
 gour, and when it consequently possessed a complete 
 ascendancy and controul over the politics of India, 
 could alone display its genuine effects, and deter- 
 mine the true nature of its influence. Previous to 
 this period, it had to contend for its defence and self- 
 preservation, amidst the surrounding hostility of se- 
 mibarbarous states ; it \vas then also cram})ed and 
 fettered in forming its internal an ano;ements, for the 
 peace and security of its own subjects ; it was often 
 interrupted and disturbed in its plans ])y contiguous 
 anarchy, constantly per})etuated by the ferocious tur- 
 bulence of nei";hbourinfl!; chiefs. In estimatinji;, there- 
 fore, the improvements that have been made by the 
 British government on the condition of India, we 
 must state in the account, the feebleness of its power 
 after its first establishment, and the recent nature of 
 many of its provisions, which will often justly explain 
 the small progress that sometimes appears to have 
 been made in accomplishing its ends. 
 
 A 2 Tli« 
 
4 THOUGHTS Ojr 
 
 The time, however, ^vas destined soon to arrive, 
 when the British government in the East was to oc- 
 cupy a rank and station enabling it to surmount those 
 multiphed difficulties. The shock of the French re- 
 volution, ^^'hich in Europe overturned tlie balance of 
 power, and destroyed the existing relations between 
 its dift'erent states, was felt at the same time in Asia, 
 where its effects, it would seem, had a far more sud- 
 den and decisive operation. It appeared almost in- 
 stantaneously either to check or annihilate the French 
 influence throughout the whole of Hindostan, and in 
 its room to establish, or consolidate, the British 
 power. 
 
 Prior to the year 1799,*' more than two thirds of 
 the antient territory of the Mogul empire still re- 
 mained in the hands of populous and independent 
 states, professing either the Hindoo or Mahomedart 
 faith ; among the latter, the Nizam, and the King of 
 Mysore, held the chief rank, while five powerful 
 Mahratta chiefs, the adherents of Brahminism, occu- 
 pied the first station in the former class, 
 
 / 
 
 Some of these princes individually had, in former 
 times, arranged themselves, during the wars of Hin- 
 dostan, on the side of the antient monarchy of France ; 
 but the republican councils, by which that monarchy 
 v,as subverted, embraced a much wider range in their 
 foreign policy. They attempted to form, at once, 
 all those different chiefs, collectively, into a combi- 
 nation, 
 
 * The period of the conquest of Seringapatanj and the Mysore. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. S 
 
 nation,_ which uas intended to be made the powerful 
 instrument of their own ambition. The same impe- 
 rishable thirst after external conquests, and universal 
 dominion, which instigated that nation to attempt 
 those momentuous changes which we have so lately 
 beheld in Europe, seems to have become more vio- 
 lent in the East, and to have characterised the whole 
 of its pohcy in India. 
 
 Confidential agents had already been dispersed 
 over the territories of the greater number of the inde-^ 
 pendent princes ; officers from France had been ap- 
 pointed in their armies ; and had for several years 
 been busily em})loycd in disciplining their troops, and 
 in forming amon<2; the native chiefs a combination, 
 for the purpose of not only subverting the British 
 government, but of annihilating, throughout the Pe- 
 ninsula, every power that seemed hostile to their 
 own. 
 
 It must be confessed, that the power of this mighty 
 confederacy, had it been possible to effect a co-oper- 
 ation of its members, in any common system of po- 
 licy, was much more than sufficient to subjugate the 
 whole of India, and to execute, perhaps, the most 
 extensive schemes even of French ambition. The 
 Mahratta empire, if properly consolidated, must of 
 itself command an immense force. Stretchins; through- 
 out the whole length of the peninsula ; from the Bay 
 of Bengal to the banks of the Indus, its population 
 has been estimated at not less than forty millions of 
 
 A 3 souls; 
 
6 
 
 THOUGHTS OiV 
 
 souls; Mhilc its known revenue has been found to 
 amount to up^\'al•ds (jf seventeen millions sterling. 
 These resources, however ample, are in India far 
 more efficient than in I'Auope, for they have been, 
 on experiment, found adequate to the establishment, 
 and constant sup})ort, of an army of up\^•ards of 
 300,000 men. 
 
 Nor has the progress of the French, in communi- 
 cating European tactics to this immense force, \ycen 
 at all disproportioned to their schemes of policy, and 
 the magnitude of their views. Many battalions in 
 the service of the Peshwah, and of Holkar, but espe- 
 cially in the establishment of Scindiah, ha.ve been 
 found in a state of discipline that \\ ould have been 
 deemed creditable in many European armies. Among 
 the troops of this latter prince, the brigade of Gen. 
 PeiTon has long been distinguished, by a system of 
 tactics hardly inferior to that of the British army ; it 
 consists of about 40,000 men, regularly brigaded 
 and regimented, and as completely armed and cloth- 
 ed as our seapoy corjjs, while its })ay is regularly 
 advanced, and in the field all its operations are sus- 
 tained by a well-appointed artillery, consisting of up- 
 wards of 400 pieces of ordnance. 
 
 ^ To the charge of this favourite portion of his army 
 Scindiah had committed the capital of the empire, 
 and the custody of the venerable, but unfortunate, 
 Shah AUum, a monarch who, it is said, has reached 
 the uncommon period of 90 years ; and who, it would 
 
 seem. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVF.RNMEXT, ETC. 7 
 
 seem, is more wasted and broken down by an unex- 
 ampled load of calamity, than by either the weight 
 or feebleness of his sinonlar age. The forcible re- 
 straints to which this unhappy prince was subjected, 
 easily enabled the French party among Scindiah's 
 troops to ^vrest from him the sanction of the imperial 
 name, and the semblance, at least, of legitimate au- 
 thority. It was accordingly in the vicinity of the ca- 
 pital, and almost in the presence of the emperor, 
 that their projects seemed to tend to maturity, with 
 the most steady and rapid progress. Considerable 
 advances had already been made towards the formal 
 cession of the imj)ortant provinces of Agra and Delhi 
 to the Frepch government, and towards their final 
 union with that distant kingdom. 
 
 Fortunately for the independence of the neighbour- 
 ing states, and the safety of the British empire, the 
 nobleman who had been appointed to the govern- 
 ment of India at this critical period, possessed a 
 complete comprehension of tlie character and views 
 of the French nation :* soon after his arrival, his in- 
 nate sagacity and perseverance enabled him to pene- 
 trate into the whole range and extent of the vast 
 plans of hostility which they had meditated ; he was 
 fully aware of the critical situation of the British em- 
 pire in India, and with equal promptitude and energy 
 he employed the whole resources of its power to 
 avert and re})el the danger. 
 
 A 4 In 
 
 * The Marquis Welleslcy, who h<id the merit of procuring his 
 private information from Colonel Kilpatrick, an officer well ac- 
 quainted with the Mahratta states. 
 
O THOUGHTS ON 
 
 In was, however, at Hyderabad, in the Deccan, 
 that the impatience and activity of French intrigue 
 first compelled him to meet actual hostility in the 
 field : an insurrection of the French officers there had 
 wrested from the Nizam the whole authority over his 
 army, and, in fact, had already converted that faith- 
 ful and peaceable ally of the British, into an open 
 enemy. By a sudden and unexpected movement of 
 a small part of our army, that had been prepared for 
 this purpose, those officers were all suddenly appre- 
 hended, and the allegiance of the Nizam, and the 
 subordination of his army, were almost instantane- 
 ously restored. 'J'his firet act of the Marquis Wel- 
 lesly, though scarcely heard of in Europe, certainly 
 argued favourably of his government, for it not only 
 paved the way to his subsequent success against the 
 IMysore, but from its promptitude and decision it de- 
 served to be ranked among the most meritorious mea- 
 sures of liis whole administration. 
 
 The vengeance of the King of Mysore, for his 
 former losses and defeats, had not suffered him to 
 ^joy a moment of tranquillity after the late pacifi- 
 cation.* He liad, in fact, been raising up a Maho- 
 medan confederacy, which was to consist of the 
 Grand Seigmor, the Persian Chiefs, the Nabob of 
 Oude, and the Nizam, and was intended for a pur- 
 pose no less splendid in the eyes of the faithful, than 
 the extirpation, not only of the British, but of all the 
 
 enemies 
 
 * Effected by Marquis Cornwallis. 
 
THE BRITiSII GOVEUNMENT, ETC. Q 
 
 enemies of Islamism throus;hout liindostan. The 
 army of this prince was fully prepared to take the 
 field,, but the fortunate event that has just been re- 
 lated, had deprived him of the co-operation of the 
 Nizam, his nearest, and therefore his most efficient 
 ally. 
 
 The native princes of India are, in general, far 
 ■more prompt in imbibing resentment, and in learning 
 maxims of hostility against their neighbours, than 
 cautious or prudent in their application. Their 
 French instructors were also, at this period, so mucli 
 intoxicated with the new form uhich their own i^o- 
 vernment in Europe had assumed, that they had iiH 
 stituted a society, in tlie capital of Mysore, for the 
 romantic purpose of spreading the doctrine of libertv 
 and equality among the despots and slaves of Asia. 
 The sovereign of Mysore liimself v\ as easily persuad- 
 ed to become an honorary member of this institu- 
 tion, where he appeared among its associates under the 
 name of Citizen Tippoo, an appellation, perhaps, the 
 most aukward and incongruous that had ever been 
 assumed by an Eastern Despot. The wild and fran- 
 tic orisons that were daily poured forth in this club, 
 in favour of an imaginary liberty, were constandy 
 accompanied with sentiments of detestation, and vows 
 of eternal hostility against the British government; 
 its forces \\ere therefore instantly prepared and 
 marched into the field to meet an aggression, which 
 there had been so little care taken to conceal. Past 
 experience liad taught the British officers to avoid the 
 
 pursuit 
 
10 THOUGHTS OX 
 
 pursuit of a native army in its rapid and discursive 
 evolutions in the field; the British, therefore, march- 
 ed directly towards the capital of the enemy, which 
 fell, but not till two decided victories had been ob- 
 tained without its walls, and also an obstinate defence 
 had been made in the interior of the city. In this 
 last conflict,* which \va.s maintained by both the as- 
 sailants and the natives aa ith equal valour and ob- 
 stinacy, much blood w as spilt, and the lives of many 
 brave men were lost, among the rest that of Tippoo 
 Sultaun, Avhose body was found, after long search, 
 among heaps of the slain, where he had fallen nobly 
 defending the last bulwark of his kingdom, and where, 
 however unfortunate he may be deemed in other re- 
 spects, he at last met with a fate not unworthy of his 
 bravery. 
 
 By the pacification at Hyderabad, the fall of Se- 
 ringapatam, and the death of Tippoo Sultaun, the 
 Alahompdan branch of the grand confederacy, a\ hich 
 the French had raised against the British power in 
 India, was completely broken and finally desti'oyed. 
 For althoua;h the few remaining adherents of the de- 
 ceased monarch made some desperate efforts for the 
 restoration of his family, these were rendered abor- 
 tive by the activity and vigilance of those British offi- 
 cers who had been left in charge of the conquered 
 
 coun- 
 
 * This memorable attack was led by General Baird, who 
 had been for three years confined in a dungeon by the tyrant. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 1 1 
 
 country.* The campaign against the jMysore was, 
 therefore, com})leated by a signal act of justice, as 
 creditable to the government of India, as the late 
 brilliant successes had been honourable to the British 
 arms. The greater part of the van(]uished territory 
 was restored to the Rajah of Mysore, and his antient 
 family again mounted that throne, from which they 
 liad been driven by the treachery and usurpation of 
 Tippoo and his father: nor did the vengeance of the 
 Bi'itish, though hurled with such destructive rajiidity 
 against the most formidable and inveterate of all their 
 enemies, prevent them from aflbrding sympathy and 
 relief to the surviving family of the IMysorcan kings ; 
 ample endowments were set apart for their support, 
 which still they continue to enjoy, with perhaps equal 
 comfort, and certainly m ith greater security, than in 
 the most prosperous days of the fortunes of their 
 house. 
 
 This train of im})ortant and successful events took 
 place during the short space of only a few months 
 after the arrival of the IMarquis ofA\'ellesley, and they 
 certainly entitled his administration to rank M'ith the 
 most active and brilliant that had ever been display- 
 ed by any governor of India; according, how'ever, to 
 his views of the state of that country, he must have 
 )-cgarded his labours as scarcely half finished. Ho 
 
 saw 
 
 * Particularly by Sir Arthur Wellesley, who signalised him- 
 self by the defeat of Doondea \Vaugli, the most steady adherent 
 *f Tippoo. 
 
12 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 saw the immense power of the Muhratta empire still 
 remaining not only unbroken, but daily increasing, 
 and consolidating under the active and unceasing; 
 O})eration of French influence. A French state, as 
 already noticed, of large extent and formidable power, 
 had b^en framed by the successive labours of Gene- 
 rals de Boyne and Perron, around the capital of India. 
 This nascent power the all-devouring ambition of 
 the new emperor had already grasped as a rich prize, 
 and its destruction became therefore absolutely ne- 
 cessary to the safety of our empire in India, since, 
 amidst all the multiplied aggressions of his neigh- 
 bours, the usurper had uniformly distinguished the 
 British nation as the marked, though not perhaps the 
 idtimate object of his hostility. 
 
 The reduction of a hostile power so immediately 
 in the vicinity of our possessions, might certainly 
 have justified a war; but as no actual aggression had 
 yet been committed in that quarter, it was on the 
 other side of the peninsula that the Marquis of Wel- 
 lesley was again first called upon for the active sup- 
 port of the interests of his government ; the danger 
 became at once pressing and immediate by the usur- 
 pation of the whole Mahratta power by a single chief; 
 and the cause of the fugitive was identified with our 
 own. 
 
 The politics of India were never so refined, or 
 considerate, as to admit of a balancing system, by 
 which the overgrown power of any individual state 
 
 mi^ht 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMEXT, ETC. 13 
 
 iriight be prevented from endangering the indepen- 
 dence of the rest. Hardly any circumstance of 
 common danger has ever been deemed sufficiently 
 urgent to unite the native Princes in the defence of 
 the country even against foreign invasion. During 
 the contest between the British and the King of J\ly- 
 sore, the Mahrattas observed a suspicious neutrality : 
 They gazed on the combatants with an indifference 
 that bordered on fatuity ; and which strongly forboded 
 the dissolution of their state. After the fall of that 
 kingdom, their empire actually fell into a state of 
 anarchy that demanded the most prompt measures 
 of precaution for the safety of the British territories, 
 and those of its allies, which lay around its frontier. 
 The constitution of their empire, originally ill con- 
 structed, and undefined, had lately been radically 
 changed. The antient Rajahs of Satarah, who had 
 originally laid the foundation of its power, and ex- 
 tended its influence over the peninsula, with such 
 unexampled rapidity, had gradually sunk from the 
 rank of Sovereigns to imbeciility, and ov^ing to the 
 personal ambition of their servants, fell into a sta- 
 tion, if not of absolute privacy, at least of compleat 
 insignificance. 
 
 Their ministers already become hereditaiy in their 
 offices, and too powerful for controul, had suffi- 
 cient influence to remove the seat of Government 
 from Sattarah, and to constitute the town of Poonah 
 the capital of the Empire. There, removed from 
 the eyes of the Princes, they no longer deigned to 
 
 preserve 
 
14 THOUGHTS ox 
 
 preserve further allegiance, than the semblance of 
 delegated power: They accordingly retained the 
 appellation of Peslnva, but compelled the subor- 
 dinate members of the confederacy to acknowledge 
 them as the Iciiitimatc oro;an of tlie \\hole exe- 
 cutive po^^"er of the state, whether civil or military : 
 It is, however, scarcely possible, accurately to define 
 either the rights, or the power attached to the Pesh- 
 vva, after his being acknowledged representative of 
 the supreme head of the Emi)ire. The extent of 
 his prerogatives seems to have varied, at dit^ei'ent 
 times, according to the personal talents and ambition 
 of each incumbent in the exercise of this recent 
 power. 
 
 Bajee Rao, the present Peshwa, from that imbecil- 
 lity and indolence, which in Asia is so often attached 
 to high station, had devolved upon inferior agents, 
 almost the whole of the active duties of his office. 
 His power had frequently been disputed, or con- 
 trolled ; he had at ditierent times nearly become a 
 prey to the ambition of the subordinate chiefs ; and, 
 at the period now under review^, though defended by 
 Scindia, he had been compleatly defeated by Hol- 
 kar's troops, and obliged to flee for security beyond 
 the limits of his own dominions. 
 
 The danger to the British possessions, and those 
 of their allies, became pressing and immediate from 
 this usurpation, of almost the whole Mahratta power 
 by the hands of a single chieftain ; and the cause 
 
 of 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 15 
 
 of the Pesh^va thus became identified with that of 
 our India Government. 
 
 A treaty of defensive aUiance between the India 
 Company and the Peshwa, was therefore drawn up 
 at the earnest sohcitation of that Prince, and was 
 finally ratified at Bassein, where he had fled from 
 the aggressions of Holkar for protection. By this in- 
 strument, it A\as stipulated, that he should be re- 
 stored to his dominions, and to the exercise of his 
 legitimate authority, on condition of his maintain- 
 ing, for the defence of his territories, and at his own 
 expence, a brigade of British troops ; a\ hich it was 
 at first agreed, should consist of six thousand, but 
 afterwards the number was increased to ten thou- 
 sand men. 
 
 The terms of this convention were no sooner ar- 
 ranged, than the J^ritish army, under Sir Arthur 
 Wellesley, marched towaixls Poonah with that 
 promptitude and decision, which have always dis- 
 tin2;uished the services of this valuable officer. The 
 rapidity of his movements, and his unexpected ad- 
 vance, saved tlie capital from destruction; for the 
 troops of llolkar, who had continued to pillage the 
 city, since it fell into their possession, had at last re- 
 solved to finish the catastrophe, by setting it on fire. 
 Alarmed, however, by the sudden approach of the 
 British army, they fled from the place with the ut- 
 most precipitation, and soon after abandoned the ter- 
 ritory of Poonah. Room was thus made for the 
 
 peaceable 
 
iO TneUGIlTS ON 
 
 peacealjle restoration of the deposed Sovereign ; ai'Kj 
 ti)e Peshwa, when he afterwards arrived, was recei- 
 ved by his subjects, not merely Avith submission and 
 (juietness, but \^ith every mark of the sincerest joy 
 and satisfaction. During his absence, the inhabi- 
 tants liad been subjected to the severest forms of mi- 
 htary execution ; and forced to submit to the various 
 exactions of a cliief the most needy, desperate and 
 rapacious of all the leaders of the predatory bands 
 of his countrymen. When, therefore, they again be- 
 held their la^vful Sovereign, they greeted his return 
 by salutes from all the forts in his kingdom, and tes- 
 tified their joy, by illuminations on the tops and ac- 
 clivities of the hills, throughout the whole vicinity of 
 Poonah, 
 
 Thus far, the measures of the Governor of India, 
 wore an aspect of consistency and vigour, which au- 
 gured well in favour of their ultimate success. The 
 justice of his interference at this time, to check the 
 overgrown power of an aspiring adversary, and to 
 succour the disti'ess of a fallen Prince, will hardly be 
 Cjuestioned by such as are versant in the politics of 
 India : Nor will it be denied, since all the Mahratta 
 Princes exercised the right of making treaties them- 
 selves, that the same privilege belonged to the head 
 of the Empire. 
 
 According to these views, the defensive treaty of 
 Bassein was not only avowed by the parties, but 
 fi'eely communicated to the rest of the chiefs, who 
 
 explicitly 
 
 r 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMEXT, ETC. 17 
 
 explicitly acknowledged that it contained no stipula- 
 tions injurious, either to the principles of their con- 
 stitution, or to the just rights of any member of the 
 Mahratta confederacy. On tlie other hand, its ad- 
 vantages were sufficiently obvious : It had the imme- 
 diate effect of quietly restoring a deposed Prince to 
 his throne, and to the exercise of his acknowledged 
 rights ; and of checking a dangerous usurpation : It 
 detached, from the influence of French councils, a 
 very important branch of the Mahratta confederacy ; 
 and therefore coincided ivith the general tenor and 
 spirit of British policy in India. 
 
 But the power of the Peshwa, and the predomi- 
 nant rights, which by the constitution of the Empire 
 were attached to his office, had, as was already no- 
 ticed, become a grand object of ambition among the 
 more considerable chiefs. Scindiah had for many 
 years struggled for the ascendancy at the Court of 
 Poonah ; and on some occasions actually attained a 
 powerful interest in its councils. Ragojee Boonsla 
 had, from family connections, some grounds for the 
 advancement of his own claims to this office ; while 
 Holkar had lately, by the fortune of war, the whole 
 authority witiiin his grasp, and in the name of Am- 
 riit Rao, brother to the Peshwa, had actually began 
 to exercise the whole of its functions. 
 
 The final deprivation of these chiefs of so fair an 
 object of aggrandizement as the general controul of 
 the whole ^lahratta Empire, secm.ed to reproach 
 
 B their 
 
13 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 their indolence and want of ambition ; and the near- 
 er they considered its attainment, tlie stronger was- 
 the disappointment and jealousy which its loss occa^ 
 sioned. The deep resentment thus excited among, 
 these chiefs, thougli unacknowledged by themselves, 
 was the true cause of that open hostility \vhich they 
 were now about to commence ao-ainst the British 
 power. 
 
 Thus impelled by the strong emotions of disap- 
 pointed ambition, Scindia and the Raja of Nagpore, 
 entered into an engagement, in order to frustrate the 
 arrangements so lately stipulated by the treaty of 
 Bassein. With this view, each set on foot a large 
 army, which was marched from different quarters to 
 a point of union, bordering on the territories of the 
 Nizam, an ally of the British. This menacing po-^ 
 sition they maintained for a considerable time, in 
 order to compleat their own i)reparations, and to 
 urge Holkar to join their confederacy ; iK)r could 
 they be persuaded to abandon it by the strong re- 
 monstrances of our Government, against military pre- 
 parations, at a period so unnecessary for their own< 
 defence, and in a situation so incompatible with the 
 peace and safety of the British allies. 
 
 The Marquis of Wellesley, however unwilling he 
 might be to hazard the tranquillity and safety of the 
 British Empire in the East, by enteriiig into a con- 
 test Mdth these two powerful chiefs, a\ hose territories 
 actually stretched over more than half of the penin- 
 sula 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 19 
 
 siila of India, had however no alternathe left 
 him. Tlie full and positive information which from 
 various sources he had olitained, of the nature and 
 extent of those schemes of hostility, which had for 
 some time been meditated, was now confirmed by 
 the actual preparations that had been made for car- 
 rying them into execution. He foresaw the dan^e- 
 rbus crisis, before its approach, and the hollow pro- 
 fessions of friendship that were constantly sent, in 
 answer to his remonstrances, did not, for a moment 
 prevent him from bringing forward the whole re- 
 sources of his siovernmcnt to defeat their cnter- 
 prises. 
 
 A combination of the ]\Iahratta empire, so exten- 
 sive and powerful as that now raised by the confe- 
 tlerates, had never hitherto been brought into action 
 against the British power : and it must be acknow- 
 ledged also, that a system of defence, equally prompt, 
 vigorous and extensive, was never planned by any 
 former Governor of India. Five different armies, 
 each of considerable force, were speedily prepared ta 
 invade the territory of the enemy, nearly at the same 
 pcl'iod of tinic*. The value of the previous arrange- 
 ments that had been formed with the Nizam and the 
 Peshwa, partlculailv the subsidiary treaties, was now 
 distinctly felt. By them the British army was enabled 
 to proceed througli the friendly territories of allied 
 chiefs, to the very boundary of the ]\Iahratta domi- 
 
 B 2 nions ; 
 
 * The army brought into the field, amounted to 55,000, after 
 providing for the defence of the interior. ' ^ 
 
^0 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 nions ; where it was joined by a large subsidiary force 
 both from Hyderabad and Poonah, \\'hich materially 
 promoted the success of the campaign. The Mar- 
 quis thus was enabled to attack the extensive domi- 
 nions of tlie enemy, from almost every assailable 
 point. 
 
 On the south, they were invaded by a powerful- 
 division of the Madrass army under Sir Artnur Wel- 
 lesley ; in Guzerat, on the west by Colonel Murray, 
 and a strong detachment of the Bombay troops : a 
 simultaneaus etibrt was also made by General Lake, 
 in the northern extremity of Scindias dominions, 
 where the main strength of his army was stationed, 
 in conjunction ■« ith the celebrated brigade of Gene- 
 ral Perron : on the east, in Bundelcund, the same 
 system of attack was pursued, where the adlierents 
 of the confederacy Ali Mahomed, and Himmut Ra- 
 haudur were overpowered and dispersed : during the 
 execution of these operations, the provinces of Ba- 
 lasore and Cuttack were wrested from the Rajah of 
 Nagpore, by the immediate direction and under 
 the auspices of the Governor-General himself, who 
 had planned and combined ali these assaults, with a 
 degree of judgment and accuracy which secured their 
 uniform success ; and which has proved as creditable 
 to his own talents, as the prompt execution of his 
 plans has been honourable to our Indian armies. 
 
 But the circumstance which appears most signally 
 to have promoted the success of this eventful cam- 
 paign 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERXMEXT, ETC. 21 
 
 paign, was the ampte and imrestricted Authority 
 which was confeiTed on the diiferent commanders 
 carrying on their o}X3rations so far removed from the 
 seat of Government : It was thus those officers were 
 enabled to meet every new exigency, by the unres- 
 trained application of all their resources ; and to sur- 
 mount or evade unforeseen difficulties as tliey hap- 
 pened to occur, by the immediate exercise of discre- 
 tionary power. The imexampled rapidity of our 
 victories, and vast extent of the conquests that were 
 made in the shoj;;t space of a few months, must be 
 in some measure also ascribed to that just tribute of 
 commendation whicji was so impartially and liberally 
 bestowed on the officers and troops, after their hard 
 fought battles. This approbation, equally merited 
 and useful, inspired the army with a just confidence 
 in its own strength, and preserved among the troops 
 uncommon alacrity amidst their fatigues and dan- 
 gers. 
 
 The strong partiality which the Marquis of Wel- 
 lesley must have naturally felt for the brilliant ser- 
 vices of his brother, on no occasion prevented him 
 from discerning the merits of other officers, and from 
 conferring on them their just share of applause. Im- 
 mediately after the battle of Delhi, he expresses his 
 sense of the services of General Lake and his army, 
 in the following spirited and patriotic terms. In his 
 general orders to the troops, he observes, "that on re- 
 viewing the rapid successes obtained by our arms, 
 >\ithin the short space of a few months, every loyal 
 
 subject 
 
22 THOUGHTS OX 
 
 subject of the British empire must be animated with 
 the luost zealous emotions of just pride and national 
 triumph. I have ah'eady expressed the sentunents 
 of gratitude and admiration with which I contem- 
 plated the conduct of his excellency the commander 
 in chief and his army, in the action of the <2pth of 
 August, and in the gallant assault of the fortress of 
 Allyghur, on the 4th of J^eptember. The decisive 
 victory gained on the 1 i th, in the battle of Delhi, 
 justihes the hrm confidence I reposed in the bravery, 
 perseverance, and discipline of the army; and in the 
 skill, judgment, and intrepidity of their illustrious 
 commander. The glory of that day is not surpassed 
 by any recorded triumph of the British arms in India, 
 and is attended by every circumstance calculated to 
 elevate the fame of British valor, to illustrate the 
 character of British humanity, and to secure the sta- 
 bility of the British empire in the East." 
 
 The bravery of Sir A. Wellesley and his army, 
 their atchievements in the memorable battles of 
 Assye and Argaum, in the Deccan, were not less 
 conspicuous ; nor were the general merits of this of- 
 ficer less worthy of those liberal and manly encomi- 
 ums which he received from the IMarquis. Both 
 commanders enjoyed the appvol)ation of their sove- 
 reign, and received from him those honours which 
 are the reward of valour. Fortunately too, for the 
 interests of the British empire, assailed at this period 
 by the most inveterate of all its enemies, the solid 
 advantages resulting from those well-contested battles, 
 
 were 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. Q,S 
 
 viere not inferior to the splendour of their atchieve- 
 nients. 
 
 Their immediate consequences were, the defeat of 
 the combined armies of the confederate chiefs ; and, 
 irom the loss of their artillery, an irreparable blow 
 to their sti'ength and resources, throughout the whole 
 of the Deccan. These prosperous results were, no 
 ■doubt, aided and accelerated by the auspicious pro- 
 gress of the army, at all the different points from 
 which it invaded the JMahratta empire. Soon after 
 these successes, the French officers attached to Scin- 
 dias army, having quarrelled with the native sirdars 
 «ind with each otlier, abandoned the service of that 
 chief; after the example of Perron, their principl<!S 
 partizan, they submitted to the protection of the Bri- 
 tisli connnander, m ho suffered them to retire with 
 !^Ahatevcr property they had acquired, and liad been 
 able to bring with jthem. 
 
 Thus the grand fabric of French power, which that 
 nation had been anxiously raising up, with the assum- 
 ed sanction of the imperial authority, and the more 
 efficient supjiort of the INIahratta power, was at last 
 broken down, and utterly destroyed throughout the 
 whole of India. The conquest of Balasore and Cut- 
 tack, by Colonel Harcourt, seemed well calculated to 
 prevent its future renovation, for it connected the 
 two presidencies of Bengal and Madras, and united 
 the British territories along the Coromandel coast, 
 
 B 4 where 
 
24 THOUGHTS OX 
 
 where they now present a hostile and uninterrupted 
 frontier against every inroad from the shore, and fori?i 
 a barrier against the introduction of French oiTicers, 
 to discipHne the native arniies of any inimical power. 
 
 The strong detachment of the Bombay army un- 
 der Colonel Murray, though engaged in enterprises 
 apparently less splendid, was equally serviceable in 
 promoting the fortunate result of the campaign. This 
 officer not only defended the British coast and ter- 
 ritory in that quarter, and those of the Guickar Ra- 
 jah, our ally, but reduced the fortress of Broach, 
 Pouanghur, and other posts of importance. Thus 
 in every quarter of this extended warfare was the 
 British nation triumphant. On the shores of Guzurat 
 and Balasore, on the mountains of the Deccan, and 
 in the plains of Delhi, her banners were supported 
 with equal energy and spirit, and victory every where 
 continued steadily to follow them. 
 
 In the short space of three months, a succession 
 of events had taken place, of such importance, as 
 completely to change the relative condition of the 
 British empire, and the different states of India. Seven 
 hundred pieces of cannon were taken from the enemy, 
 eight fortresses subdued, either by siege or escalade, 
 their immense armies routed and dispersed, and the 
 force of the French and Mahratta confederacy crush- 
 ed, throughout a territory which extends a thousand 
 miles square. What seemed of greatest importance, 
 
 in 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 25 
 
 in these warlike times, and in the critical situation 
 of the British empire, then attacked and threatened 
 with invasion, by a most inveterate and powerful 
 enemy in Europe ; her miHtary reputation was height- 
 ened, the laurels she had lately gathered in Syria 
 and Egypt were refreshed, and she enjoyed a satis- 
 factory proof, that amidst encreasing luxury, and im- 
 minent danger, no portion of the enterprise and valour 
 of her armies had been lost ; for all her late victories 
 in the East had been obtained over troops not in the 
 ordinary circumstances of Indian armies. They were 
 disciplined by European officers, and commanded 
 with bravery and skill : the proficiency they had gain- 
 ed in European tactics was so great, that during the 
 action of Assye, the IMahrattas made live different 
 changes of position, and sustained on the same day 
 an equaV number of assaults before they yielded the 
 combat : it was by the point of the bayonet alone 
 that they were, on that occasion, compelled to re- 
 linquish their guns, an hundred of which were taken 
 on the field, by an army scarcely amounting to a 
 tenth part of that which had, with so much difficulty, 
 been routed. 
 
 The Mahratta confederacy being finally sulxlued, 
 a peace was concluded between the India Company, 
 Dowlut Rao Scindiah, and the Berar Rajah, in Ja- 
 nuary, 1804. The short period of tranquillity that 
 succeeded this event was speedily interrupted by 
 Holkar, another powerful chief, whose expulsion of 
 
 the 
 
2-6 THOUGHTS OS^ 
 
 the Peshwa had originally occasioned the war. This 
 prince, though he kept aloof from the confederacy of 
 his countrymen, with an indifference which seemed 
 to argue, at once, a deficiency of patriotism and a 
 want of sound policy, was nevertheless found to 
 maintain the contest for his independence, with far 
 greater skill and bravery, than any prince whom the 
 JJritish arms had opposed in India, 
 
 The power aiid resources of HoU^ar had gradually 
 been encreased, like that of the other chiefs, by the 
 introduction of European officers into his army, and 
 by an improved system of discipline, which was thus 
 established. Thus formidable in itself, his power was 
 rendered almost unassailable from the nature of his 
 country, whicli is uncommonly mountanous, and, 
 during the rains, impassable, from jungles and mo^ 
 rasses. His akill in maintaining the predatoiy war- 
 fare, so congenial to a Mahratta army, -was far su- 
 perior to that of the other chiefs, whose experience 
 had so fully taught him the danger of risking any re- 
 gular engagement with European troops. Thus, al- 
 though his territories were invaded on all sides by 
 detachments of the Company's forces, he constantly 
 illuded their attacks, and, by the singular rapidity of 
 his movements, he was enabled suddenly to assemble 
 almost his whole force, and overpower A\hatever 
 Aveaker detachments he might find at a distance from 
 support. In this situation the troops under Colonel 
 JXIonson were supprised: this officer had marched 
 
 against 
 
' THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 27 
 
 against Indoor the capital, in concert with Colonel 
 Murray, who had reached that place from Bombay, 
 and captured it without much opposition : his less 
 fortunate coadjutor, however, after being betrayed 
 by his guides, and deserted by a part of his troops, 
 was attacked by a superior force, under Holkar him- 
 self, before which he was forced to retreat towards 
 Agra, through a country impassable from the rains, 
 and destitute of provisions. After several disastrous 
 conflicts, durins: a retreat of seven weeks, which de- 
 generated into a flight, the greater part of his guns, 
 the whole of the ba2;2;a(2;e and military stores, vvere 
 lost : a few only of the troops reached Agra at mid- 
 night, in a state of extreme distress ; the greater part 
 were overtaken in their flight, and either massacred 
 «r cruelly mutilated, by their ferocious pursuers. 
 
 Colonel Willot, of tlie Bengal artillery, was almost 
 equally unsuccessful in an attack which he had plan- 
 ned against a strong post in the interior ; he failed in 
 the attempt, aqd soon after died of the wounds he 
 had received. It was in Bundelcund, and the coun- 
 tiy of the Rohillas, that Ilolkar received the most 
 considerable checks. From both those territories he 
 was completely driven by Lieutenant-Colonel Favvcit 
 «nd General Smith. 
 
 Parties of his cavalry had been repeatedly defeated 
 by Lord Lake ; but the rapidity of their movements 
 as often saved them from destruction; and it was not 
 till the decisive battle of Dee<?, on the 1 3th of No- 
 
 vember, 
 
^8 THOUGHTS on 
 
 yeniber, that the main strength of this enterprising 
 chief was completely broken. At this place his army, 
 trusting to the great strength of its position, behind 
 successive ranges of batteries, was induced to hazard 
 a general action. From these batteries, which ex- 
 tended to the depth of two miles, they were succes- 
 sively driven by the gallant General Frazer, who had 
 the credit of forcing a post which had been deemed 
 impregnable, and m hich was at this period defended 
 by 24 battalions of infantry, and 150 pieces of canr 
 non. 
 
 In this brilliant atchievement, the General was 
 wounded in the leg;, and soon after was obliged to be 
 carried off the field : the completion of the victory 
 thus fell to Colonel IVIonson, who now saw compleat 
 vengeance inflicted for his past disasters, and for the 
 unexampled cruelty of his enemy, 2000 of whom were 
 killed, either in the battle or during the retreat ; an 
 immense number was wounded, and amongst these 
 many considerable chiefs, while 87 pieces of cannon 
 fell into his hands, which partly consisted of the same 
 guns which he had himself lest during his disastrous 
 retreat to Asira. 
 
 Had Holkar confided merely to his effective force 
 in the field, his cause might have now been regarded 
 as desperate. His 'boldness, however, and his un- 
 exampled success, had gained him the support of 
 several of the native princes : among these he had 
 ^educed the Rajah of Bhurtpore, an ally of the Bri- 
 tish, 
 
THE BRITX'511 GOVERXJIENT, ETC. 29 
 
 tish, and the chief of the celebrated cast of the Jaiits, 
 the most warlike tribe in upper India; General 
 Lake was therefore obhgcd to concentrate his army, 
 and to employ it in the reduction of Bhurtpore, a 
 fortress whicli experience has proved to have been 
 the strongest and most impregnable in the whole pe- 
 ninsula. While thus employed, the dispersed troops 
 of Ilolkar had time to rendezvous in distant quarters, 
 and were successful in cutting off his supplies of pro- 
 visions, and in plundering the suiTOunding districts, 
 by that predatory mode of warfare for which the 
 IMahrattas have been celebrated. 
 
 The reduction of Bhurtpore, thus defended by the 
 indefatigable efforts of Ilolkar, by its intrepid giu- 
 rison, and its oxvn natural strength,- proved the most 
 arduous enterprise which the British troops had ever 
 undertaken in Asia. The success of the besieged, 
 in repelling four different assaults, animated them 
 with fresh courage and intrepidity. The liajali and 
 liis whole tribe were united by the ties of blood as 
 \Aell as of civil authority : tliey had claim to a hijyh 
 cast among the natives, which they knew must be 
 forfeited for ever by unconditipnal submission : un- 
 fortunately these were the only terms which General 
 Luke was permitted to accept. The Rajah, thereforc^, 
 having collected in the fort, his Momen, his children, 
 and his treasures, resolved toljurythem all, and him- 
 self, under its ruins, rather than submit to terms 
 which were deemed equally disgraceful to his religion 
 and his rank. 
 
 Com- 
 
so *r*irouGHTs o^ 
 
 Impelled by the orders of his superior, and un- 
 daunted by all the past disasters which the troops had 
 already suffered, General Lake resolved to hazard 
 another attempt. In the account given of it in his 
 dispatch to the Governor General, dated 2 2d Fe- 
 bruary, he obseinres, " that it appeared our failure 
 on the 20th was to be accounted for, in a great mea- 
 sure, by the occurrence of unexpected accidents and 
 delays, as part of the corps who formed the storming 
 party liad surmounted the principal difliculty, and 
 had nearly gained the summit of the bastion, where, 
 1 was informed, a few hours more battering: would 
 make the ascent perfectly easy, I determined to make 
 another attempt yesterday, 
 
 " The party for this service consisted of the whole 
 European force, and the two battalions of the native 
 infantry of the Bengal army, and the greater part of 
 his Majesty's 53th and 86th regiments, and the gre- 
 nadier battalion and llank companies of the 1st bat- 
 talion of the 3d regiment, from the Bombay division. 
 The whole moved on to the attack about three o'clock 
 in the afternoon, imder the command of the lion. 
 Brigadier INJonson. The troops, most conlidunt of 
 success, commenced the attack, and persevered in it 
 for a considerable time, with the most determined 
 bravery; but their utmost exertions Avere not suffi-' 
 cient to enable them to gain the top of the breach. 
 The bastion, which was the point of attack, was ex- 
 tremely steep; the resistance opposed to them was 
 vigorous, and our men could only mount by small, 
 
 parties 
 
taE BRITIS^H GOVER^^MEXT, ETC. SI 
 
 parties at a time ; the advantages v\ere veiy great on 
 the side of the enemy — discharges of grape, logs of 
 .wood, and pots tilled with combustible materials, im- 
 mediately knocked down those M'ho were ascending, 
 and the Avhole part)^, after having been engaged in an 
 obstinate contest for two hours, and suffering very 
 severe loss, v. as obliged to relinquish the attempt, 
 and to retire to our trenches." I'he loss of the Bri- 
 tish army in this last assault, and that of the 20th, 
 amounted to 300 killed, and ]564 wounded: its 
 whole loss, durinjT the different attacks, amounted to 
 upwards of three thousand of the bravest of our 
 troops ; while tire unconditional surrender of the place 
 ^as never attained. 
 
 The Rajah, however, again proposed the terms: 
 he had formerly offered, and consented to pay three 
 lacks of rupees to the army, and the expences of the 
 war. lIostas:es were "iven for die refjular discharge 
 of these sums, at different instalments. 'J'lius tlic 
 last prince in India who resisted the British arms, 
 was found to have made the most glorious defence 
 of his independence, and to have secured for himself 
 the most honourable terms. Holkar, himscllj after 
 having been often beaten, was at last deserted by 
 almost the Avliole of his troops, and was obliged to 
 escape to the mountains, with a retinue so scanty, as 
 was hardly suihcient for the protection of his person. 
 In this manner, an arduous campaign of eleven 
 months was completed, after occasioning a greater 
 loss of blood and treasure than had, perhaps, ever 
 
 been 
 
3C IIIOUCHTS ON 
 
 been incurred by the subjugation of any single chiel> 
 Nor did this darins; and mamianin-ous Prince con- 
 sent to sue for peace till the JNIarquis had returned 
 to Europe, and till he had Avitnessed the downfall of 
 all the great chiefs of his nation ; and, like another 
 Galgaeus, had the honour of being the last man who 
 A-ed to uphold the standard of independence in hh 
 native country. 
 
 To enumerate the victories obtained by our arms? 
 in India, and to describe the advantages resulting 
 
 ' CD O 
 
 ft'om them will hereafter form the most pleasing part 
 of the British historian s duty : but to render his nar- 
 rative useful, he will have another task to perform no 
 less necessary : It will be his province to record the 
 errors that may have been committed, and the dis- 
 asters that have followed them : Where this is neg- 
 lected, history ceases to be instructive, and posterity 
 to improve. On this principle the future narrators 
 of our late campaigns in the East may probably re-» 
 mark, that they have been almost uniformly attend- 
 ed with too lavish an expenditure. Although the 
 IMahratta war continued only for the space of a few 
 months, and the hostilities against Tippoo were con- 
 cluded with almost equal dispatch ; yet a debt has 
 been contracted upon the treasury of upwards of 
 thirty millions sterling. Had these o})erations been 
 protracted by any unfortunate event, or had they even 
 lasted the usual period of such immense undertak- 
 ings, success would have been doubtful, or rather 
 unattainable,' from the impossibility of commanding 
 
 a surVi 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. S3 
 
 a sum adequate to their expence. In India, where 
 the rate of interest is so enormous, and where war 
 is an occurrence unhappily so frequent, its expence 
 must be reduced to a scale more nearly corres[)ond- 
 ing to the resources of the country : In the progress 
 of increasing territory, and of annually accumulat- 
 ing debt, our carreer in Asia is rapid and dangerous ; 
 nor is it difficult to foresee that abyss of destruction 
 into which even a series of victories must inevitably 
 lead. 
 
 The future historian may, perhaps, be credited for 
 impartiality, should he hazard another remark, that the 
 treaties of peace with the Mahratta Chiefs, which had 
 been begun and concluded almost in a single day, 
 were at once imperfect and precipitate. A subsi- 
 diary treaty had been almost uniformly concluded 
 between the Company's Government and all the 
 neighbourino; Princes of India, as soon as the neces- 
 sity of their condition might induce them to engage 
 in that measure : The Nabobs of Oude, and of the 
 Carnatic, the Nizam, and the Peshwa had been all 
 successively engaged to maintain a subsidiary force 
 in their own doujinions. Experience had proved that 
 this was the most effectual of all measures for the 
 checking their appetite for continual war, and 
 for preventing them from plundering their own sub- 
 jects ; the expedient at the same time has been 
 found to supply pay and maintenance for the large 
 additions that v/ere made to the Company's native 
 army. In forming the late treaties with the Nag-' 
 
 C pore 
 
34 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 pore Rajah, with Scindia and Holkar, this important 
 stipulation was omitted, though it had been propo- 
 sed before the commencenient of the war, and though 
 experience had so repeatedly demonstrated it to be 
 the most effectual means of securing the permanency 
 of peace. Should a future war be afterwards found 
 necessary to check the aggressions of these chiefs, 
 the occuiTence may be justly ascribed to the want of 
 a subsidiary force in their territories, so necessary to 
 disclose, and to check their hostile machinations in 
 their commencement. 
 
 It is alleged, by those best acquainted with the sub- 
 ject, that our successes in the East have been uniform- 
 ly aided by a prejudice entertained among the natives^ 
 that European skill and valour were irresistible in 
 every open and regular attack. It may hereafter be 
 objected, that in the last of our campaigns sufficient 
 care has not been taken to support this opinion, so 
 essentially necessary to our future safety, amidst the 
 millions of Asia. The smallest victory, or even 
 transient success on their part, destroys this salutary 
 prejudice, and has always been found to animate 
 them with the boldness and ferocity of tigers ; and 
 hence there is not, perhaps, on record a single ex- 
 ample of any detachment of our army, either turning 
 their backs, or yielding in a contest that has not 
 been almost instantly destroyed. 
 
 The war against Holkar which so soon succeeded 
 the defeat of Boonsla and Scindia, should not, per- 
 haps, 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 3S 
 
 liaps have been undertaken till the season had fa- 
 voured, and till more certain means had been provided 
 of compelling that chief to abandon his desultory war- 
 fare, and of forcing him to a decisive action. If he 
 could not be sun'ounded by a numerous army, he 
 should have at least been opposed by troops whose 
 rapidity of movement was equal to his own ; and by 
 detachments of sufficient strength to resist any sud- 
 den junction of his irregular cavalry. 
 
 These dispositions of the native armies, already no- 
 ticed, having been demonstrated clearly, by fatal ex- 
 perience, have established a maxim essentially use- 
 ful in Indian warfare: That hardly a single enter- 
 prise should be hazarded of doubtful issue ; and that 
 no attempt should be made, till every possible means 
 had been provided for ensuring success. 
 
 Had this maxim bGen followed with that strictness 
 due to its importance, Colonel Monson's detachment' 
 would not, perhaps, have been allowed to penetrate 
 so tar without support into a country rendered al- 
 most iuip.i.-sable by the rains : and had the conse- 
 quences of a check been sufficiently kept in view, that 
 officer would [)erhaps, tiot have receded a step before 
 an enemy, where retreat was destruction. 
 
 # 
 
 The same observations are, by some, thought ap- 
 plicable to the storming of the fort of Bhurtpore. 
 An example of European skill and bravery being 
 compleatly bathed in the presence of the natives, 
 
 C 2 ' i9 
 
36 THOUGHTS oisr 
 
 in five different assaults was, they imagine, far 
 more detrimental to their reputation, than its ca})-' 
 tare could have been advantageous to our cause. 
 
 But notwithstanding all these exceptions, and 
 after allowing these remarks, whatever importance 
 they may be found to merit, still ample room will be 
 left for commending the spirit of our Indian Go- 
 vernment and the conduct of the army. In the 
 ftliort space of six years, more had been done by 
 Marquis Wellesley for the destruction of French in- 
 fluence in the East, and for the enlargement and se- 
 curity of the British dominions, than ever had been 
 accomplished by any Governor of India. Through- 
 out that extensive country he left no Europeans to 
 discipline the native armies, nor any independent 
 powers under whom they could rally, in order to 
 controul the British Government. Under his admi- 
 nistration, that government, for the first time since 
 its establishment in Asia, had the opportunity of pur- 
 suing plans of improvement without the opposition 
 of an open foe, or the controul of a rival power. 
 
 SECTION 
 
[• 37 ] 
 
 SECTION IL 
 
 INDUCEJIENTS TO ATTEMPT THE IMPROVE- 
 MENT OF THE CONDITION OF THE NA- 
 TIVES OF INDIA. 
 
 From the slight sketch above given of our late cam- 
 paigns in India, it appears that the British territories 
 in that quarter, have heen greatly extended. They 
 now actually coniprehend nearly one half of Hin- 
 dostan and the Pecan ; "v^ hile tlie power and influence 
 of the British government has become paramount 
 over the whole peninsula. 
 
 From the vicinity of Agra and Delhi, the ancient 
 capitals of the Mogul Empire, the British dominions 
 at present stretch east and southward, on both sides 
 of the Ganges, to, the bay of Bengal, through a range 
 of country of more than a thousand miles, and con- 
 taining perhaps the largest and most fertile plain on 
 the face of the globe. Along the whole coast of 
 
 C 3 Coromandeh 
 
38 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 Coromandel, her detiched possessions have been 
 united, and a free communication established be- 
 t^veen the Presidencies, a circumstance which was 
 formerly dependent on the will of the Raja of Be- 
 rar. 
 
 The acquisitions made in these campaigns on the 
 side of the Mysore, Poonah, and Guzerat, have al- 
 so consolidated the British power on the coast of 
 Malabar, and opened new sources of commerce on 
 the west of India^ And lastly, notwithstanding these 
 accessions of territory, the assailable frontier of the 
 Indian Empire is actually lessened, by the overthrow 
 of the Mahratta confederacy. Instead of encircling, 
 as formerly, their vast empire, it is now confined to 
 a direct line, stretching across the upper part of the 
 peninsula. Enough, in the opinion of many, has al- 
 ready been done for the enlargement of our power in 
 the East: much also has been effected for its se- 
 curity ; since more ample means have been acquired 
 of maintaining peace and of securing the advantages 
 of a regular government. 
 
 1. The very extent, however, of our Eastern Em- 
 pire imposes new obligations. If its external defence 
 be not rendered more difficult ; the danger of losing it 
 by other accidents, is perhaps, much greater. I'he 
 rnagnitiide of our Indian commerce, renders it of 
 peculiar importance to the naval power of Britain. 
 Though the resources of the empire not only survived 
 the separation of America ; but contrary to general 
 
 expecta- 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 39 
 
 expectation, continued to flourish, it can hardly be 
 imagined, that after the loss of India, its navy could 
 maintain the same pre-eminent ranii. 
 
 The internal energies of a free, commercial, and 
 enterprising nation, are great, yet by adverse circum- 
 stances they may not only be weakened, but ulti- 
 mately destroyed. The naval establishment of tiie 
 India Company, exclusive of the extra and country 
 vessels, and armed cruisers, amounts to upwards of 
 one hundred sail of regular ships : these are mostly 
 of a size fit to occupy a station in the line, while their 
 navigation employs nearly 10,()()0 seamen. Their 
 regular army is already greater than that of the state, 
 and the territorial revenues by which it is supported, 
 amount annually to the sum of seventeen millions 
 sterling : no company, in the records of commerce, 
 ever possessed such a magnificent property, or so 
 great a naval power : its loss, when it arrives, must 
 operate powerfully to shake, if not to subvert the go- 
 vernment. A liberal and humane treatment of the 
 Inatives of India, seems to be one of the best means 
 of averting this catastrophe, which must prove dan- 
 gerous, and which may prove fatal to the parent state. 
 Over so vast an extent of empir.e, and over the al- 
 most countless multitudes of its subjects, a govern- 
 ment of benefits and mutual atfection will always be 
 found stronger than a government of force, or of 
 fear. 
 
 C 4 2. The 
 
40 THOUGHTS oy 
 
 2. The distance of our eastern dominions from the 
 seat of government, furnishes another motive for 
 adopting measures of concihation and beneficence 
 into the systein of administration. In Asia, conquests 
 are not merely rapid but frequent, and this frequency 
 has rendered chanties in some degree famihar to the 
 people ; but our Indian territories are not only the most 
 important, they are also the most remote, of all the 
 dependencies of the empire. Insurrections and dis- 
 turbances in that quarter, could, almost on no occa- 
 sion, be quelled by European succours, \\hich, pre- 
 vious to their ai'rival, must have traversed over more 
 than half the globe. That power, therefore, caq 
 hardly be deemed very permanent, which only rests 
 upon means of support so distant, that its attack and 
 ruin may be compleated before even a rumour of its 
 invasion had reached its defenders. Hence it is on 
 the internal resources of India itself, that its govern- 
 ment must chiedy rely, for its stability and power. 
 
 It must look to the number, the attachment, and 
 the increasing energies of the native inhabitants for iti 
 principal support. These advantages, however, can 
 only be secured by conciliating the affections of the 
 natives, by promoting, on every occasion, their true, 
 interests. This effort, to an enlightened people, can 
 never appear in the light of a sacrifice, since the dif- 
 ferent parts of a state are united by the same in- 
 terests. 
 
 o 
 
 The 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. SI 
 
 3. The present state of Europe (which in its ori- 
 gin and effects, is wholly unexampled,) seems to in- 
 culcate ne\y maxims and duties for the conduct of its 
 rulers. Tjie government of every state which retains 
 any share of power, or even the prospect of inde- 
 pendence, appears in this eventful crisis to be im- 
 periously called upon to improve and invigorate all 
 its resources. The few remainino; states must either 
 provide for a more combined, and energetic defence, 
 or their names must speedily disappear from the list 
 of independent nations. This seems now^ to be the 
 only tenure of their existence, and unless speedy 
 compliance is given to its conditions, their ruin 
 must approach with the speed of an armed man. 
 
 If posterity shall hereafter enquire, what circum- 
 stances have so rapidly advanced the external power 
 and tlie conquests of the French nation, at a period 
 when the rest of Europe, apparently at least, en- 
 joyed its full vigor and maturity, it can hardly fail to 
 discern the true cause — an illiberal jealousy, arising 
 from a state of protracted rivalship and hatred, be- 
 tween the surroundino; nations. This has entailed 
 upon their governments a selfishness and fatuity, 
 which prevents them alike from discerning their true 
 interests, or the extent of their danger. In this 
 state of blind infatuation Europe still beholds them, 
 year after year, falling the easy, and almost willing 
 victims, of a people w horn they had, in former times, 
 often vanquished. 
 
 What 
 
421 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 What other cause has successively laid so many 
 nations, long renowned for valour, at the feet of an 
 upstart, distinguished by no depth of policy, nor any 
 enlarged views of government? a mfm who can dis- 
 cern no glory, but in beholding the mutual destruc- 
 tion of contending armies in the field ; and who, in 
 the spirit of the purest Vandalism, is looking for co- 
 lonies, ships, and commerce, to spring up amidst 
 the devastation of continual war, and the convulsions 
 occasioned by his insatiable ambition. 
 
 Spirited resistance, or unlimited subjection, is now 
 the only alternative which remains to the civilized 
 nations, and their governments. Let them lay aside 
 their seifishnebs and jealousy ; let them unite their 
 efforts, and this new Attila, which their own cow- 
 ardice has raised in the heart of Europe, niay yet 
 be crushed. Ic is the peculiar glory of the Utitish 
 naiion, that she has early foreseen this new tenure 
 of her rank as an independent state. Amidst the 
 apathy and blindness which has ruined so many go- 
 vernments, she has vigorously employed all her re- 
 sources, and met every new aggression with fresh 
 energy. Though opposed by every power, both in 
 Europe and m India, which French hostility could 
 raise against her, every new combination of her ene- 
 mies has not only added fresh laurels to her warriors, 
 but seems to have imparted new vigor to her re- 
 sources, and enlarged her dominions. In this wise 
 and spirited policy let her persevere ; and since the 
 
 vi2;our 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 43 
 
 vigour of her measures has, in these critical times, 
 not only etiiected the defence of all her territories, 
 but has greatly enlarged her Indian empire, it be- 
 hoves her to prove to her new subjects, that the ge- 
 nerosity of Britons is not inferior to their valour, and 
 that in diffusing the blessings of peace, and the bene- 
 fits of good government, they are not less active than 
 in the pursuit of victory. 
 
 4. We are impelled to redress the grievances, and a- 
 meliorate the condition of our Indian subjects, in order 
 to refute the odious calumnies and imputations wliich 
 the jealousy of rivals has cast upon our government. 
 All the evils which were ever ascribed to the avarice 
 of Carthage, or the ambition of Rome, the oppres- 
 sion of nations, and desolation of provinces, have 
 been joudly charged against our India administration. 
 It has been accused of not merely subverting the an- 
 tient Mogul empire, but of substituting in its room a 
 system of peculation, anarchy and rapine ; and of 
 confiding the happiness of the natives, and their pro- 
 pcity, to men of dissolute lives, and proiligate cha- 
 racters. 
 
 The first of these imputations contains an anachro- 
 nism so gross and palpable, that, to such as are ac- 
 quainted with the history of India, it cannot possibly 
 need any refutation ; yet since the illusion has been 
 spread among the vulgar, with uncommon malignity 
 and success, it certainly merits some notice. From 
 
 every 
 
44 THOUGHTS OX 
 
 every authentic statement of historical facts, we leam, 
 that the Mogul empire contained in itself the seeds 
 of its destruction ; that it was at no period free from 
 gross irregularities and open rebellion ; that the en- 
 croachments of European nations seldom interfered 
 with tlie imperial power ; and that the acquisitions 
 of the British, being the latest, were subsequent to 
 its dissolution. 
 
 We learn from the historian Ferishta, and in later 
 times fi'om the testimony of men still living, that their 
 armies were not opposed to those of the Mogul. This 
 historian, in one instance indeed, complains, that 
 " from the negligence of certain governors, some 
 districts on the coast had fallen into the possession of 
 the idolators of Europe ;" but the coast was never 
 completely subdued, and he does not assert, that 
 these districts w ere previously in the possession of 
 the Emperor. 
 
 It appears also, from the most authentic records, 
 that the Portuguese were settled at Chittagong, prior 
 to the submission of Bengal to the court of Delhi. 
 According to the accurate Orme, the En^^lish, and 
 n.ot the Moguls, were the first possessors of a small 
 district on the coast of Coromandel, of which they 
 were deprived, though they purchased it from a na- 
 tive prince, the original proprietor. In fact, during 
 the splendor of the Mogul empire, the power of Eu- 
 ropeans, and especially of the English, was too in- 
 
 consi- 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 45 
 
 considerable to occasion any alarm, much less any 
 substantial injury to the court of Delhi. At that pe- 
 riod the power of these nations was chiefly of a mari- 
 time nature, and so far from impeding the general 
 prosperity of the empire, rendered the most essential 
 service to its commerce, and to tlie safety of its sub- 
 jects during their })ilgrimages to Mecca. This sei- 
 vice Avas rendered in the most conspicuous manner 
 by the English, who not only humbled the power of 
 Angria, but extirpated numbers of the piratical states 
 on the Malabar, who had continued to infest that 
 coast, and to plunder the commerce of India, for no 
 less a period than two thousand years. 
 
 It appears, therefore, to have been from the trea- 
 cherous servants of the court, and from the usuqiers 
 of its authority, that the Europeans have chiefly mc- 
 quired their Indian possessions. What seems most 
 remarkable in these occurrences is, the conduct of 
 these upstart princes themselves: instead of dreading 
 the vicinity of the J5ritish, they courted their inter- 
 course, and regarded their alliance as a desirable ob- 
 ject. Their arrival at once opened a market for their 
 commodities in the West, and cncreased the demand 
 for them ; while the importation of specie, in pay- 
 ment, stimulated the industry of the indolent native;?, 
 and enriched their sovereigns. 
 
 It was the influence of these powerful motives, 
 rather than the accidental services of Mr. Broughton, 
 '»vhich, some time after their settlement in I]en,n;al, 
 
 pFO- 
 
4:6 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 procured for the British the Plurmaiin of the Em* 
 peror, and tlie Surmud of his \"iceroy, estabhshing a 
 commerce that had already been found mutually be- 
 neficial. The fear of losing this European trafllic, 
 and the revenue accruing from it, often influenced 
 the councils of the native princes. It operated so 
 powerfully on the rude and tumultuary government of 
 Surajah Dovvlah, in Bengal, that he sent pressing 
 invitations- to the British to return to Calcutta, only a 
 few months after he had massacred the greater part 
 of their countrymen, and expelled the rest from his 
 dominions. In revenging this cruelty the India Com-' 
 pany conquered Bengal ; but it was from a prince 
 who had already thrown otf his allegiance to the 
 court : and the imperial government, now reduced to 
 a shadow, felt no other effect from the transaction^ 
 than the overthrow of one of its most po\verful ene-* 
 mies. Circumstances nearly similar attended all the 
 British conquests, in regard to the Moguls ; and the 
 aged representative of their monarchs, derives at the 
 present moment from them, his sole protection agc^nst 
 the cruelty of his enemies, and his only support and 
 consolation amidst the intirmity of his advanced 
 years. 
 
 But besides these alleged encroachments of the 
 India Company on the Imperial po\ver, it has been 
 accused of cruelty and rapacity in the territories tliat 
 M'ere thus acquired. If this imputation be supported 
 by facts, our Indian government must long since 
 have become, not only unpopular, but odious, both 
 
 lo 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 47 
 
 to the native princes and their subjects. From these 
 quarters, however, no complaint has been heard. 
 The favourable view in which the princes regarded 
 the settlement of Europeans among them, has just 
 been noticed, and the sentiments of their subjects 
 have been more uniformly and decidedly in favour of 
 that measure. 
 
 The disbursement of specie to the native trades- 
 men, and the security of their w ages, which are re- 
 gularly paid in advance, have enabled multitudes 
 among the labouring classes to support themselves 
 and their families with a degree of comfort expe- 
 rienced in almost no other part of that country. And 
 the new intercourse which has thus benefited the la- 
 bouring poor, has strongly contributed to improve 
 the maxims of government, even among the natives 
 themselves. In the vicinity of European factories, 
 those predatory bands, which had so long infested 
 the rest of the peninsula, have been gradually sup- 
 pressed by the operation of a regular police. Those 
 tumults and devastations consequent on so many re- 
 volutions, have long since begun to disappear, and 
 have been succeeded by a degree of order and secu- 
 rity, Avhich ailbrds many encouragements to the far- 
 mer and manufacturer that were formerly unkno^\ n ; 
 hence the surrounding districts have long enjoyed a 
 state of much comparative tranquillity, and are at 
 present disthiguished by a degree of wealth and pros- 
 perity, which will in vain be sought for in any other 
 part of India. The financial operations of the In- 
 dia 
 
48 THOUGHTS OX 
 
 dia government seem to justify these statements, 
 since its land revenues have gradually increased iii 
 their different territories, and at present far surpass 
 th^r amount in the most prosperous days of the ]\Io- 
 gul empire. 
 
 These are the unequivocal symptoms, not of op- 
 pression, but of a just and equitable government ; 
 and that such is the comparative state of the Euro- 
 pean territories, and the rest of India, we have the 
 concurring testimony of almost every person who has 
 examined the state of that countiy. According to' 
 the most credible accounts, every flourishing town 
 is either of their building, or has been supported and' 
 increased by their commerce. The most magnifi- 
 cent palace, perhaps, in the whole of India, is the 
 work of the late Governor General:* the great 
 mosque at Benares was constructed to conciliate the 
 INIahomedans, and both the plan and execution are 
 to be ascribed to Mr. Hastings. The most superb 
 monument of architectural skill of which upper India 
 can boast, was erected by Claud jMartine, a private 
 adventurer from Europe. In a word, it has been 
 observed, that wherever Europeans have settled, 
 there you invariably discern the traces of a more 
 energetic government, and the atchievements of a 
 more enterprising people. A most satisfactory proof 
 of this fact is exhibited by the garrisons and canton- 
 ments 
 
 * The new Government-house, erected by the Marquis Wet- 
 lesley. 
 
iH£ JiRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 4^ 
 
 ments that have been erected by the India Company, 
 for the defence of the countiy, and the accommoda- 
 tion of the troops. These buildings are constructed 
 in a style far surpassing ewry establishment of that 
 kind in Asia, and are still unequalled in most nations 
 of Europe. 
 
 By far the greater part of these iinprevements have 
 been effected by the British nation alone, in tiie very 
 infancy of her power, and u hile she was yet contend- 
 ing with her European rivals, and a multitude of na- 
 tive enemies, Avhich they had raised up against her. 
 Since those remote ages of peace and tranquillity, 
 in which the Hindoos erected those immense fabrics 
 for the purposes of their superstition, and which are 
 still seen in the country, no buildings have been con- 
 structed of equal magnificence, to those which the 
 British have erected within the last forty years. 
 
 If this proves nearly a just representation of the 
 first iBstablisliment of the British power in the East, 
 and of its subsequent administration, we shall be at 
 a loss to discover those bold features of iniquity and 
 violence with which the envy and disappointment of 
 its rivals have painted it. The tribute of their hatred 
 is perhaps no small degree of praise : and it would 
 be more difficult {were we in this island unacquaint- 
 ed with party rage,) to account for the unqualified 
 reprobation to which it has been doomed by some of 
 our statesmen and political m riters. A late orator, 
 alluding, perhaps, to the IVlogul conquests in India, 
 
 D thus; 
 
50 THOUGHTS o^r 
 
 O 
 
 thus exclaims * ; " the Asiatic conquerors had soon 
 abated of their ferocity ; and the short hfe of man 
 had been sufficient to repair the waste they had 
 occasioned. But with the English the case was en- 
 tirely different ; their conquests were still in the state 
 they had been in twenty years ago. They had no 
 more society with the people, than if they still resid- 
 ed in England ; but with the view of making fortunes, 
 rolled in, one after another, 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 wasting. With us there were no re- 
 tributary superstitions, by which a foundation of cha- 
 rity f compensated for ages to the poor, for the in- 
 juries and rapine of a day. 
 
 " With us no pride erected stately monuments, 
 which repaired the mischiefs pride had occa- 
 sioned and adorned the country out of its own 
 spoils : England had erected no churches, no hospi- 
 tals, no palaces, no schools : England had built no 
 bridges, made no high-'v^•ays, cut no navigations:}:, dug 
 
 no 
 
 * Vide Burke's fpeech on Fox's India bill. 
 
 •f It was not for many centuries that the Mogul conquests in 
 India were compleated : and when compleated, annual plunder 
 was always a part of their system, on collecting the revenues. 
 The only hospitals in India for even the reception of natives, are 
 built by the EngHsh. 
 
 :{; The canals of India, fell to ruin, or were filled during the 
 anarchy which succeeded the Mogul dynafty : The only ones 
 now in ufe are of English structure. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERXMEXT, ETC. 61 
 
 no reservoirs. Every other conqueror of every other 
 description, had left some monument of state or of 
 beneficence behind him ; but were we to be driven 
 Out of India, this day nothing would remain to tell 
 that it had been possessed, during the inglorious pe- 
 riod of our dominion, by any thing better than the 
 Ourang Outang or the tiger." 
 
 The only observation which this harangue can merit, 
 is, that it is untrue ; and that in almost every single 
 assertion it is directly the reverse of truth, has been 
 proved by a decision of the highest tribunal in the 
 kingdom on a late solemn ti'ial. 
 
 The principal reason for adverting to it is to 
 shew, that the irregularities of our first settlers in 
 the East had created an unfavourable opinion of their 
 conduct ; otherwise no public assembly could possi- 
 bly have listened to a strain of exaggeration so gross, 
 unfounded, and absurd. No conquests were, per- 
 haps, ever made without some disturbance, and some 
 violation of the existing order of things. This at- 
 taches to the very idea of conquest ; the first subju- 
 gation of Bengal was, however, accomplished by a 
 few Europeans, and occasioned less violence than 
 any similar event recorded in history : If the fact 
 had been otherwise, the aggression was solely on the 
 part of the natives, and the guilt must be theirs also.' 
 
 These unfavourable impressions are speedily wear- 
 ing away, and a steady perseverance- in a mild and 
 
 D 2 conciliatinst 
 
59i THOUGHTS ON 
 
 conciliating system of government is the best means 
 of entirely effacing them. An assiduous attention to 
 measm'es of tliis nature will always be found the best 
 and most powerful refutation of the malevolent in- 
 vectives that may have been thrown out against the 
 agents of our India Government. Several of the 
 most respectable of its sei'vants, have long since re- 
 commended them to the Court of Directors ; actuat- 
 ed solely by a regard for the comfort of tiie natives. 
 A very intelligent work has lately been published 
 on the agriculture and commerce of Bengal, by two 
 of the servants of the Company* : It breathes the 
 spirit of true benevolence, and details many rational 
 schemes of improving the condition of our Asiatic 
 subjects. Were these plans found impracticable5(which 
 they certainly are not) this work has still the merit 
 of rendering the state of that remote country better 
 known than it has ever yet been in Europe. 
 
 With the same beneficent intentions a clergyman 
 of a very limited fortune, has advanced the sum of 
 two thousand pounds to be distributed to the British 
 Universities, for the most approved essays on the 
 means of civilising the natives of India, and of diffu- 
 sing the Christian religion in the eastern w orld. 
 
 Though the disquisitions of studious and specula- 
 tive men may not, perhaps, suggest many arrangements 
 
 of 
 
 * Mr. Colebrook one of the provincial judges, and Mr. Lam- 
 bert an intelligent merchant in Calcutta. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVEIINMEXT, ETC. 53 
 
 of practical value ; yet these essays are ably written, 
 and possess at least the merit of drawing a more ge- 
 neral attention to a very important enqiiiiy. 
 
 Several among the natives are known to have made 
 the language and literature of Europe their favourite 
 study ; and their success has been proportioned to 
 their avidity in the pursuit *. The very idea of em- 
 ploying the talents and learning of the most celebrat- 
 ed nation in Europe, in discussing the means of pro- 
 moting their happiness, must prove highly flattering 
 to these men. Such persons in India, as every where 
 else, guide the public opinion by the influence of their 
 knowledge and reputation; and although they may 
 sometimes smile at the ineptitude of the means that 
 have been proposed for promoting their comfort, yet 
 they cannot fail to receive favourable impressions 
 from plans unquestionably benevolent. 
 
 4. In the last place, Ave are bound to promote the 
 moral and civil improvement of the natives of In- 
 dia, from a regard to the safety and comfort of that 
 portion of our countrymen who are settled among 
 them. 
 
 In India, without an efiicient police, and much 
 care in the prevention and punishment of crimes, 
 both life and property would soon become altogether 
 
 D 3 insecure. 
 
 * This is certainly true of TufFufsil Hoffein Khan, and many 
 others, the employment of whom in diplomatic and military fta- 
 tion^ has done much credit to our India Government. 
 
54 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 insecure. The native character, however amiable in 
 some respects it may appear, is frequently stained 
 with vices directly iiostile to society. The crime of 
 perjury, from the great defects of their religious sys- 
 tem, is remarkably prevalent, and in many instances 
 renders the execution of justice difficult and impos-- 
 sible. 
 
 " The prevalence of this vice," says Sir James 
 MTntosh, " which I have myself observed, is, per- 
 iiaps, a more certain criterion of a general dissolu- 
 tion of moral principle, than other more daring and 
 ferocious crimes, much more terrible to the imagina- 
 tion, and of which the immediate consequences are 
 more destructive to society." Perjury indicates the 
 absence of all the common restraints by which men 
 are withheld from the commission of crimes. It is 
 an attack upon religion and law in the very point of 
 their union for the protection of human society. It 
 weakens the foundation of every right, by rendering 
 the execution of justice unattainable. 
 
 Sir William Jones, after long judicial experience, 
 was obliged, reluctantly, to acknowledge this moral 
 depravity of the natives of India. He had carried 
 out with him to that country a strong prejudice in 
 their favour, which he had imbibed in the course of 
 his studies ; and which in him was, perhaps, neither 
 unamiable nor ungraceful. This prejudice he could 
 not longer retain against the universal testimony of 
 
 Europeans 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 65 
 
 Europeans, and the enormous examples of depravity 
 among the natives which he often witnessed in his 
 judicial capacity. 
 
 In a society thus circumstanced, crimes must of- 
 ten escape detection ; and when detected the ends 
 of justice must sometimes be defeated. Hence in 
 India, the records of the criminal courts are not a 
 true measure of the guilt of the community ; and 
 the security of individuals is much less perfect than 
 in the absence of such moral diseases. 
 
 Thus it immediately concerns every European who 
 settles in India, however humble his station, or how- 
 ever narrow the sphere of his usefulness, to lend his 
 aid in suppressing these vices, and thereby prevent- 
 ing the evils which are the result of them. Every 
 individual settler in that country, occupies the sta« 
 tion, either of a master of numerous servants, or of 
 a magistrate or chief among many dependents. His 
 influence is far greater tlian it was in Europe ; and 
 his motives for suppressing immorality much stronger. 
 The station he occupies \vill often suggest to him, 
 that one of the most important ends of life, is to 
 render, some, at least, of the human race happier, 
 and that this is most effectually done by making 
 them better : If they fail in thus improving the lot 
 of the natives, the task will promote their own 
 virtue f and will assuredly refute those charges of 
 
 injustice, 
 
 * Sir James M'Intofi\'s charge to the Grand Jurj'« 
 
iO TIIOUGHTS ON 
 
 injustice, rapacity, and dissipation, which have often 
 been made against them. 
 
 '' It would be invidious and unbecoming," says a 
 kite writer*, " to point out the particular ill conduct 
 of those who have tilled important situations in Bri- 
 tish India. Their rapacity, their injustice, and their 
 contempt of religion are subjects of common nolo- 
 riety, injurious to that country where they have spent 
 their early manhood, and destructive also of morality 
 in this, where they exhibit in unreverenced age, in- 
 stances of successful vice, find of opulent depra- 
 vity." 
 
 Every 
 
 * Mr Cockbuin, in an effay whicli obtained the Buchannaa 
 prize in the University of Cambridge, where this gentleman is 
 appointed Christian Advocate. It is worthy of remark, that no 
 particular malversation is here laid hold of, in order to ground 
 this undistingushed and invidious charge. This, the modest es- 
 sayist says would be unbecoming ; other moralists have held, 
 that, before libelling a numerous and respectable body of men with 
 the grossest imputations, the charges should not only be specific, 
 but fully proved ; it deserves notice also, that the immediate oc^ 
 casion of penning this unprovoked and illiberal attack, was to 
 obtain a magnificent bounty held out to the literaiy world, by 
 one of those rapacious and abandoned servants, who are here so 
 cruelly stigmatised ; and, although it may occasion the reader 
 some surprise, we are obhged to add, also, that this extraordinary 
 production of the Christian advocate, in the University of Cam- 
 bridge, was judged by that learned body deserving of the prize. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 57 
 
 Every body of men so numerous as that which 
 contains the civil, mihtary, and judicial servants of 
 the Honourable East India Company, must include 
 individuals of almost every description of character. 
 This numerous class of British subjects, who have so 
 successfully supported the interest and honour of 
 their country in Asia, have, with moi'e justice been 
 characterised, as humane, liberal, and brave. A 
 monthly allowance of pay, ample but not extra- 
 vagant, has afforded the Honourable Company a 
 choice of its servants, not enjoyed in the foreign set- 
 tlements of any other nation. Hence in all the 
 branches of their service are to be found many of 
 the highest rank, and the most hberal education. 
 The civil department, in particular, has long been an 
 object of ambition to the younger members of the 
 first families in Britain. This circumstance has been 
 pi'oductive of many advantages. Men of hereditary 
 rank and high expectations in Europe, have been 
 ibund unwilling to forfeit these objects in the East, 
 by acts either of meanness or insubordination. Their 
 duty as magistrates, judges, and officers, has gene- 
 rally been discharged without that selfish and illibe- 
 ral attention to small gains and pecuniary advantages 
 which is so apt to chaiacterise the agents of a mer- 
 cantile body. They have accordingly been distin- 
 guished by acts not of mere charity only, but of muni- 
 ficence rarely to be found in any rank of life. 
 
 The malignant climate of India, and the uncer- 
 tainty of life in a region where it is so frequently cut 
 
 ofi:' 
 
6S THOUGHTS ON 
 
 off by disease, has produced among some individuals, 
 that spirit of extravagance, which in Batavia the same 
 cause iias created among the parsimonious Dutch. 
 This spirit, however, is more than counterbalanced 
 by the habit of saving, monthly, a small portion of 
 their allowances, to enable them to revisit their native 
 country, and there to support their advanced liie and 
 declining years : a period which all are equally desi- 
 rous to spend in the midst of their relations, and in 
 the bosom of their native land. 
 
 This is by far the most universal and steady prin- 
 ciple of action, among the servants of the India 
 Company ; and if they are to be characterised ge- 
 nerally by any one prevailing quality, it is by an 
 CEConomy in their expenditure, which is sometimes 
 seen to degenerate into parsimony. In number the 
 servants of the Company, are little inferior to the 
 civil and military establishment of Great Britain ; by 
 blood or connection they are allied to almost every 
 family in the United Kingdom ; their savings ulti- 
 mately rest there, to the annual amount of nearly 
 two millions sterling ; and for this immense sum no- 
 thing is advanced but the expence of their early edu- 
 cation : They have adventured on a remote and dange- 
 rous service, where they have hitherto successfully 
 upheld the honour and the interests of their country ; 
 the comfort and safety of such a respectable class of 
 our countrymen forms of itself no mean inducement 
 for attempting the moral improvement of our native 
 subjects in India. 
 
 It 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 69 
 
 It belongs to that generosity, which has hitherto 
 been characteristic of Britons, not merely to acquire 
 distant possessions, but to civilize and improve them. 
 They at the present moment command more exten- 
 sive territories in Asia, Africa, and America, than 
 ever fell under the dominion of any antient or mo- 
 dern nation. It is of high importance that they feel 
 and respect the duties of a situation, in which they 
 are to controul the destinies of so large a portion of 
 the human race. It is perhaps of no less import- 
 ance, that the individuals entrusted M'ith so perilous 
 a service should be protected by the police of the 
 country, and the moral discipline of the natives. 
 
 In circumstances to which there are attached so 
 many arduous duties, and so nmch responsibility, 
 it is consolatory to reflect, that by the very constitu- 
 tion of human affairs, the intercourse of nations tends 
 almost invariably to their improvement. There is a 
 steady progress to civilization among communities 
 much connected together, which is often concealed 
 from themselves, and which arises not so much from 
 the policy of government, as from the original con- 
 stitution of human nature itself To this it is owing, 
 that amidst all the complaints that have been made 
 against the British government in India, so many so- 
 lid, though unforeseen advantages have been mutual- 
 ly conferred on both countries. 
 
 From this source the Asiatics have derived the arts 
 of printuig and of ship-buiiding, as well as the practi- 
 cal 
 
6d THOUGHTS ON 
 
 eal use of the mariners compass. If Europe has derived 
 from the East the benefits of inoculation, the lat- 
 ter has received in return, the Jennerian improve- 
 ment of the discovery, by which so many thousand 
 lives are annually saved*. If we consider each of 
 these improvements separately, it 'viH be found to 
 imply important changes in the condition of society. 
 Taken together they assuredly constitute the most 
 solid benefit that one portion of the human race has 
 ever conferred upon another. 
 
 All these reciprocal advantages, which have ac- 
 crued either to the European or Asiatic nations, it 
 must be remarked, have arisen from no premeditated 
 plans of improvement projected by either party : they 
 are wholly to be ascribed to the silent, but steady 
 operation of an intercourse that has already existed, 
 on a limited and imperfect scale, for nearly t^vo cen- 
 turies. Had the dialect which became the medium 
 of communication, been less rude and imperfect, or 
 better understood, there can remain little doubt that 
 the mutual benefit resulting from this established in- 
 tercourse, would have been more considerable. But 
 
 since 
 
 * The Britifh government has interfered, in spreading the be- 
 nefits of this discovery among the natives. Three medical gen- 
 tlemen have been appointed -to supply the vaccine matter, and to 
 conciliate the natives to its apphcation. They are fond of the 
 cow from religious prejudices, and there is every reason to believe 
 that the practice of vaccination will be soon universally adopted 
 Throughout the v/hole peninsula, and the adjoining parts of Asia. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 6'1 
 
 since the languages of Asia are becoming, year after 
 year, more familiar to Europeans, it unavoidably 
 follows, that the communication of knowledge must 
 in future become more rapid and extensive; hence 
 the improvements of the ensuing century must in all 
 probability prove more considerable than either of the 
 past. The Hindostany, a kind of lingua franka, made 
 up of various dialects, is the spoken language of In- 
 dia, and has become the key to all communicatipn 
 with the natives of that country. Our knowledge of 
 its dialects has gradually increased with the inter- 
 course which called it forth, till at last the acquisition 
 of it lias become the object of several expensive se- 
 minaries and institutions. It is to be regrcted that 
 these subsidiary arrangements to facilitate intercourse 
 between the Europeans and natives, have not oi^Xy 
 been too late in their introduction, but inefficient in 
 their plan. The first adventurers in India enjoyed 
 no assistance ^vhatever in acquiring the language, 
 except what their ear might afford them, as often ai* 
 they attempted to converse with the natives. 
 
 It was not till after many years that a few steiile 
 and jejune pubhcations appeared in the form of vo- 
 cabularies and grammars, and it ^vas still later before 
 moonshees, or native teachers, were employed to 
 instmct such individuals as might be appointed to 
 situations requiring more than ordinary proficiency 
 and skill in the native languages. For a series of 
 years after their first arrival in the East, the situation 
 
 of 
 
^2 tllOUGM'rS ON 
 
 of Europeans somewhat resembled that of a handful 
 of soldiers encamped amidst millions of strangers, or 
 perhaps enemies, with whose hostile or friendly sen- 
 timents they had no means of becoming acquainted. 
 7'he complicated functions of war, of government, or 
 of trade, -were either intrusted solely to native agency, 
 or very awkwardly discharged. 
 
 During this sterility, or rather total want of the 
 means of communication, the British settlers remain- 
 ed in a kind of insulated state, unknown to the na- 
 tives, and almost entirely unacquainted with their 
 habits and prejudices. That so few occurrences of' 
 fensive to their feelings, or abhorrent to their reli- 
 gious ideas, should have happened, must be ascribed 
 to a tender indulgence of their weakness, rather than 
 to any accurate knowledge of their manners, or of 
 their religious maxims. 
 
 The literally institution that was lately established 
 in Calcutta, however well intended, has been found 
 inadequate to the end proposed : It embraced too 
 many branches of education : It contained profes- 
 sional chairs for Greek, Latin, Mathematics, and 
 Chemistry, each endoMcd with annual salaries of 
 some thousand pounds. It employed upwards of 
 eiiihty Pundits, Molavees, and Moonshees ; a num- 
 ber often greater than that of the scholars. The ci-' 
 yil servants of the three Presidencies, were compell- 
 ed to attend the terms of this college during three 
 or fou]' successive years, at the annual expence to the 
 
 India 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERXMEXT, ETC. 63 
 
 India Company of nearly a thousand pounds each 
 individual: Hence the accumulated expenditure of 
 the institution must have considerably exceeded 
 one hundred thousand pounds sterling, annually. It 
 is probable that the different seminaries established 
 in England, may be conducted for a much smaller 
 sum ; although they are destined to receive the whole 
 of the military as well as civil servants of the Indian 
 government*. The youth being there unappointed to 
 their stations, will not be entitled to their Indian 
 pay : a circumstance which must at once preserve, 
 their dependence on their parents and guardians, 
 and prevent them from being plunged into habits of 
 extravagance and dissipation. From these semina- 
 ries, it is to be hoped that in a few years there will 
 issue a race of individuals qualified to extend the 
 British intercourse in the East, and to communicate 
 to the natives a more extensive knowledge of Eu- 
 ropean arts than the more illiterate adventurers 
 
 who 
 
 * The chief of thofe feminaries that have hitherto been ella- 
 blifhed, are at Hartford, Woolwich, ,Great Marlovv;, and High- 
 Wycomb. The three lad are intended more particularly for the 
 military and engineer departments. Such inftitutions have long 
 been univerfal on the continent. Their inftitution in Britain, at 
 a period fo much later, indicates, perhaps, too great a truft in 
 our infular fituation. If our military education be not more im- 
 proved, and more generally difFufed, how, it may be aflced, are 
 we in future to be oppofed to the armed millions of the conti- 
 nent ? 
 
(>4 THOUOliTS ON 
 
 who have preceded them*. In their hands, the hscal, 
 diplomatic, and mihtary services, must in all cases 
 ]}e more ably performed, than by persons unacquaint- 
 ed with the languages of India : What is particular- 
 ly applicable to our present view of the subject, a 
 masterly and effective system of police will be esta- 
 blishedj affording more perfect security to European 
 settlers, and comprehending a species of discipline 
 for the improvement of the natives themselves. 
 
 * It is not meant to insinuate that the civil and militaiy ser- 
 vants of the Company were in general ignorant of the native dia- 
 lect — some of them were eminently distinguished for their great 
 proficiency : much intercourse^ in the way of business with the 
 inhabitants, had rendered them much more useful in the diploma* 
 tic line, than any of the junior members of the college. Among 
 these we may rank Colonel Kilpatricky Colonel CoUins, Major 
 IMalcom, and Mr. Webbc. 
 
 SECTION 
 
[ 65 ] 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 GENERAL SCOPE OF THE INQUIRY CONCERXINC 
 
 THE MEANS OF CIVILISING THE HINDOOS: 
 
 ITS LIMITATIONS. tllEVIOUS STATE 
 
 OF HINDOSTAN, 
 
 " What are the best means of civilisins and in- 
 " structing the inhabitants of British India," is a 
 question whicli impUcs various discussions of much 
 difficulty, as well as of great extent and importance. 
 The practical solution of this part of the question, 
 belongs exclusively to government ; and like the ge- 
 neral wellfare of the rest of the empire, it may be 
 regarded as the great object continually before it, 
 the attainment of which constitutes the chief aim of 
 
 E all 
 
66 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 all its exertions, whether of a legislative, executive^ 
 or juridical nature.* 
 
 The subject proposed for this enquiry contains a 
 second branch, -which refers to the means of diffu- 
 sing the light of the Christian Religion through the 
 eastern world : This part of the question belongs less 
 immediately to the province of government, but is 
 strongly interesting to the principle of universal be- 
 nevolence and Christian philanthropy. 
 
 The whole question, has not been injudiciously se- 
 lected for public attention ; for there is, perhaps, no 
 other subject on which information is more generally 
 wanted, and there are few, on which it could be so 
 extensively useful. On these accounts, it would not 
 appear, as some have alledged, to have been impro- 
 perly submitted to the discussion of the scholai's of 
 
 our 
 
 * Ahhougii every praftical regulation for promoting the well- 
 fare of British India, belongs exclusively to the legislature of the 
 state ; the discussions of private' individuals, seem rather calculat- 
 ed to promote than impede this great object. The information 
 communicated by persons acquainted with the state of our In- 
 dian provinces, affords the only data upon which legislative regu- 
 lation can safely proceed. Without attending to the practical 
 experience, and the local knowledge of such as have been on the 
 spot, it is almost impossible to conceive that any practical system 
 can be formed, adapted to the peculiar circwmstances of the Asiatic 
 iilmpire. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 67 
 
 our Universities* ; since its importance must chal- 
 lenge their emulation, v/hile its acknowledged diffi- 
 culty must give full exercise to their leisure and ta- 
 lents. Political knowledge and experience are un- 
 justly denied to belong to these literary bodies : since 
 the first is generally the fruit of leisure, and the lat- 
 ter, in the most extensive sense, is little else than afi 
 accurate knowledge of history. 
 
 The literary studies prescribed in our Universities 
 are not so wholly unqualified by attention to public 
 affairs, as to unfit their members from aflbrdini*; 
 much assistance in so important a discussion. It is 
 not merely in resolving some doubtful points re- 
 garding the topography, chronology, or ancient his- 
 tory of Asia, that we ought to look up to them for 
 help. Nor ought it to be forgotten what a distin- 
 guished and honourable part their different alumni 
 have uniformly borne in all those brilliant transac- 
 tions which have raised the British power and name 
 in the eastern world ; however this may be, it might 
 surely be regarded as a reflection, both against the 
 judgement and ciu'iosity of a learned age, did it leave 
 no document behind it of ever having attempted to 
 
 E 2 turn 
 
 * This has been done by the Rev. Claudius Buchannan, Vice 
 Provost of the College of Fort William ; who has proposed a 
 liberal reward for the best dissertation on this interesting question, 
 namely, What are the best means of civilising the fubjects of Bri- 
 tish India, and of diffusing the light of the Christian Religioa 
 through the eastern world r 
 
i>8 THOUGHTS OK 
 
 turn the public attention to a subject of so much 
 importance as the prosperity of our Indian Em- 
 pire. 
 
 IIapi)ily for Britain, many of her scholars have 
 not been confined solely to the haunts of study ; but 
 their information and usefulness have contributed, 
 both in politics and war, to render her name conspi- 
 cuous in every quarter of the world. They are, 
 therefore, enabled to contribute to the elucidation 
 of questions, such as that now before us, not merely 
 their literary attainments, but the fruits of long ex- 
 perience, and a competent knowledge of the man- 
 ners and local prejudices of the inhabitants of the 
 East. They are on these accounts, best qualified to 
 investigate those principles by which the legislature 
 ought to be guided in regulating our Asiatic domi- 
 nions. From having been eye Avitnesses of the in- 
 fluence and operation of these principles, they seem 
 to be peculiarly fitted to detect any gross or practi- 
 cal errors that may have been committed in their 
 application. 
 
 Such are the talents and acquirements which the 
 British nation can bring to the investigation of every 
 branch of its Oriental policy ; and however respect- 
 able, they are certainly not more than adequate to 
 the complete elucidation of a subject so intricate and 
 profound. It is the work of ages, Avhich the various^ 
 exigencies of the present and future generations are 
 
 destined 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC, €9 
 
 destined to elaborate and cany forward to its con- 
 summation. 
 
 Since, however, a full examination of ever\- branch 
 of Oriental policy would require, not an essay, but 
 many volumes, it is fair to infer, that the proposer of 
 this question meant to restrict the enquiry to some of 
 the more obvious and necessaiy regulations ; and to 
 the removal of some of the most prominent obstacles 
 to the comfort and happiness of our Indian subjects. 
 This inference is indeed deducible from the words 
 of the question, as by himself stated, which requir- 
 ed, not a general enumeration of the various institu- 
 tions that may be devised for the improvement of 
 India, but merely, what out of the whole are " the 
 *' best means of civilizing and instructing that 
 
 <( 
 
 country. 
 
 Taking up the enquiry in this view, its extent and 
 range will be greatly lessened : it will exclude all 
 those expedients and provisions which are requisite 
 in settlino; and reclaiminiy tribes of waudcrinu; sa- 
 vages in a state of primitive barbarism ; it will ex- 
 clude almost every general regulation, which does 
 not arise out of the exigencies of the Indian Empire, 
 and which does not bear on the correction of some 
 mischief or abuse, which may be prevalent in some 
 part of the countiy. 
 
 In the following pages, therefore, it is intended 
 merely to offer a few observations ; first, on the best 
 
 E 3 means 
 
70 TJIOUGHTS O.V 
 
 means of promoting the peace and security of India, 
 whicli refer to the system estabhshed there for exter- 
 nal defence and interior protection. Secondly, to 
 suggest some measures for increasing the quantity 
 of produce, arising from the labour of the hus- 
 bandman and Uianufacturer, and thereby pro- 
 viding a more ample supply of subsistence for so 
 vast a population ; and thirdly, to enquire v\ hat ef- 
 forts may be deemed the most suitable for diffusing 
 moral and religious instruction among the Eastern 
 nations. 
 
 These branches of the general question are praC' 
 tical and important ; the smallest improvement in ei- 
 ther of them, must be attended with consequences 
 highly beneticial : The peace and good government 
 of the country is the object of the first ; its plentiful 
 and regular supply is aimed at by the seconti ; by 
 the third is to be obtained the comfort and happiness 
 of the people. 
 
 Before entering on the particular discussion of 
 these divisions of our subject, it seems necessary to 
 advert to the grounds of a very general persuasion, 
 that all the distant possessions of every country must 
 remain, from the very circumstances of the case, in 
 a state of provincial depression, and comparative 
 barbarism : That the splendid conquests made by 
 Europeans in Asia are peculiarly hurtful; since the 
 fall and degradation of these Eastern empires must 
 be in proportion to the rank and opulence whicii 
 
 they 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 71 
 
 they formerly possessed : That the connection be- 
 tween such colonies and their parent state, contains 
 in it a certain principle of deterioration ; and that by 
 such an union, each continues coiTupting and cor- 
 rupted, till some fortunate circumstance occur to 
 break the tie, and restore to the provinces their ori- 
 ginal independence. 
 
 Those disastrous circumstances which unavoidably 
 accompany the first establishment of conquered coun- 
 tries, have no doubt given rise to this persuasion, 
 which is by no means supported by the general tes- 
 timony of history. That the Romans civilized the 
 world by conquest, is a remark within the reach of 
 €very school-boy ; it is not, however, the less certain- 
 ly true : it is true also, that no nation can carry its 
 conquests to any great distance, without carrying al- 
 so the useful arts. The perfection of military disci- 
 pline and tactics implies the possession of many con- 
 comitant attainments, which if possessed by tlie in- 
 vaded kingdom w^ould prevent its subjection. The 
 equipment and subsistence of numerous armies im- 
 plies a vast train of resources which can belong to 
 no people among whom commerce, as well as many 
 useful branches of knowledge, are unknown. War is 
 itself a science ; and its perfection was, perhaps, ne- 
 ver attained by men of rude and uninformed under- 
 standings. There seems to be provision made by the 
 very constitution of human nature, that war and in- 
 vasion shall always be attended by a competent de- 
 gree of skill in the arts, in order to heal those wounds 
 
 E 4 it 
 
73 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 it must unavoidably inflict. It is a disease of human 
 society of no small inveteracy and magnitude ; but it 
 ought generally to be ranked among th.^t class which 
 renovates the constitution. The great splendor and 
 wealth of the Eastern princes, which dazzled the eyes 
 of Europeans, seems in this case to have biassed their 
 judgment; for, in fact, this splendor exists no where, 
 except within the narrow precincts of the court : it 
 is upheld there by the oppression, poverty, and de- 
 gradation of the whole body of the people. 
 
 When the native Hindoos are represented, in the 
 most antient times, as being celebrated in arts and 
 arms, and famed for the possession of various and 
 profound knowledge* ; these assertions are prouipted 
 by a fond veneration of what is antient, rather than 
 a rigorous attention to the monuments of civilization, 
 which they have left behind them. 'J heir poverty, 
 depi-ession, and general ignorance, are the features 
 of their condition which first strike the attention of 
 every strangerf-. The very language in which they 
 are described by the Greek, Roman, and Arabian 
 writers, is strictly applicable to them at present : 
 they seem to have, early acquired a certain degree of 
 knowledge of many of the useful arts, but to have 
 never carried any of them nearly to that degree of 
 perfection which they attained in Greece and Rome, 
 or in modern Europe. 
 
 If 
 
 * Sir William Jones, Asiatic Researches. 
 -j- Judge Colebrooke's Agriculture and Commerce of Bengal. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 73 
 
 If it was the imposing splendour of the court of 
 Delhi, and of the Mogul Emperors, that first prompt- 
 ed our countrymen to exaggerate the wealth and ci-' 
 vilization of Hindostan, a nearer and more accurate 
 view of the different parts of this great fabric of 
 power, has tended considerably to lower our notions 
 of its perfection, and to abate our admiration of that 
 knowledge by which it was constructed and upheld. 
 
 The brightest aeras of the Tartar empire in India, 
 were unaccompanied by that peace and security 
 which sometimes flows even from despotism itself. 
 During the rejgn of Acber, by far the most celebrate 
 ed of the Mogul princes, we are informed by Abul 
 Fazil, his patronised historian*, that the government 
 of the Emperor was but imperfectly established in 
 many of the provinces, and in all the four kingdoms 
 of the Decan, was wholly unacknowledged, although 
 the imperial po\^'er was then supported by an army 
 amounting to no less than five millions of militia and 
 regulars, and by a revenue yielding thirty-six millions 
 sterling, in a quarter of the world M'here money 
 bears nearly five times the value that it does in Eu- 
 rope. 
 
 Several of the successors of Acber, as Jehanguire, 
 Shah Jehan, and Aurungzebe, by subsequent con- 
 quests, added still farther to the extent of the empire, 
 
 and 
 
 * Vide Ayeen Acbery, passim. 
 
74 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 and the splendor of the court ; yet the Mogul power, 
 even in its greatest extent, was never established over 
 the whole peninsula: a pretty strong presumption, 
 that notwithstanding the warlike character, and vast 
 resources of these princes, they were imperfectly 
 skilled in military affairs. Indeed, evei'y European, 
 but tolerably versant in these subjects, must pro- 
 nounce them comparatively ignorant of the science 
 of war. Almost every military an'angement which 
 they adopted, has been found at variance with the 
 first principles of discipline and subordination : hence 
 the fabric of Imperial power in India, however grand 
 or imposing in outward appearance, could neither 
 prove efficient nor durable. A militia consisting of 
 the enormous disproportion of two thirds of cavalry 
 to one of infantry ; and so numerous as to contain 
 above a twentieth part of the whole population, seems 
 itself an absurdity : an undefined military power, com- 
 mitted to chieftains almost independent of their sove- 
 reign, and connected with each other by hardly any 
 principle of subordination : officers of the same rank 
 serving for different rates of pay, while the whole of 
 iheir allowances were irregularly issued, and some* 
 times altogether withheld : these are such radical de- 
 fects in the constitution of an army, as must have 
 converted it into a machine, at once un\vieldy, in- 
 efficient, and dangerous. Opposed to a disciplined 
 body of troops, the innumerable hosts of Acber would, 
 perhaps, have been vanquished by a very moderate 
 force. 
 
 These 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 75 
 
 These statements are confirmed by experience ; for 
 we find, in fact, that the Mogul armies, however ex- 
 pensive, never adequately served the great end of all 
 military force ; the external defence of the country, 
 and its inward tranquillity. The empire, even in the 
 vigorous reign of Aurungzebe, was never wholly free, 
 either from foreign invasion, or from domestic revolt. 
 Scarcely had the southern provinces been subjected 
 to his power, ^^hen some of the northern and eastern 
 were lost by defection. In the territories of Oude 
 and Rohilcund, the vizier Sujah Dowlah, although 
 constitutionally the first minister of the empire, se- 
 cretly established that hereditary and independent 
 power which is still vested in his family. The same 
 successful treachery, under strong professions of 
 loyalty, was practised by Ali Verdi Khan in Bengal, 
 and by Nizam ul IMuluck in the Deccan. 
 
 Mean thiie the internal police of this vast country 
 was far more imperfect and defective than might 
 have been expected, even under this ill arranged 
 military system. Our amhassador. Sir Thomas Roe, 
 on his journey from Agra to Surat, declares, that in 
 ^several provinces through which he passed, there 
 were a greater number of rebels than of subjects; 
 and on different occasions, that he saw the heads of 
 several hundreds of robbers scattered upon the road, 
 ■w ho had fallen victims to an irregular and ferocious 
 police.* 
 
 Such 
 
 * Vide Memoire du Chev. Roe, aupreg le MoguL 
 
76' THOUGHTS ON 
 
 Such was the state of the Mogul empire during 
 what has been denominated its prosperous reigns ; 
 but a contest for the succession to the throne was 
 after this period maintained by the four sons of Au- 
 rungzebe, each supported by a numerous army. This 
 internal contention, either prepared or aggravated all 
 those heavy strokes of fortune, by ^hich the Mogul 
 power was shaken to its foundation. It was after- 
 wards ruined, and finally overthrown, by the rise of 
 the Mahratta po^ver, and by its rapid extension in 
 (he heart of the empire. The force of this singular 
 combination of militaiy despots, was speedily aug- 
 mented by the concourse of thousands, whom the 
 convulsions of the state had rendered destitute ; or 
 whom the hope of plunder could allure to its standard. 
 Its usurpations were in a few years extended from 
 the Indus to the Ganges, and brought along with them 
 devastation and ruin, into almost every province of 
 the peninsula. 
 
 The progress of the Mahratta power, which ought 
 rather to be regarded as the rise of anarchy, than the 
 prevalence of regular government, soon eftaced many 
 of the fairest monuments of the IMo^ul wealth and 
 splendor. Animated by vengeance against their for- 
 mer oppressors, and perhaps prompted by their own 
 innate barbarity, they repeated their s])oliations till 
 agriculture and commerce were nearly ruined. 
 
 In some provinces where they ^vere unable to main- 
 tain the full possession, they established a tribute of 
 
 one 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC, 7/ 
 
 one fourth of all the revenues, denominated from that 
 circumstance, the Chout*, \Altich was exacted \%ith 
 iinexampled rigour. In several parts this badge of 
 oppression still continues, notwithstanding the many 
 ciiecks lately given to their power. During this 
 disastrous period, which succeeded the reign of Au- 
 rungzebe, while these events happened, we are in- 
 formed, that thirteen Emperors were either deposed 
 or massacred, in an equal number of yearst- Tho 
 Imperial power, which had been usurped in every 
 thing but the name, by the Syeds, two ambitious 
 brothers, was at last subverted, after having been 
 nominally ofi'ered to different branches of the royal 
 family, whom ministerial caprice, or ambition, had 
 prompted to drag from their prison to the throne. 
 
 Thus within the short space of a man's life, and 
 almost in our own remembrance, the empire of India 
 fell into anarchy and ruin ; not from the external vio- 
 lence of foreign enemies, but from the inveteracy and 
 extent of corruption which pervaded the whole of its 
 members. Every province, and sometimes each dis- 
 trict, displayed a perfidious servant of the court 
 usurping absolute power, and jjractising all those ex- 
 travagancies which are natural to an unprincipled 
 mind, on its sudden elevation to absolute powerj. 
 
 Amid those scenes of violence and distraction, the 
 labours of the husbandman were not merely suspend- 
 
 €d, 
 
 * An Hindoo term, signifying a fourth- 
 f Vide Rennd's Memoir. % Indian Recreations. 
 
78 THOUGHTS ON" 
 
 ed, but his wife and family, as well as the produce 
 of his industry, were frequently carried away, or de- 
 stroyed. The progress of a native army, in any 
 country, is destructive, and almost equally fatal, 
 whether it enter it with peaceable or with hostile in- 
 tentions. From its assaults neither the poverty of the 
 peasant^ nor the humble drudgeries of his sequestered 
 lot can screen him ; much less can they defend him 
 against the still more frequent attacks of robbers, 
 and the depredations of innumerable banditti, who 
 every where infest a country on the downfal of 
 police and subordination. 
 
 In many provinces of India these mischiefs of 
 anarchy were prolonged till they had ruined every 
 branch of industry, and become almost incurable : in 
 some of the native governments they continue to 
 the present hour; for in them you still behold the 
 peasant, Avhen he goes abroad to the market, or to 
 resume his labours in the field, arming himself with 
 a tulwar, a spear, or a bludgeon, and trusting for 
 his protection against violence and rapine, more to 
 the strength of his individual arm, than to the police 
 of his country. According to the testimony of Go- 
 lam Hossein Khan, it is customary, in some districts, 
 for the person who has been absent from his friends^ 
 to offer sacrifices to the gods for his safety, if happily 
 he return safe to his family*. It may justly he ques- 
 tioned, whether in any instance, the annals of nations 
 
 can 
 
 * Vide Seer Mutakhereen, a work in modern Persian.. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVER^'MENT, ETC, 79 
 
 can present to our contemplation, a great community 
 plunged into an abyss of anarchy, equally deep and 
 gloomy as that by which India was overwhelmed after 
 the decline and fall of the Mogul empire. That fer- 
 tile and extensive region, became, in fact, an heredi- 
 tasjacens, open to the intrusion of the first occupier ; 
 and sunk into such wretchedness, that almost any 
 change must have proved an alleviation of its dis- 
 tress. 
 
 This description of the state of India, immediately 
 preceding the period of European conquest, will not 
 be thought over-charged in any one particular, by 
 such as have beheld its actual condition ; and among 
 them it may render doubtful, or perhaps destroy the 
 grounds of the persuasion, that a country in such 
 deep and universal anarchy, must necessarily be in- 
 jured by becoming a province to any ILnropean stale. 
 It is in Britain chiefly, that the invectives of partv 
 have misled the public opinion on this subject : they 
 who have been on the spot, and Avitncssed tht" dil- 
 ferent changes in India, have not for a moment 
 doubted, that for a country placed in circumstances 
 similar to those above described, to fall under the 
 protection of a civilised government, is not a misfor- 
 tune, but a kind dispensation of the Ruler of na- 
 tions. 
 
 What ought to be most decisive in this argument, 
 is the experience and conviction of the natives them- 
 selves. They never have denied the benefits of Eu- 
 ropean 
 
hO THOUGHTS ON" 
 
 ropeaii protection, nor have withdrawn from the ad- 
 vantages arising irom a more regular pohce': thou- 
 sands, on the contrary, have laid aside their swords 
 and spears, and crowded to their settlements. Now 
 experience uniformly guides this people, not political, 
 nor speculative opinions. Had European vicinity 
 been hurtful it would have been avoided ; for what 
 else has prompted them to court it, but the security 
 of life and property, Avhich it has been found to yield. 
 The clamour against cruelty and provincial oppres- 
 sion, which has often sounded so loud through the 
 whole of Britain, has not once been heard in Bombay, 
 IVfadras, or Calcutta. These cities have continued 
 uniformly to thrive and increase under their new 
 masters, in spite of all the arguments that have been 
 urged to prove that it was impossible. The last- 
 mentioned city, in particular, from having been lately 
 a village, so unimportant, as to be wholly passed 
 over in the assessments for the Imperial revenue, as 
 stated in the Ayeen Acbery, has in about half a cen- 
 tury arisen to a population of upwards of half a mil- 
 lion of souls; a rapidity of increase seldom to be met 
 with in the records of any country ; and never equall- 
 ed under any of the native governments in Hindostan.* 
 
 These preliminary observations on the Mogul go- 
 vernment, and the anarchy that succeeded it, were 
 deemed necessary, in order to ascertain the possibi- 
 lity of benefitting India in any shape, ^^'hile it remain- 
 ed 
 
 * Vide Indian Recreations, Vol. II. 
 
1*UE Biiltlsii GOVERNMENt, ETC^ SI 
 
 ed in the condition of a province. Should that ob- 
 ject be found impracticable, the question ought to 
 have been differently stated. The enquiry should 
 have been, How are we most creditably to abandon 
 the sovereignty of India; or how are we to retain it 
 with least injury to the country; and without impair- 
 ing the happy influence of the wise institutions by 
 which it has hitherto been governed? 
 
 These introductory remarks might have been a« 
 bridged, had they not served to bring into view the 
 existing circumstances in which India is placed, and 
 to illustrate the actual state of the British empire in 
 that country. In proportion to the accuracy of our 
 knowledge on these points, must prove the wisdom 
 and practical value of every regulation offered for the 
 improvement and civilization of our Asiatic subjects. 
 They are farther useful by affording considerable 
 light for the discussion of the first branch of our en- 
 quiry, which was, to consider what improvements 
 might be made in the military establishments of 
 India, its system of external defence and interior 
 protection. 
 
 Pre -ious, howevet*, to entering upon this part of 
 the subject, it is proper to state the first suggestion 
 which offers itself to the mind of every person who 
 has any practical acquaintance with the Orientals, 
 and knows their strong attachment to antient customs. 
 It relates to the propriety of avoiding the discussion 
 of every point merely speculative and theoretical; 
 
 F and 
 
82 THOUGHTS ON' 
 
 and to the necessity of guarding against the adoption, 
 or recommendation, of plans founded merely on a 
 preconceived system of political' economy. To new- 
 model existing institutions, and to strain them into 
 an exact conformity with a preconceived theory of 
 political economy, is not always either safe or prac- 
 ticable. On a subject so complex and intricate as 
 the government of nations, theory is often at variance 
 with practice, and the most plausible measures of 
 political reform, if they do not display an evident 
 adaptation to each case, and arise out of the real 
 exigencies of society, are not merely idle specu- 
 lations ; they are often hurtful and dangerous, when 
 attempted to be carried into practice. The benevo- 
 lent views of that person who proposed as a subject 
 of public inquiry, the means of civilizing British In- 
 dia, will perhaps be most etfectually answered by 
 those who can effect the removal of some known and 
 experienced want, or provide against the approach 
 of some impending mischief: this part of the task is, 
 at all events, best suited to the present state of our 
 knowledge, necessarily imperfect, regarding a coun- 
 try so extensive and distant as the British dominions 
 in Asia. 
 
 Although our Hindoo subjects are patient and sub- 
 missive in their general deportment to superiors, yet 
 are they -most averse to every change : this peculi- 
 arity, when considered conjunctly with the vast dispro- 
 portion of their numbers to that of their conquerors, 
 ought to afford a most impressive warning against 
 
 adopting 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERXMENT, ETC. 83 
 
 adopting speculative 'systems, or indeed attempting 
 any sudden innovation on the general spirit of the 
 government. That this remark has not been lightly 
 hazarded, or gratuitously introduced, is amply proved 
 by several facts, recorded in the annals of our own 
 government in India : these facts have but too plainly 
 demonstrated, that the submission of the natives has 
 certain limits beyond which it cannot subsist, and 
 that even the patience of the Hindoos themselves, 
 may be put to a test which it is unable to bear. It 
 has been long known, that the prejudices of the 
 higher classes of the Hindoos, regarding the prepara- 
 tion of their food, and dressing of victuals, has pre- 
 vented them from undertaking sea-voyages of any 
 length or duration. The extension of the British 
 territories among the islands, and through the remote 
 parts of the continent, has at the same time render- 
 ed it necessary to transport the native troops by sea 
 to meet the different exigencies of the service. By 
 allowing the natives themselves to prepare their water- 
 casks, and store all their own provisions, this pre- 
 judice, so incompatible with military duty, has been 
 surmounted, or gradually weakened ; a distant ex- 
 pedition by sea was therefore proposed, on a late oc- 
 casion, to a certain seapoy corps, ^sbich at first 
 seemed to assent to the proposal without any appa- 
 rent murmur. A few of the higher ranks, however, 
 on reflection, were of opinion, that it endangered 
 their rank, by its incompatibility v\ ith their religious 
 maxims. These men, by stating their scruples to 
 
 F 2 their 
 
84 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 their comrades, in the absence of the officers, inifu- 
 enced the determination of tlie rest of the battahon. 
 The European officers, who were ignorant of what 
 had passed, and deeming the assent of the regiment 
 universal and compleat, gave orders for its embarkar 
 lion on the appointed day. A detennined resistance 
 ensued ; the seapoys flew to their arms, and took 
 possession of a rising gi'€>und, where, as they refused 
 all communication with their officers, they v/ere un- 
 der the necessity of reducing them by force of arms. 
 In the contest many were slain on both sides ; and 
 what is most remarkable, a native regiment was em- 
 ployed to execute this severe military vengeance 
 against their countrymen, a service which they per- 
 formed with fatal promptitade and alacrity, A more 
 scrupulous regard to their religious prejudices has, 
 since that period, almost entirely surmounted their 
 objections to naval voyages; and many regiments, 
 consisting of all the different casts, have lately been; 
 employed on maritime expeditions, without any pre- 
 judice to their future rank, or violence to theii* reli- 
 gious scruples. 
 
 The native Hindoos, of all ranks, must have their 
 food dressed and prepared by a person belonging to-' 
 the same religious cast ; and during the time of din- 
 ner (almost their only meal), the greater part of their 
 cloathino; is cast off and laid aside till the conclusions 
 of their refreshment. On actual service, and in the 
 |)resence of an enemy, this custom is peculiarly re- 
 pugnant 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 85 
 
 pugnant to European notions of discipline. Accord- 
 ingly, the officer in command of our field army in 
 1798, issued, in orders, that such of the seapoys as 
 were employed as guards and picquets to the camp, 
 should not be permitted to undress either in prepar- 
 ing or in eating their meals. This prohibition, which 
 appeared so necessary to the safety of his camp, the 
 general found it necessary to withdraw in a few days, 
 for during that short period many of the best of the 
 native soldiers were found to have deserted the ser- 
 vice. So inveterate are the prejudices of the native 
 troops regarding this point, that no means have yet 
 been devised to remove this unmilitary practice from 
 a seapoy camp. 
 
 But the most unfortunate of all the errors that have 
 ever arisen from ignorance, or inattention to the man- 
 ners of the native troops, was that remarkable order 
 for shaving and changing the native dress of the gar- 
 rison of Vellore. The consequence has not merely 
 been the revolt of the troops, but a dreadful massa- 
 cre of almost every European in the place : unhap- 
 pily the mischief arising from such an occurrence 
 does not terminate with the fatal phrenzy excited 
 during the moment of exasperation ; the ^^ hole native 
 army must feel itself insulted, by an order useless in 
 its object, and to their feelings more poignant and 
 severe, than a command issued for their instant exe- 
 cution. 
 
 F 3 When 
 
S6 
 
 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 When we reflect that the whole number of Euro- 
 peans employed in all the departments of the service 
 throughout that vast empire, does not amount to a 
 thousandth part of tiie natives by whom they are sur- 
 rounded, the impropriety of wantonly irritating their 
 feelings, must appear abundantly striking. The go- 
 vernment of such a multitude is merely that of opir 
 nion ; an opinion of the general equity and modera- 
 tion of the rulers. The moment when this opinion 
 shall be destroyed, and the general detestation of our 
 troops excited against us, will assuredly be the last 
 of the existence of European rule in India. Such 
 facts, well authenticated and recent, give lessons 
 that cannot be misunderstood : nor is it possible to 
 avoid the inference to which they lead : they strong- 
 ly warn us against all rash and untried experi- 
 ments among the natives of Asia. They miliiate 
 so powerfully against thwarting their prejudices, even 
 in apparently trivial instances, that every wanton in- 
 terference with them should not merely be avoided, 
 but the authors of them should be compelled to make 
 an atonement to the natives, by becoming themselves 
 the objects of the severest reprehension and punish- 
 ment. 
 
 SECTION 
 
[ 87 ] 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 IMPERFECTIONS OF THE MILITARY SYSTEM 
 AMONG THE NATIVE POWERS : THE UNHAP- 
 PY FREQUENCY OF WAR; AND THE 
 MEANS OF PREVENTING IT. 
 
 The short view of the state of India which has 
 already been given, however imperfect, clearly enough 
 indicates the necessity of many improvements in its 
 military establishments. The maintenance of peace, 
 as well as the security of property, are most impor- 
 tant objects, which, even in the most prosperous 
 times, were never fully attained under the native go- 
 vernments : their compleat establishment seems im- 
 peratively to require a reduction of the military force 
 maintained by the allied and dependent states. War 
 has unavoidably been calamitous to every country, 
 but the frequency of it in India, has almost uniform- 
 
 F4 ly 
 
SS THOUGHTS ON^ 
 
 ]y proved the scourge of the inliabitants, and the 
 greatest bar to their prosperity. It has there been 
 encouraged and promoted by the facihty of raising 
 arniies among the petty chieftains, who every where 
 usurped independent power on the downfal of the 
 antient government. The history of Hindostan clearly 
 points to this as the grand source of those constant 
 dissentions, of that insecurity of life and property 
 over the whole country, which so long perpetuated 
 barbarisrn an^ong the inhabitants, 
 
 The natives of India were long barred by the con- 
 vulsions and anarchy which terminated the Mogul 
 power, from obtaining wealth or distinction by pm> 
 suing thB arts of peace. Men of family in that coun- 
 try, generally became soldiers of fortune ; while the 
 commonalty, rendered by the same causes licentious 
 and destitute, readily joined their standard. Thus 
 the career of aggression unavoidably commenced ; 
 for the subsistence ^nd pay of every association of 
 this nature, must be procured by committing deprcr 
 dations on the defenceless neighbourhood. The first 
 enterprises, ho^vever insignificant, bring fi^esh adhe^ 
 rents, and prepare the way for more important at- 
 chievements. ^or is the progress of these military 
 combinations checked by meeting other tribes of ban-, 
 djtti engaged in similar pursuits; perhaps a battle 
 ensues, or the weaker joins the strong party ; and 
 thus the foundation is laid of greater conquests, and 
 of a future power, proportioned to the abilities of 
 Cfich chief, or to the strength of his adherents. 
 
 Such 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMEXT, ETC. S9 
 
 Such is the rise and progress of an Asiatic nation ; 
 and such, ahiiost without a single exception, has been 
 the origin of the diti'erent states in India. The Mah- 
 ratta chiefs have exhibited examples of it, in almost 
 every district from Balasore to the Indus. Of seve- 
 ral Mahomedan kingdoms the oric^in is still more re- 
 cent : it may be dated within our own remembrance, 
 from the treacherous revolt of some military com- 
 mander against his sovereign; from the successful 
 usurpation of that power which he was hired to de- 
 fend. Of this nature were the usurpations of Shiefdar 
 Jung in Oude, and of Hyder Ali in the Mysore. 
 But what belongs chietly to our purpose is to notice, 
 that the power of all these usurpers, however obtain- 
 ed, is uniformly exercised in the same manner : war 
 is almost their only occupation, and the property of 
 their neighbours their constant plunder. Their go- 
 vernments, if they can merit such a name, contain 
 no principle of stability or order, either to secure 
 their own tranquillity, or to compensate the people 
 for the violence by which they were erected. Their 
 power is as little permanent as beneficial, for it sel- 
 dom remains more than one or two generations in 
 the same family : hardly does a single year elapse 
 without our witnessing, in India, the rise of some 
 upstart into power, or the downfal of some of its 
 princes. 
 
 The most obscure persons, and sometimes even 
 women, have been tempted to grasp at those tran- 
 sient sovereignties. Begum Somro, the widow of a 
 
 German 
 
90 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 German tradesman, possesses at present a very con- 
 siderable extent of territory on the north of Delhi. 
 In her country lie the plains of Paniput, that were 
 lately so distinguished, from being the theatre of a 
 mighty contest between the adherents of the Heathen 
 and Mahomedan faith. These celebrated plains have, 
 during several years, been ravaged by the rude asso- 
 ciates of her General, — an illiterate sailor,* who de- 
 serted from the British navy. It is on the field of 
 Carnal itself, so renowned in the Mahabarut, as the 
 scene of antient heroism, that are now displayed the 
 inglorious banners of this contemptible chief, and of 
 bis licentious followers. 
 
 Such are the vicissitudes, and the frequency of war 
 in India : the calamity, it must be allowed, is inci- 
 dent to every country ; since war is an inseparable 
 concomitant of human associations in every stage of 
 their progress, and under every form which they as- 
 sume. It may be alledged, that a vicinity of nations 
 constituted like those of India, seems peculiarly in- 
 compatible with a state of peace ; and that to expect 
 a continuance of that blessing, in such circumstances, 
 is to look out for a change in the very principles of 
 human nature. 
 
 Allowing to this observation every degree of weight 
 which experience may justify, it still must be admit- 
 ted, 
 
 * George Thomas, an account of whose life has lately appear- 
 ed in the Asiatic Register. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERKMENT, ETC. 91 
 
 ted, that the gradual diminution of the irregular 
 armies, by the controlling influence of a powerful 
 government, directed by enlightened agents, would 
 enable them to overawe the native chieftains, and in 
 proportion to its power, would check among them 
 the reciprocation of injuries. This inference is now 
 warranted by experience, since the British govern- 
 ment has already, in a great measure, effected this 
 object, in many of the provinces which have fallen 
 under its power. Its influence has been attended 
 with this salutary consequence in Oude, liydrabad, 
 and the Carnatic : thouiih it has there been erected 
 on the shattered remains of an empire that had suf- 
 fered almost every calamity, during a period of un- 
 limited confusion ; or rather, that had been totally 
 wrecked by the storms of a long revolution. 
 
 In Bengal, Eahar, and Orissa, those tumultuary 
 bands m hich, witli the name of armies, and under 
 the pretext of collecting the revenue, had pillaged 
 those provinces, have at last been disbanded, and a 
 new military force has been raised, infinitely more 
 effective, though hardly amounting to a tenth part of 
 the antient number. In all these provinces the limits 
 of order have uniformly extended with the progress 
 of European dominion, and what, as far as we know, 
 is unexampled in their history, some of them have 
 been kept free from the calamities of war and mili- 
 tary depredation for the space of nearly half a cen- 
 tury. The conduct of our governors of India merits, 
 in these instances, a very high commendation ; their 
 
 best 
 
PS IMOUGIITS ON 
 
 best encomium, however, will be found in the cn» 
 creased population and security of these provinces. 
 
 Those fears and complaints, which of late have 
 been so pathetically urged against the extension of 
 our territory in India, seem not warranted by a per- 
 fect knowledge of that country. The enlargement 
 of our dominions in the peninsula do not always in- 
 fer a necessity of augmenting the army. Our late 
 brilliant successes against some of the IVIahratta pow- 
 ers, while they have extended the empire, have ac^ 
 tually lessened its frontier. Till lately, the domi- 
 nions of the Mahrattas bordered upon those of Bri- 
 tain, throughout the whole extent of the peninsula ; 
 but the period seems not now to be distant, when a 
 vei"y important diminution may be effected in the 
 number of troops maintained by that vast military 
 association whose constant wars have long been the 
 greatest scourge of Hindostan. This measure has 
 already been practised with regard to the Peshwa, 
 who by engaging to maintain six thousand of our 
 troops, must necessarily disband a greater number 
 of his own. Should this essential arrangement be 
 adopted throughout the other branches of that con- 
 federacy, the British Empire will then assume a tone 
 and attitude of power which will enable it to com- 
 mand the tranquillity of the peninsula*. Though 
 
 still 
 
 * Some persons of great discernment, and thoroughly acquaint- 
 ed with the state of India, have deeply regretted, tiiat on th« 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. <)3 
 
 Still inferior in extent to that of the Moguls, it must 
 almost of necessity prove more energetic and tran- 
 quil ; for Hindostan will then be protected by less 
 than one tenth part of her ancient military establish- 
 ment ; a change of infinite importance to her pren 
 sperity. In the present tone of the public mind such 
 a change would, perhaps, be little relished, or per- 
 haps wholly disapproved : it could not fail, how- 
 ever, to be highly appreciated by every person who 
 has witnessed the ferocious atchievements of native 
 armies, during their annual excursions for the col- 
 lection of revenue, or for what they term tjuiluck^ 
 gherce, the acquisition of territory. 
 
 This aspect of the native governments merits the 
 greater notice, because it forms not an accidental or 
 temporary feature in their character, but a perma- 
 nent state of society. It is a maxim among the na- 
 tive politicians to regard their " State as continually 
 " at war." Hence their military chiefs are not per- 
 mitted for a moment to indulge the habits of civil 
 
 life , 
 
 conclusion of the late war with the Mahratta chiefs, Scindiah, 
 Holkar and Boonsla, no subsidiary treaty was concluded with 
 these restless powers. They regard this measure as the only seal 
 of their submission, on which we ought to depend for the future 
 tranquillity of India. It has been adopted with almost every 
 Prince in alliance with Britain, and after an experience of thirty 
 years, it may safely be pronounced the most effectual arrange- 
 ment that has yet been devised for checking that unceasing pro- 
 pensity to war which so fatally characterises the whole system of 
 Oriental policy. 
 
94i THOUGHTS OX 
 
 life ; nor do they experience the shelter of a house 
 for many years successively. Their camps are not 
 broken up; nor, except during a march, are tlieir 
 tents ever struck. The intervals of foreign hostihty 
 ■are occupied in the collection of revenue ; a measure, 
 %vhich in India is generally executed by a military 
 force, and is more fertile in extensive bloodshed and 
 barbarity, as well as in the varied scenes of dis- 
 tress, than an actual campaign against an avowed 
 enemy. 
 
 The refractory Zemindars, (as they are denomi- 
 nated) upon whom the troops are let loose, betake 
 themselves, on their approach, to a neighbouring 
 mud fort ; one of ^a hich is erected for protection in 
 the vicinity of almost every village. There the in- 
 habitants endeavour to secure themselves, their cat* 
 tie and effects, till they are corupelled by force or 
 famine to submit. The garrison is then razed to the 
 foundation, and the \ illage burnt, to expiate a dehn- 
 quency, too frequently occasioned, solely by the ini- 
 quitous exactions of government itself. 
 
 In these militaiy executions, some of the peasan- 
 try are destroyed ; some fall victims to famine thus 
 artificially created, and not a few are sold, a\ ith tlieir 
 wives and children, to defray their arrears to the 
 treasury, or to discharge the aggravated burdens im- 
 posed by the landholders. Such as survive, betake 
 themselves to the woods, till the departure of their 
 oppressors encourages them to revisit their smoking 
 
 habitations, 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 9^ 
 
 habitations, and to repair tiieir ruins. Thus harrassed 
 by the injustice and barbarity of their rulers, the pea- 
 santry lose all sense of right and wrong ; from want^ 
 they are forced to become robbers in their turn, and 
 to provoke, by their fraud or violence, a repetition of 
 the same enormities ag;ainst the next annual visita- 
 tion of the army. 
 
 Charges have fi'equently been brought against Eu- 
 ropeans, for their ambition, their conquests, and 
 their rapacity in the East ; on some occasions, they 
 may have been just ; but a far heavier charge seems 
 to lye against tlieir indolence and delay in exercising, 
 for the suppression of these cnielties, that power 
 which the fortune of war had thrown into their hands. 
 In Bengal, for example, several years had elapsed, 
 from the time of its conquest, before the exercise of 
 its wretched government was transferred from the 
 hands of the natives to the Company's servants. 
 The same objection might be urged against our con- 
 duct in the extensive countries of Oude and Ro- 
 hilcund, although, for a period of thirty years, 
 they have been tributary and dependent provinces, 
 yet the irregular annies of the Vizier have been 
 permitted to harrass the country, and enforce their 
 exactions from the peasantry. In the latter of these 
 provinces, this licence has so strongly prevailed, that 
 the British government has at last been compelled 
 to assume the immediate direction of the civil power, 
 in order to save the remains of that people from 
 utter extennination by the deleterious government 
 
 of 
 
g6 THOUGHTS OiO" 
 
 Oude*. In the Carnatic also, a more prompt as- 
 sumption of the civil power, would have saved much 
 property, and many lives : and it perhaps, might be 
 asserted without much danger of exaggeration, that the 
 conquest of the whole peninsula, by European arms, 
 might have been attended with less injury to the pro- 
 perty and population of the country, than what has 
 been sustained by the M-ant of police and regular 
 government in some of its individual provinces. 
 
 None of our rulers in India, whether more or les^ 
 experienced in its policy, have been inattentive to the 
 various mischiefs resulting from native misrule ; many 
 have deeply regretted the imperious necessity which 
 on some occasions has interfered, to withhold them 
 from preventing these. It is however only in the 
 moment of defeat and humiliation, that a proposal 
 for the reduction of its armies can be made with ef- 
 fect, even to a conquered nation : this measure, if 
 then neglected, cannot afterwards be accomplished 
 
 without 
 
 * This transaction has been brought before the house of Com- 
 mons as one of the charges against the Marquis Wellesley :— 
 The necessity of the measure had, however, long since been ap" 
 parent to every officer of the Bengal army, and it was strongly 
 recommended by some of their number in 1798. When the very 
 plan which he adopted was distinctly pointed out, in a work, by 
 one of their number, written upon the spot, where it is mentioned 
 as an arrangement in the future government of India, of more 
 real importance than the conquest of many provinces. Vide In- 
 dian Recreations, Vol. 11. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 97 
 
 \vithout the risk of bloodshed and resistance, a mea- 
 sure involving such weighty responsibiHty was gene- 
 rally avoided, on the principle, that if the native 
 princes were the sole authors of their subjects misery, 
 theirs alone was the guilt. A better plea, in defence 
 of the India Company, may be found in the small 
 number of its civil servants, w hich, in the earlv stao;es 
 of its power, debarred it from immediately assuming 
 the government of its conquered provinces. Its of- 
 ficers were not only few, but possessed of little skill 
 in finance and political economy : a servant, tolerably 
 expert in their factory, might prove inadequately 
 qualified to act as an ambassador^ a judge, or gover- 
 nor of a province. 
 
 A benevolent regard for the vanquished princes, 
 and sympathy with their feelings, seem on some oc- 
 casions to have prevented our commanders from ri- 
 gorously requiring a diminution of the native armies. 
 It belonged to their humanity, they supposed, to al- 
 leviate, as far as possible, the pain of falling grandeur, 
 believing with the father of the British drama, 
 that " soul and body rend not more at parting, than 
 " greatness going off;" they consoled these princes 
 for the loss of real power, by permitting them to 
 appear among their former subjects, attended with 
 the whole of its outward splendor. The semblance 
 of a native army kept on foot, in countries actually 
 subdued, it w^as also imagined, would serve to screen 
 from European nations, the real extent of British 
 power in India. The policy of thus concealing, from 
 
 G " the 
 
OS THOUGHTS ON 
 
 the jealous scrutiny of rival powers, the otact limits 
 of our authority, had perhaps a strong influence in 
 preventing its open exercise, and in perpetuating the 
 evils of anarchy. From these prudential considera- 
 tions, not so dishonourable in themselves, as hurtful 
 in their consequences, the native armies have re- 
 mained on the establishment of their respective chiefs 
 till they were no longer formidable but to the de- 
 fenceless husbandman : and posterity will regret, that 
 the sympathy so honourably exercised to the van- 
 quished princes had not been extended to their sub- 
 jects ; and that those liberal pensions which were 
 bestowed on the fallen sovereigns, were unaccompa- 
 nied Avith measures of mercy for tli€ protection and 
 relief of the body of the people. 
 
 To dissemble the real extent of the British power 
 and territories in India, seems now to be equally 
 vain and unnecessary ; and in future, to decline ex- 
 ercising the prerogatives belonging to it, ought to be 
 deemed pusillanimous. The British Empire, in fact, 
 now occupies the station and rank of the Mogul 
 Princes : To her it belongs to restore to India, even 
 more than its former degree of order and prosperity, 
 because she enjoys a greater reputation for humanity 
 and rectitude of principles ; while all her neighbours 
 in Asia regard her as possessed of a far more irre^ 
 sistible authority : It is her province to stand forth 
 as the guardian of the peace and tranquillity of Hin- 
 dostan ; it is hers, also, to check injustice and mal- 
 versation in the subordinate states ; and above all, 
 
I'tlE BRITISH govehnmext, Etc. 99 
 
 it seems to be her duty to urge a diminution of their 
 ferocious and irregular armies, with a degree of ear^ 
 nestness proportioned to the importance of the ob- 
 ject. 
 
 The chmate of India is equally favourable with 
 that of China ; its soil is still more fertile ; with the 
 advantage of a more regular government, and a more 
 steady protection, it may, in a very limited time, 
 equal that country both in wealth and population. 
 Shall it be deemed either romantic, or over-sanguine 
 to hope for improvements in our Eastern Empire, 
 which have already been actually attained in its very 
 neighbourhood, by a people possessing far inferior 
 advantages ? The British Government in India, with 
 all the imperfection that may have crept into its ad-* 
 ministration in so distant a region, is still far prefer- 
 able to that of China. What a magnificent soectacle 
 will Great Britain at that period afibrd ! A small 
 island possessed of foreign subjects equal in number 
 to those of the most populous empire on the globe ; 
 and carrying on with energy and spirit the imj)rove- 
 ment of a people already the most wealthy and en- 
 lightened in the annals of mankind. 
 
 Should this happy result ever flow from our con- 
 nection with India, it will, in all probability, be the 
 fruit of this very measure ; a judicious reduction of* 
 the irregular troops, and overgrown military esta- 
 blishment of that peninsula. A matter of such ini-* 
 
 G S poi'tance, 
 
100 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 portance, and unquestionable expediency seemed to 
 require the length of detail given it in this essay, 
 where it is . held up as the initiatory step to every 
 future improvement, and the sine qua non of the 
 prosperity of India. 
 
 SECTION 
 
[ 101 ] 
 
 SECTION VIL 
 
 OF THE MEANS OF PREVENTING SCARCITY IN 
 
 HINDOSTAN. 
 
 If the above proposed method of estabHshing traii- 
 quilhty and full protection among our Indian subjects 
 prove in any degree successful, it will afford many 
 facilities of providing a more ample and regular sup- 
 ply of subsistence to the natives : It will invigorate 
 their agriculture, and give new springs of activity to 
 manufacturing industry. 
 
 Next to the frequency of war, famine is the most 
 common and destructive calamity of Asia. Former- 
 ly the population of whole provinces has been almost 
 totally extirpated, and though in later times it has been 
 less severe, two years have hardly elapsed since it 
 was pretty widely spread on the Malabar coast, 
 
 G 3 and 
 
109 ■ THOUGHTS ON 
 
 apcl was there attended by piany of its concomitant 
 horrors. 
 
 From the continued vicissitudes in the Govenv 
 ment, already noticed, as well as the irregular police 
 of the country, it must be evident, that war and the 
 ■want of protection have been powerful causes of the 
 frfTjuent recurrence of this evil, in almost every 
 province of India. The slightest view of the rural 
 Oiconomy of that people will be sufficient to demon- 
 strate that their agriculture remains in a very imper- 
 fect, or rather in a barbarous state. Various causes, 
 have, no doubt, co-operated with the instability of 
 government in detaining the ingenious natives in so 
 great ignorance of this primary art of life. Among 
 these we may, perhaps, be allowed to place their 
 genial climate and fertile soil, It is nect's^ity, not 
 plentii, who has always been the parent of invention. 
 Hence, it is in those regions that are comparatively 
 barren, and where the inhabitants ^re compelled to 
 wring by industry aird skill, from niggard nature, 
 that plenty which she does not easily bestow, that 
 we are to look for the most perfect cultivation of the 
 soil. Not^vithstandinfr all that has been said of Chi- 
 n!^, Gre::it Britain ^eems to surpass every country in 
 the wor|d, in the perfection of her rural oeconomy. 
 This mighty advantage, she, perhaps, in some mea- 
 sure owes to a sky by no means propitious, and to a 
 soil far from being originally prolific. 
 
 I^ 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 103 
 
 In India we shall look in vain for those multiplied 
 incitements to exertion, and encouragements to in- 
 genuity which here arise from a thousand sources ; 
 but principally from a consumption almost always 
 greater than the supply; from the encouragements 
 of government, its parental sollicitude, and its steady 
 protection. "Whatever circumstances we select in 
 reviewing the husbandry of the East, we almost uni- 
 formly tind them adverse and depressing. " The 
 " depressed condition of the peasantry, who by the 
 " impolitic arrangement of casts, are herded togc- 
 " ther in the lowest class, but one :"* the want of 
 capital ; the deductions made in kind, by the govern- 
 ment and Zemindars, which being undefined, are al- . 
 most arbitrary ; the inactive character of the race ; 
 the simple manner in which they subsist ; the [)riva- 
 vation of animal food enjoined by their superstition ; 
 the want of fences and roads ; all these circumstan- 
 ces, added to the unsettled state of the country, have 
 operated as bars to the progress of agriculture in 
 Hindostan. 
 
 He who would restore the agriculture of India 
 may feel at first no small difficulty, amid so many 
 defects, where to begin to attempt their removal : 
 many springs of its improvement, he will feel it ne- 
 cessary, not so much to strengthen and invigorate as 
 to create. In a sketch of this kind, M'here pro- 
 lixity 
 
 * Vide Mitchell's Essay, page 120. 
 
104 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 lixity must be avoided, it becomes necessary to select 
 only a few of the most prominent and conspicuous 
 obstacles to the husbandry of India, the removal of 
 which may be recommended as tlie objects of future 
 regulatioq. 
 
 The first, and perhaps the greatest bar to spirited 
 agriculture in the East, arises from the want of secure 
 leases, conveying a full and specific interest in the 
 possession of the lands, and for a period of suffi- 
 cient duration to indemnify the necessary expendi- 
 tures of the improver. 
 
 During the best times of the old Government, the 
 nature and variety of tenures, between the Zemindar 
 and the Kyuts, were complex and intricate almost 
 beyond belief. In many instances the rent was pay- 
 able in kind ; in others, it was exacted in money : 
 In some cases, it was paid according to a certain ad- 
 measurement of the land ; but oftener, by dividing 
 the crop between the parties in various proportions. 
 The practical result of this intricacy of tenure has 
 been, that hardly a single lease has proved either 
 specific or secure. " In India the land-rents con- 
 •' stitute, in fact, the revenue of the state ; of con- 
 " sequence, the management of the finances, has 
 ^' there a more intimate connection with agriculture, 
 " than any other branch of the administration*." 
 
 The 
 
 * Vide Indian Recreations, Vol. IL 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 105 
 
 The tenant who had nothing to protect him against 
 a whole army sent to collect the revenue, but the 
 obscure clauses of an intricate lease, was perfectly 
 defenceless, and often plundered. To this precarious 
 situation, we must add the very limited time of his 
 interest in the soil, which did not admit of any ex- 
 pensive operation for its improvement : since reim- 
 bursement mast always be the work of that time 
 which the lease itself precluded. No system can, 
 perhaps, be devised more hostile to all improvement, 
 than that which is now under review ; it will suffi- 
 ciently account for the wretched state of Indian hus- 
 bandry, among such as know that this system was 
 universal in that country : to others, the detail of it 
 may appear of little use, but to demonstrate that no 
 spirited husbandry can ever exist in such circum- 
 stances, 
 
 After the period of the British conquest of Bengal 
 and Bahar, the management of the revenue was left 
 for a considerable time in tlie hands of the natives ; 
 and it was then, tiiat the multitude of evils from such 
 leases were first brought to the view of Europeans, 
 in their full enormity. A congress of all the farmers, 
 in these provinces was held annually in the capital ; 
 for the purpose of adjusting the Bundcbcst, or year- 
 ly settlement of rents and leases. The farms were 
 exposed to public auction, and let to the highest of- 
 ferer : and this competition, which appeared at first 
 sight so favourable to the interest of the treasury, 
 
 first 
 
106 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 first ruined the farmers, and in them the resources of 
 the state. 
 
 In this early stage of the British power in the East, 
 experience had not yet taught them how to check the 
 malversations of the native officers of revenue. The 
 humble condition of our officers had not yet allured 
 men of rank and education to these remote regions. 
 Neither the integrity nor humanity of those obscure 
 settlers, were sufficient to resist that bribery and cor- 
 ruption, which the natives had been accustomed 
 to practise ; and on some occasions these principles 
 were not sufficiently strong to restrain them from 
 cruelty. It is certain that the native farmers often 
 feigned inability to pay their arrears ; and it is known 
 also, that on such occasions, the application of the 
 lash was the most frequent, and often the only re- 
 medy. If such was the tyranny exercised towai^ds 
 the greater Zemindars, and such the fraud by which 
 they endeavoured to counteract it ; the condition of 
 the poor peasants, their dependents, must have been 
 fetill more helpless and distressing. 
 
 '\^anous schemes for the redress of these enormi- 
 ties were devised and put in practice ; none, how- 
 ever, were found of adequate effect, till the adoption 
 of what has been termed the uioliurreri)* system ; 
 or permanent settlement of the lands, upon the na- 
 tive 
 
 * From a Persian plirase importing certainty. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVEENMENT, ETC. 107 
 
 live Zemindars, by an act of the British Govern- 
 ment. This spirited measure seems to strike at the 
 root of the evil, and to meet the whole of the case. 
 The India Company cannot, perhaps, too speedily 
 follow up their own example in the provinces of Ben- 
 gal and Bahar, by granting permanent settlements of 
 their lands upon all the Zemindars and farmers 
 througliout the whole of their territories in India*. 
 It is not now a matter of doubtful advantage, or of 
 hazardous experiment : After the experience of ten 
 years, for which period the trial was made, it has 
 been follovved with very beneficial effects ; it 
 has added considerably to the wealth and secu- 
 rity of the agricultural branches of the commu- 
 nity. One important fact seems to be established 
 by the testimony of almost every eye witness, that 
 the subjects of the British Government are now be- 
 come the most comfortable and easy in their condi- 
 tion of any portion of the people in Hindostan. Not- 
 withstanding the declamations of the discontented 
 and factious in Britain, this government has effected 
 more for tlie people during the short period of its 
 sway, than has been attained by all the rest of the 
 native powers, since the downfall of the Imperial 
 power. ]\Iuch, however, it must be acknowledged, 
 yet remains to be accomplished : The career of im- 
 
 provemen 
 
 * It appears from tlie speech of Lord Castlereagh on open- 
 ing the India Budget in 1803, that the extension of the per- 
 manent settlement to some districts on the Malabar coast has 
 actually commenced, and with a very promising effect. 
 
10$ THOUGHTS ON 
 
 provement is happily commenced ; yet many future 
 operations must still be undertaken, and prosecuted 
 with steadiness, before our agricultural subjects in 
 the East can arrive at that respectability, wealth and 
 comfort of which their condition is capable, and 
 which, as British subjects, they are entitled to claim 
 and enjoy. 
 
 7'his leads us to notice another impediment in 
 the way of the Hindoo peasantry, which prevents 
 that class of people from pursuing a spirited and ef- 
 ficient system of husbandry : I allude to their want 
 of capital ; or more correctly speaking, their absolute 
 poverty. 
 
 In Hindostan the great body of the people are li- 
 ving, and perhaps have long lived, in a state of much 
 depression and actual penur}'-. This is invariably the 
 first impression which forces itself upon the mind of 
 every European, w^hen he personally beholds their 
 condition. However much that protection and order, 
 which has resulted from European, intercourse, may 
 have benefited some districts, there is still much 
 room for adding to their comfort in all parts of the 
 country. In the great articles of food, cloathing, 
 and lodging, their situation is far inferior to that of 
 any nation in tlie western world, not excepting the 
 poorest in Europe. 
 
 The peculiar manners, and religious maxims of 
 both classes of the native inhabitants, have been held 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENTj ETC. 109 
 
 up as obstacles, and are supposed to preclude them 
 from many of the comforts of life : This is no doubt 
 true, to a certain extent ; but much more has been 
 allowed to this consideration than its just weight. 
 Their buildings are slight, paltry, and insufficient, to 
 a degree which no allowance for manners will pal- 
 liate. A Hindoo in easy circumstances, it is true, 
 accommodates himself only with a hut ; this, how- 
 ever, is clean, neat, and commodious. The great 
 bulk of that people, in the mean time, creep into 
 wretched hovels, incapable alike of shelter or pro- 
 tection, and of materials so contemptible as to be 
 hardly fit for fuel : This in their present circumstan- 
 ces, they must do ; not from custom or prejudice, 
 but from poverty*. 
 
 The same thin^r is observable in the dress of the 
 natives : The climate does not require the tliick and 
 substantial cloatbing of Europeans ; but among indi- 
 viduals, whose circumstances admit of choice, there 
 is seen some variety, with much cleanliness and ele- 
 gance of decoration. When this is contrasted with 
 the tilth, the rags, or rather nakedness of ninety in a 
 hundred of the people ; it ought to be ascribed, not 
 to the simplicity of Hindoo manners, but to the ex- 
 tremity of their poverty, if it may not be termed ac- 
 tual want. 
 
 With 
 
 * Vide Remaiks on the Agriculture And Commerce of Ben- 
 gal. 
 
no THOUGHTS onsr 
 
 With regard to their food, says the writer from 
 whom this statement is given, " flesh is excluded 
 " from the diet of the greater number; to all, the 
 " use of fermented liquor is forbidden by the impe- 
 rious dictates of their superstition ; yet these cir^ 
 cumstances will not account for the far greater part 
 eating the millets, pulses, and otuer bad grain in- 
 stead of white corn : nor v/ili the circumstance, ei- 
 " ther of manners, or religious prejudice account for 
 " the small {)ortion of salt, spices, and ghee* used 
 " at the generality of meals, since those of the 
 " opulent are so fully supplied with these ingre- 
 " dients." 
 
 It must, therefore, be concluded, that the Indians 
 are poor ; that they are themselves conscious of this 
 poverty ; and that they would willingly improve their 
 condition, although they are incapable of the same 
 persevering industry, and still more, of that energy 
 of exertion which characterises Europeans. 
 
 A poverty so universal and so depressing as to 
 exclude, from the great body of society, the comfort 
 of decent cloathing, nourishing food, and convenient 
 lodging, must be peculiarly hostile to their improve- 
 ment, and particularly to the expensive operations of 
 husbandry. Accordingly, draining, inclosing, water- 
 ing and manuring the soil, are undertakings but very 
 
 insufficiently 
 
 * A kind of butter from the Bufalo, used at meali, and in 
 sacrifice by the natives. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. Ill 
 
 insufficiently executed, in every part of India. In 
 many parts they are almost entirely neglected ; while 
 all the more valuable crops, which require a rich cul- 
 ture and expensive preparation, seldom make any 
 considerable portion of the agricultural produce. 
 Wheat, sugar, opium, indigo and tobacco, are by far 
 the most valuable crops to be met with in India ; 
 but they are found there in much less abundance, 
 than the number of cultivators, and the aptitude of 
 the soil, if aided by capital, might easily produce. 
 
 To this feeble and penurious husbandry, we must 
 ascribe also the general scantiness of such crops as 
 are actually cultivated : for it is generally allowed, 
 that the whole cultivated acres in India produce not 
 more than one half of the average return reaped from 
 a more spirited culture in Britain. The common 
 routine of ploughing and sowing, and that most 
 wretchedly performed, is almost all that you can 
 ever behold on the farm of a native. On it few ef- 
 forts are seen in grubbing up the constantly encroach- 
 ing thicket, and seldom is even a fallow employed 
 to invigorate and cleanse an exhausted soil. 
 
 On these accounts, tliere is seldom or rarely to be 
 found in India; even in years of plenty, any surplus 
 produce, or excess of supply, beyond the usual con- 
 sumpt of the inhabitants ; nothing, therefore, can be 
 laid up to guard against the scarcity of an unfavour- 
 able season. Hence the Hindoos have become, more 
 frequently than any other people, the victims of hun- 
 ger 
 
1I2 THOUOIITS 6N 
 
 ger and absolute want. Although possessed of a 
 territory, perhaps the most fertile upon the earth, fa- 
 mine, with a train of calamities the most afflicting 
 vvith A^hich providence punishes the indolence of men, 
 has frequendy been widely spread in their land. Mr. 
 Tone, a very intelligent officer, lately in the service 
 of the Mahrattas, asserts, that in their extensive do- 
 minions, famine is the most afflicting of the many 
 evils which they suffer. In some towns, during his 
 residence there, it carried off a third, or even an 
 half of all the inhabitants*. That after it had be- 
 gun to rage in the interior, the terrified populace 
 crowded to the coasts, which from the concourse of 
 multitudes, were soon involved in the same calamity 
 The inhabitants were there seen wanderins; in the 
 streets and highways, looking out for relief, or at 
 least for sympathy, which a distress similar to their 
 own, every uhere prevented them from receiving, 
 A father after having witnessed the death, perha[>s 
 of half his children, without having experienced 
 from mankind any effort for their relief, becomes 
 steeled against the calls of humanity, and thus aven- 
 ges his own sufferings by beholding the miseries of 
 others without any sentiment of compassion. The 
 wretched Mahratta, thus deprived of all humanity, 
 is seen wandering am^idst the bodies of the dead, and 
 the groans of the dying, if not employed in robbery, 
 at least with every symptom of inditiercnce to tlieir 
 fate. 
 
 Even 
 
 Vide Asiatic Annual Register. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 1]3 
 
 Even Bengal itself, the most fertile of the provin- 
 ces of India, has. in former times, often experien- 
 ced the same calamity, flere, however, the frequent 
 recurrence of the rice harvests, thrice in the vear, 
 and the foresiglit of Europeans, have, in latte^ times 
 shortened the duration of the evil, and prevented it 
 from reaching the same fatal extremity. 
 
 Thus it must appear, that famine, as well as war, 
 has contributed its share to the depression of India, 
 and to perpetuate barbarism among; its inhabitants. 
 Amidst the horrors of despair, and of actual hunger, 
 men are found to lose sight of justice and benevo- 
 lence, and are gradually divested of the fairest attri- 
 butes of human nature. Hence the civilization of 
 the Hmdoos must be preceded by a more regular 
 supply of their v. ants : A more active cultivation 
 must be excited : The extra produce of corn (bus 
 obtained must be carefully stored up ; and provision 
 made against the too frequent interruptions of tran- 
 quillity, and against the unavoidable recurrence of 
 unfavourable seasons. 
 
 The circumstances of the British provinces seem 
 peculiarly to invite these measures. Bengal, a king- 
 dom six hundred miles in length, and three in breadth, 
 is composed of one vast plain, containing the most 
 fertile soil in tne world*. Watered by many navi- 
 
 H gablC; 
 
 * Colonel Dow's translation of Ferishta, 
 
1 14 THOUGHTS ON" 
 
 gable rivers, and inhabited by fifteen millions of peo- 
 ple, it is capable of yielding provisions for double the 
 number of inhabitants, as appears from the nume- 
 rous wastes and desarts which it contains : thfs pro- 
 vince seems, therefore, marked out by the hand of 
 nature herself, as the most favourable region on earth 
 for the purposes of 'ai2;ri culture. Security of proper- 
 ty, well dellned and permanent leases, with all those 
 multiplied encouragements to husbandry, which the 
 Bfitish Government unquestionably affords, must ne- 
 cessarily, in that country, invigorate the powers of 
 cultivators, and increase the necessaries of life, as 
 well as raw materials from which manufactures are 
 supplied. 
 
 Were then the surplus produce of the first plenti- 
 ful year received from the tenant, as a part of his 
 rent, and stored up in public granaries, till future 
 exigencies required its expenditure, famine might not 
 only be banished from Bengal, but a subsidiary fund 
 might pi'obably be provided for the rest of the Bri- 
 tish dominions in Asia; and a relief found out for 
 those inoffendins; nations, against the most afflicting 
 of all the evils, which it has been their destiny to 
 suffer. The miseries arising from famine are not pe- 
 culiar to India : they were formerly often and most 
 severely felt in Europe ; and they seem to be the pe- 
 culiar and distinguishing malady of all uncivilised 
 and semibarbarous nations. It must be deeply regreted 
 that hitherto no general system has been adopted to 
 iiuard asiainst this most fatal scourcje of India. The 
 
 natural 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. ) 15 
 
 natural generosity of Britons has, however, been fre 
 quently illustrated on particular occasions by the mu- 
 nificent efforts of Government and individuals, in 
 alleviating local and partial distresses. 
 
 A strong proof of this fact is exhibited in one of 
 the first addresses of Sir James M'intosh to the 
 grand jury of Bombay : the following views which 
 he presents on this subject are at once enlarged and 
 luminous, and as they seem to point out some re- 
 medy for this evil, are worthy of his vigorous under- 
 standing and benevolent heart. " VV^hat the causes 
 are, which in all a^es, seem to have rendered famine 
 so frequent and so severe in India, is a question of 
 gi'eat curiosity, and indeed of great practical impor- 
 tance, but not very fit to be examined in this place, 
 and to which I have not yet the means of giving a 
 satisfactory answer. One general observation, how- 
 ever, I will venture to make. The same unfortunate 
 state of things existed among our ancestors in Eu- 
 rope four or five centuries ago. The same unfa- 
 vourable seasons which now only pro(.luce scarcity, 
 then almost uniformly produced famine. Various 
 causes have, no doubt, contributed to the great and 
 happy change which has since taken place; all of 
 them connected with the progress Europeans have 
 made in the arts, institutions, and manners of civi- 
 lized life: But the principal cause is beyond all 
 doubt, commerce ; for only one of two expedients • 
 against dearth can be imagined ; either we must con- 
 sume less food^ or we must procure more. In gene- 
 
 H2 rai 
 
\l6 Thoughts on" 
 
 ral both must be combined ; wc must have recourse 
 both to retrenchment and importation. 
 
 " Both these purposes are effected by commerce. 
 The home trade in grain reduces consumption, and 
 this it does by that very operation of enhancing its 
 price, which excites so much clamour among the 
 vulgar of all ranks ; and the foreign trade in grain, 
 makes the produce of one country supply the wants 
 of another. Thus famine is banished from what 
 may be properly called the commercial Avorld. 
 
 " So powerful and so beneficial are the energies of 
 that great civilizing principle of commerce, when 
 counteracted, as it is every where, by the stupid pre- 
 judices ^of the people, and by the absurd and mis- 
 chievous interference of government, it has yet ac- 
 complished so great a revolution in the condition of 
 so large a portion of mankind, as totally to exempt 
 them from the dread of the greatest calamity which 
 afflicted their ancestors. Whether commerce would 
 effect so great a change in India, I sliall not under- 
 take to detennine. Perhaps, there are physical dif- 
 ficulties which are insuperable, and others, which a- 
 rise from the condition of the people, and their ha- 
 bits, which it would be extremely difficult to conquer. 
 These certainly must diminish or retard such a bene- 
 ficial change. But, to return from these genera- 
 lities, on which I should not, perhaps, have dwelt 
 so long. 
 
 You 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. H? 
 
 <c 
 
 You are well acquainted, that fiom a partial fai- 
 lure of the peiiodical rains of 1802, and from a 
 more compleat failure in 1803, a famine has arisen 
 in the adjoining provinces of India, especially in the 
 territories of the Peshvva, which I shall not attempt 
 to describe, and which I believe no man can truly 
 represent to the European pubhc, without the ha- 
 zard of being charged with extravagant and incredi- 
 ble fiction. Some of you have seen its ravages : 
 all of you have heard accounts of them from accu- 
 rate observers. I have only seen the fugitives that lied 
 before it, and have obtained an asylum in this island. 
 But even I have seen enough to be convinced that 
 it is difficult to overcharge a picture of Indian de- 
 solation. 
 
 " I shall now state to you, from authentic docu- 
 ments, what has been done to save these territories 
 from the miserable condition of the neighbouring 
 country. From the 1st of September 1803 to the 
 "present time, there have been imported, or purchased 
 by government four Imndred and fourteen thousand 
 bags of rice, and there remain one huntlred and eigh- 
 ty thousand contracted for, which are yet to arrive, 
 forming an aggregate of nearly six hundred thousand 
 bags, and amounting in value to fifty lacs of rupees, 
 or <£. 60,000 Sterling. During the saijne time, there 
 have been imported by our merchants 480,000 bags 
 of rice, making in all an importation of a million of 
 bags, and amounting in value to £. 100,000 Ster- 
 ling. 
 
 H3 The 
 
118 THOUGHTS OX 
 
 " The effects of this importation on our own teiTito- 
 ries, it is not very difficult to estimate. The popula- 
 tion of the islands of Bombay, Salsette, and Caran- 
 ja, and of the city of Surat, I designedly underrate 
 at 400,00; t. I am entitletl to presume, that had 
 they continued subject to native governments 
 they would have shared the fate of the neighbouring 
 provinces which are still so subject. I shall not be 
 suspected of any tendency towards exaggeration, by 
 any person who is acquainted with the state of the op- 
 posite continent, when I say, that in such a case an 
 eighth of that population must have perished Fifty 
 thousand human bein^js have, therefore, been saved 
 from death in its most n»iserable form, by the exist- 
 ence of a British «;overnment in this island. I con- 
 ceive myself entitled to take credit for the benefits of 
 the whole of the importation ; for that which was im- 
 ported by private merchants, as well as for that which 
 ■was imported directly by the government; because, 
 without the protection and security enjoyed under a 
 British government, that commercial capital and cre- 
 dit would not have existed by which the private im- 
 portation was effected. 
 
 " The nextparticular which I have to state, relates 
 to those unhappy refugees who have found their way 
 into our territories. From tlie month of xMarch to 
 the present time, such of them as could labour, have 
 3een employed in useful works, and have been fed 
 by government. The monthly average of these per- 
 sons since March, is 6125 in Bombay; 3162 in Sal- 
 sette, 
 
THE BRITISH GOVER^'ME^:T, ETC. 11^ 
 
 s€tte, and in Surat a considerable number ; but from- 
 that ciiv I liave seen no exact returns. 
 
 "]\Iany of these miserable beings, are, on their ar- 
 rival here, wholly unable to earn their subsistence.by 
 any, even the most moderate labour. They expire 
 on the road before they can be discovered by the 
 agents of our charity. They expire, in the very act 
 of being carried to the place where they are to re- 
 ceive relief. To obviate, or at least to mitii>;ate these 
 dreadful evils, a humane hospital was established by 
 government for the relief of those emigrants who 
 were unable to labour. The monthlv averaiie of those 
 who have been received since INIarch, in Bombay, is 
 1030, in Salsette, about 100, and probably about 
 300 in Surat. 
 
 " I myself visited this hospital, in company with my 
 excellent friend l)r Scott, and I witnessed a scene of 
 Avhicli the imj)ression will never be effaced from my 
 mind. The average monthly mortality of the esta- 
 blishment is dreadful ; it amounts to 480. At first 
 this would seem to argue some monstrous defects in 
 so new an establishment, hastily provided against so 
 unexampled an evil ; those who are accustomed to 
 make due allowance for human frailty, would find 
 more to lauient dian to blame in such defects. But 
 Avhen it is considered that almost all these deaths oc- 
 cur in the first four or live days after admission, and 
 that scarcely any disease has been observed among 
 the patients but the direct effect of famine ; we shall 
 
 H 4 probably 
 
120 THOUGHTS ON" 
 
 probably view the mortality as a proof of the deplo- 
 rable state of the patients, rather than of any deflects 
 of the hospital; and instead of making the hospital 
 answerable for the deaths, we shall deem it entitled 
 to credit for the lite of eveiy single individual. 
 
 " Those who know me will need no assurances that 
 I have not made tiiese observations from a motive so 
 unworthy of my station, as that of paying court to 
 any government. I am actuated by far other mo- 
 tives I believe that knowledge of subjects so im- 
 portant, cannot be too widely promulgated. I be- 
 lieve, if every government on earth w^ere bound to 
 give an annual account, before an audience whom 
 they respected, and who knew the facts, of what they 
 had done during the year, for improving the condi- 
 tion of their subjects, that this single, and apparently 
 slight circumstance would better the situation of all 
 mankind : and I am desirous, if any British govern- 
 ment in India should ever, in similar calamitous cir- 
 cumstances, forget its most important and sacred du- 
 ties, that this example should be recorded for their 
 reproach and disgrace. 
 
 " Upon the whole, I am sure I considerably under- 
 state the fact, in saying, that the British government 
 in this island, has saved the lives of one hundred thou- 
 sand persons ; and, w hat is more important, that it 
 has prevented the greater part of the misery through 
 which they must have passed before they found re- 
 fuge 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 121 
 
 fuge in death ; besides the misery of all those who 
 loved them, or who depended upon their care. 
 
 " The existence, therefore, of a British government 
 in Bombay in 1 804, has been a blessing to its sub- 
 jects. Would to God, that every government in the 
 world could with truth, make a similar declaration! 
 Many of you have been, and many will be entrusted 
 with authority over multitudes of your fellow crea- 
 tures. Your means of doing good will not, indeed, 
 be so great, as those of which I have now described 
 the employment and the effects : But they will be 
 considerable. Let me hope, that every one of you 
 will be ambitious to have it to say to your own con- 
 science, ' I have done something to better the condi- 
 tion of the people intrusted to my care.' I take the 
 liberty to assure you, that you will not find such re- 
 flections among the least agreeable or valuable part 
 of that store wliich you lay up for your declining 
 years." 
 
 SECTION 
 
l:^! 
 
 [ 122 ] 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 
 OTHER SUBSIDIARY ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE COM- 
 FORT OF THE NATIVES OF INDIA. 
 
 Whatever measures mi2;ht best cherish moral 
 and benevolent principles an^.ong the agents of our 
 government in India, will be found of all expedients 
 the most effectual for securing the comfort and wel- 
 fare of the inhabitants. Such measures are perhaps 
 not susceptible of an exact enumeration, or of defi- 
 nite regulations ; their nature, however, cannot be 
 misunderstood, while their importance must be felt 
 universally. 
 
 Their operation Avill commence, whenever men of 
 strict integrity and of acknowledged benevolence are 
 selected for appointments in the service of the India 
 
 Company ; 
 
THE BRITISH GOVEKNMEXT, ETC, l23 
 
 Company ; whenever the malversation of Its agents 
 shai) be promptly followed by dismission and punish- 
 mentj and when the merits of long and faithful ser- 
 vice are adequately rewarded. 
 
 In a remote country, amidst many new and untried 
 situations, regiiiations cannot be formed to meet the 
 exigencies of each case ; and if such regulations did 
 exist, the care and presence of a supermtending pow- 
 er is wanting to enforce their observance. In such 
 circumstances, integrity of principle, and benevolence 
 of heart, forms the only supplemental^ code which 
 can giv^e energy and effect to the whole system. The 
 power of these principles is paramount to that of 
 law ; their force more binding than all the penalties 
 of the statute-book. 
 
 An European no sooner arrives in India, however 
 inferior his department may be in the service, than 
 he is invested bv the natives themselves with a sort 
 of moral discipline and authority. From him, as a 
 kind of magistrate, tiiey seek redress of their wrongs; 
 to him they appeal for the settlement of their petty 
 differences, and to him, in every case, such as are 
 near look for protection. They are remarkably alive 
 to the sense of obligation, and are strongly attached 
 by benefits What but a strong love of justice can 
 qualify a man for such a situation ; what but the utmost 
 disinterestedness can make him despise those humble 
 gifts and gratuities which the mean selfishness of his 
 former rulers have taught the Indian to offer ? Plow 
 
 often 
 
124 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 often have the miseries of famine been alleviated by 
 a benevolence which was unprompted by any enact- 
 ments of human law ? How frequently have its ills 
 been aggravated by a cold-hearted avarice which all 
 its enactments could not controul ? 
 
 If the Directors of the Honourable Company are 
 aware how much it imports themselves to be guided 
 by a strict integrity in the choice and appointment 
 of their servants, they Avill soon discern a wide and 
 feitile field for their own exertions, and for the sup- 
 ply of the innumerable wants of their subjects. Such 
 men alone will then be promoted to stations in the 
 East as are capable of supporting the British charac- 
 ter and name ; mei,!, by whose conduct its wonted 
 generosity and honour will be in no danger of being 
 tarnished. Such men will not repel the humble soli- 
 citations of their Indian dependents with sullen in- 
 difference ; they will not otiend their prejudices by a 
 contempt or violation of their institutions ; nor will 
 they in any case subject their rights, their property, 
 and enjoyments to the destructive influence of a stern 
 and capricious tyranny. Notwithstanding their strict 
 adherence to certain frivolous usages, and their fasti- 
 dious regards for certain meats and drinks, the Hin- 
 doo character in every great and essential particular, 
 resembles that of other men : Of all the food they 
 ever receive, that from which they derive the truest 
 nourishment, and for which they have the sweetest 
 relish, is the milk of human kindness. 
 
 The 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 125 
 
 The education of the youth who are destined for 
 the Indian service, and to govern the natives, ought, 
 in the first place, to be directed to the formation of 
 sound, moral, and reli^ous principles. The mdivi- 
 dual who carries to the East, and maintains there a 
 character of unblemished rectitude and humanity, 
 will be found possessed of qualifications of far great- 
 er value to himself, as well as to his dependents, than 
 if he had either the eloquence of Cicero or the 
 science of Newton. It should also be remembered 
 that it is for business, and not for the pursuits of li- 
 terature, that nine out of ten F.uropeans of every 
 description visit the Eastern Empire : to qualify them 
 for conducting its various and important services 
 ought to be the leading object of education among 
 such as seek for appointments in India. The great- 
 er part of the Honourable Company's servants them- 
 selves, are either employed in the diplomatic, fiscal, 
 judicial, or militai'y departments of government. 
 The designation of ivr'ders, however descriptive it 
 may have formerly been of the clerks of their facto- 
 ries, is certainly no longer applicable to the civil ser- 
 vants as administrators of an extensive Empire. 
 
 In order to qualify them to act as magistrates in 
 these important stations, a knowledge of mankind, 
 of the principles of jurisprudence and of the Ma- 
 hommedan and Hindoo laws, seems more essentially 
 requisite, than an acquaintance with speculative ma- 
 thematics, or the Sanscreet and Arabic lanixuao-es. 
 These last, however, were the grand objects of atten- 
 tion 
 
1^6 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 tion in the expensive College of Fort-William. — > 
 Many of the junior servants who were compelled to 
 attend there, had already made proficiency in all the 
 branches of a regular education at the Lritish Uni- 
 versities. It may readily be conceived with what re- 
 luctance they consented to throw away the most im- 
 portant years of their life, in acquiiinj:^ a few frivo- 
 lous and unimportant brandies of ieaniing. under the 
 tuition of Professors much less accomplished than 
 themselves. Yet the loss of time, valuable as it is, 
 ought, perhaps, to be less dreaded than the eminent 
 risk, amidst a crowd of idle young men, of contract- 
 ing habits of dissipation and vice The career of 
 their public duty can never be so auspiciously be(2;un^ 
 as amidst that diffidence and anxiety regarding them- 
 selves, which the youth naturally feel, when they first 
 enter upon a situation entirely new ; and when their 
 industry and virtue are yet unimpaired by the fasci- 
 natin2; allurements of Oriental indula;ence. 
 
 Under the head of supplying a regular fund of 
 subsistence, and of administring to the comfort of 
 the inhabitants of India, we must advert to the ne- 
 cessity of securing an adequate price for their com- 
 modities. Industry among thein can only be stimu- 
 lated by conferring on labour a prompt- and just re- 
 ward. Commodities can never be manufactured in 
 proportion either to the skill or the number of hands, 
 unless they are submitted to a fair competition of 
 the purchasers ; and not estimated by the contracted 
 and selfish views of monopolists. 
 
 The 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 12/ 
 
 This aspect of the suhject suggested to the cele- 
 brated Dr. Adam Smith, the universal freedom of 
 trade as a canon of commercial regulation. Eve- 
 ry political writer, since his work was published, has 
 poured out indiscriminate reprobation of all mono- 
 polies ; without adverting that the India Company, 
 in fact, does not enjoy a monopoly of the Indian 
 commerce, neither in a practical or legal sense. It 
 is a public body into which any private individual 
 may enter, by purchasing a share of its stock : indi- 
 viduals are also legally entitled to a certain portion 
 of their tonnage, to import goods for their own be- 
 hoof : and in the last place, there are many impor- 
 ant articles of commerce to which the restrictions of 
 its charter do not extend. 
 
 That able Statesman who framed the last i*egula- 
 tions for this trade, had to contend with the opinions 
 of speculative writers on the one hand, and with the 
 monopolizing jealousy of merchants on the other. 
 Happily, he too seems to have been a philosopher, 
 who could qualify and model the plans of theorists by 
 the dictates of experience. His regulations held a 
 middle course : they were accommodated to the new 
 exigencies of an increasing trade ; they softened the 
 restrictions of monopoly ; while they avoided those 
 mischiefs that too often are the result of undigested 
 speculation. P'ostered alike by the results of en- 
 lightened theory, and the dictates of matured expe- 
 rience, our Indian commerce has increased, is still 
 
 advancing. 
 
128 THOUGHTS OS 
 
 advancinif, and, it may be hoped, will not soon be 
 diminished. 
 
 That tliese assertions are not gratuitous, nor even 
 rashly hazarded, might easily be shewn from tlie pre- 
 sent state of commerce between Asia and Europe. 
 It is much greater than in the time of Alexander 
 or of the Romans ; and it manifestly surpasses the 
 extent to which it was ever carried in tiie most pros-r 
 perous days of the Mogul Empire. Wlien Phny 
 complained of the luxury and extravagance of the Ro- 
 man ladies in purchasing the gems and perfumes of 
 the East, their annual expenditure in these articles 
 did not amount to a tenth part of the sum paid by 
 modern Europe for piece goods alone. With the 
 China trade, which at present amounts to several 
 millions, the wiiole nations of antiquity were al- 
 most entirely unacquainted. The luxuries wliich are 
 in modern times difftised amono; the various nations 
 .of Europe and America, were in their days contined 
 almost exclusively to the more wealthy citizens of 
 Rome. The two preceding centuries which have 
 ushered in so many important changes into the v,es- 
 tern hemisphere, have been most peculiarly distiii- 
 guished by the rapid advancement of commercial 
 knowledge : the sciences, during this period have pro- 
 ceeded rapidly from their infancy to youth and man- 
 hood ; amons: these navit>;ation and commerce have 
 taken the lead ; while the indolent Asiatics, by con^ 
 tributing their elesant manufactures, have accelerat- 
 ed this progress, even in dehance of their own pre- 
 vailing 
 
THE BRITISH GOVEllXMEXT, ETC. 129 
 
 vailing habitSj and their veneration for ancient cus- 
 toms. 
 
 3. The provision of an adec|uate subsistence for 
 the numerous population of British India seems to 
 require further, that I'Airopean skill and enterprise 
 should direct the natives to several new brancties, 
 both of husbandry and manufactures, Mhicli, although 
 known in Europe, have not yet been introduced into 
 Asia. If we advert to the very short period in w hich 
 the British emjiire has subsisted in this quarter of the 
 vvoi'Id, much of what is here recommended will be 
 found to have been already accom})lished ; far more 
 extensive benefits, however, of this nature, mav yet 
 be conferred, by pursuing steadily this useful object. 
 The culture of the potatoe, till lately unknown in 
 the East, has already been introduced, A\ith con- 
 siderable success, in many districts widiin our pro- 
 vinces. 
 
 This vegetable, which has proved so remarkably 
 benelicial to the poor, a class which in every country 
 contains nine-tcntlis of the human race, if cultivated 
 hi India to a sufficient extent, would alone eradicate 
 famine from every corner of the land ; for wherever 
 this root hath been planted, though in less favour- 
 able circumstances than those of India, it has proved 
 a permanent benetit to the lower ranks, by placing 
 them almost beyond the reach of famine. The over- 
 Howing of the Ganges, and other streams, is absolutely 
 necessary to the growth of rice over a vast extent of 
 
 I coun- 
 
130 THOUGHTS Cn 
 
 countiy. This contingent, upon ^vhich the food of 
 so many millions depends, is at once irregular and 
 uncertain. The culture of potatoes would remove 
 the danger of this uncertainty ; since a dry season, 
 so hurtful to the rice crops, is the most favourable 
 to this vegetable, which nature seems to have pointed 
 out, with her own hand, to be the proper substitute 
 for that staple article of oriental diet. 
 
 Although the use of potatoes, as food, violates no 
 prejudice of the natives of India, it would perhaps 
 be too sanguine to expect, that their very limited ca- 
 pital and industry, will turn this article to so much 
 account, in feeding hogs, poultry, and cattle, as is 
 done in Britain and Ireland ; but if, either by exam- 
 pie, or the force of encouragement, the use of this 
 food shall ever become as universal amono- the Hin- 
 doos, as it is in these parts of the united kingdom, 
 the Europeans of the present times, mIU have the 
 satisfaction of making some attonement for the mis- 
 chiefs committed by their ancestors during the two 
 preceding centuries, in Ameiica. 
 
 4. The culture of su^ar, and of Indig-o, thouiih 
 practised among the Hindoos from time immemorial, 
 has never till lately been conducted with any degree 
 of spirit or success. The culture of the latter plant, 
 in particular, had long been disused, and had been 
 almost forgotten, though its botanic, as well as com- 
 mon appellation; clearly enough indicates that Hin- 
 
 dostaij 
 
tliE British government, etc. 131 
 
 dostan was the original place of its growth'^^ : so ra- 
 pidly, however, had its culture been revived within 
 the last twenty years, by a few enterprising Eu- 
 ropeans, that in 179^ it constitued one of the most 
 valuable exports from India, amounting in quantitv, 
 to nearly four millions of pounds ; and continuing 
 still to increase, and to enrich u:iany cultivators, both 
 native and European. 
 
 The extension of the su2;ar culture seems a mea- 
 sure still more practicable and advantageous than 
 that of indigo. There are few districts in the Com- 
 pany's extensive dominions, where there are not large 
 tracts of soil suited to this article. Although it be 
 known from experience, that the introduction of any 
 new branch of amiculture amons the natives, is a 
 matter of great difficulty, yet this obstacle would not 
 always occur, since there are many large districts in 
 which the culture of the sugar cane has been prac- 
 tised from time immemorial, and where the increase 
 and improvement of this valuable branch of husban- 
 dry, may easily be carried to the greatest extent. In 
 the Peddapore districts, along the banks of the Ely- 
 seram, there is already under culture for sugar no 
 less than 700 vissums, or 1,400 acres of land; and 
 this quantity might be increased to whatever extent 
 a growing demand for this conmiodity might require. 
 If we may judge from the statements of Mr Beck- 
 
 ' 12 ford 
 
 * Indlgofera Tinctoria ) vide Syst. Nat. LinO-, 
 
132 THOUGHTS ox 
 
 ford and I)r Roxburgh^ the produce of this Indian 
 district is far more abundunt than that of Jamaica 
 itself: there the average produce of an acre of cane 
 is stated to rise from fourteen to twenty cwt. ^vhere- 
 as, in Peddapore, according to Dr Roxburgh, the 
 produce has been no less than 5,000 vvt. or more 
 than double. 
 
 The extent of sugar-lands in the Peddapore dis- 
 trict, bears, however, only a small proportion to 
 those vast tracts in Bengal, Bahar, and Oude, where 
 a sjiace far greater than all the West India isles, 
 might soon be brought under this crop, which is per- 
 haps the richest of all the products of agricultural 
 labour, and in India constitutes unquestionably the 
 chej' d'ceuvre of Hindoo husbandry. 
 
 The refuse of a sugar crop, without employing it 
 for the purpose of distillation, atfbrds a wholesome 
 supply of food, to both servants and labouring cat- 
 tle ; and in this apj)lication is productive of more 
 real benefit, than if converted into ardent spirits. 
 It need not, however, be apprehended, that the ex- 
 tension of the sugar culture will, in India, give any 
 new bias to the morals of the people ; for in almost 
 every part of that Avide country, the natives are al- 
 ready but too well acquainted Avith the process of 
 makin(>: arrack and rum ; and it is well ascertained, 
 
 that 
 
 * Vide Asiat. Ann. Reglst. and Beckford's Jamaica. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVKRNMENT, ETC. 133 
 
 Ibat they were acquainted a\ ith all the effects of these 
 liquors on the human constitution, before they had 
 received any instruction from Europeans. 
 
 At a })criod, then, like the present, when the pro- 
 duce of India has become more than ever an object 
 of importance, in consequence of the unsettled state 
 of some of the best of the sugar islands in the West 
 Indies, every enquiry which may tend to open new 
 sources, from v.hence that wholesome commodity 
 may be procured at the cheapest rate, is of national 
 consequence, as well as of immediate benefit to the 
 agriculture of our Indian subjects. 
 
 5. The manufacture of leather, and of the various 
 articles which are fabricated from that substance, as 
 saddles, harness, shoes, and other conmioditics, con- 
 stitutes another branch of inchistry, for which the 
 Hindoos are likely to be indebted to their European 
 instructors. About two millions of cows and bufalos 
 are supposed to die annually from age, in tiie pro- 
 vinces of Bcniral and Bahar*. The hides of these 
 animals have hitherto been turned to vcr\ little ac- 
 count, though large and valuable. This has been 
 occasioned by the religious prejudices of the Hindoo, 
 which not only forbid him to kill the cow, but pre- 
 vent him almost entirely from deriving any benefit 
 from its skin, either as an article of commerce, or 
 as a naaterial of many useful manufactures. Till the 
 
 I 3 coun- 
 
 * Vide Colebrook's Remarks, 
 
134 THOUGHTS O^- 
 
 coimtcnance of Eurojiean settlers in some degree re- 
 lieved tlie depressed condition of the Cliwnars, (lea- 
 ther workers) they m ere the most despised class of 
 the whole community, and not allowed even to con- 
 verse with any of the casts. Tlie intercourse of Eu- 
 ropeans, from which they are not debarred by preju- 
 dices of that nature, has tended much to improve 
 their skill in tanning and n:ianufacturing leather; 
 and the demand for many articles of their trade, 
 has afforded some a more comfortable subsistence, as 
 ■well as a more respectable station in society. 
 
 6. But by far the most conspicuous proof of the 
 benefit to be derived by the native Indians, from 
 European science and skill, is displayed by the pre- 
 sent state of ship-building, and the introduction of 
 naval architecture into India. Prior to the period 
 in which the European settlements were made in 
 Asia, the skill of the natives was barely competent 
 for the construction of donies, burrs, btulgerroivs, and 
 the various but Avretched craft which has continued 
 to ply upon the Ganges, for more than two thousand 
 years. Their skill in ship-building has, however, so 
 rapidly improved during the short period of European 
 intercourse, that they have for several years been 
 capable of constructing some of the largest and most 
 valuable merchantmen that have ever yet appeared 
 upon the ocean. 
 
 Ships of war are also built for the protection of 
 commerce, of sufBcient size and force for every pur- 
 pose^ 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 135 
 
 pose ; and of such amazing durability, that some are 
 still employed against the enemy, after a previous 
 service of thirty years. What some time past would 
 have been resjarded as the vain boast of the most 
 romantic spirit of innovation, is now a fact establish- 
 ed by experience ; and the Hindoos, formerly un- 
 known as a naval power, have been enabled, by a 
 few years patient instriiction by superior skill, to add 
 considerably to the strength of the most powerful navy 
 in the world, 
 
 The means of equipping a strong maritime force, 
 a matter of such essential moment to every commer- 
 cial country, must in future be greatly facilitated by 
 our Indian resources, as well as by the shipping ac- 
 tually built there. Those numerous substitutes which 
 have lately been found out in India, for flax and 
 hemp, may hereafter render the provision of cordage 
 comparatively an easy task ; it is hardly possible, were 
 it even necessary, Avhich it is not, to enumerate the 
 various products actually raised in India, or which 
 might be raised there, to augment the industry of its 
 own iijhabitants, and increase the means of their 
 subsistence, as well as to enlarge the resources of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 From Hurdwar to Cape Comorin, this nation 
 now possesses actual dominion, or powerful influence ; 
 and this vast tract of country, which contains almost 
 every variety of soil and climate, will probably be 
 found capable of producing every article which has 
 
 hitherto 
 
135 TIIOIGIITS 0\- 
 
 hitherto been deemed peculiar to China or America. 
 It must be reirarded as a wide and untried held, 
 now submitted to experiments, ^hich the too in- 
 dolent natives were incapable of making ; it may 
 also be found blest with many valuable resources, of 
 which, from their unambitious and listless nature, 
 they ^Aould probably never have availed themselves. 
 Many of their defects, such as their ignorance of ma- 
 ritime affairs, and their want of enterprise, Great 
 Britain, more than any nation upon earth, is quali- 
 fied to supply. That they have fallen under the guid- 
 ance and instruction of a great and enlightened nation, 
 is perhaps one of those destinations of providence, 
 of which, as we are incapable of foreseeing the con- 
 sequences, we must remain unable fully to appreciate 
 the wisdom. Although we cannot decide on this re- 
 ference of our subject without presumption, we may 
 still retain this satisfactory conclusion, till experience 
 contradict the inference, that as India contains plants 
 and insects similar to those of other countries in the 
 same latitudes, she must also possess every requisite 
 for similar productions, to exercise the industry of 
 the manufacturer, and to reward with subsistence 
 every class of her labourers. ♦ 
 
 Great Britain has for many centuries availed her- 
 self of her situation, naturally favourable to com- 
 merce. This part of her economy she has fostered 
 by every measure which the wisdom of her legisla- 
 ture could devise ; and it has at length been carried 
 to an extent hitherto unequalled in the annals of our 
 
 race. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNIMEXT, ETC. 137 
 
 race. The cultivation of her vast Indian territories, 
 it may be presumed, will not be always left to the 
 feeble exertions of the illiterate peasants of Plindos- 
 tan, at least without the help of her instruction. 
 
 It has been resened for our o^^Tl times, to witness 
 th'e establishment of a board of competent officers, to 
 direct the exertions of a great nation, in the improve- 
 ment of its soil, and to assist its husbandmen in the 
 most important of all arts — that of providing food. 
 The eyes of Europe have been tuiTied to this institu- 
 tion, the first, it is believed, that has ever been made, 
 on a great scale, in favour of agriculture. British 
 India, it may be hoped, will not be deemed too r6- 
 mote to interest its attention. Its improvement may 
 indeed be re2;arded as an arduous task : vet an effort 
 more difficult has been successful, and in circum- 
 stances not dissimilar. History attests, that Britain 
 when first invaded by the Romans*, only produced, 
 small quantities of corn on her coasts. Even so late 
 as the rei2;n of Severus, tillage Avas altogether un- 
 known, in those parts Vv hich lay between his wall 
 and that of Antoninus. Britain, however, though a 
 distant, and at that period a semi-barbarous province, 
 under the dominion of that enterprising and great 
 people, soon became, in fact, the granary of the 
 western empire : it exported immense quantities of 
 corn for the subsistence of the legions in Germany 
 
 and 
 
 * Vide Caesar's Commentaries. 
 
138 THOUGHTS OK, ETC. 
 
 and Gaul*. Yet surely India, under all its disad- 
 vantages, is a more promising subject to afford such 
 a supply, than Great Britain in the days of Julius 
 Caesar, or even under the reign of the Emperor Se^ 
 verus. What Rome actually accomplished in fa- 
 vour of one of her distant dependencies, who will 
 assert the impossibility of Great Britain effecting fbr 
 hers? Her means are more various, while her sub- 
 jects are not less tractable ; and however romantic 
 such speculations of improvement may seem, it can- 
 not be forgotten that five years have yet scarcely 
 elapsed, since we received from India considerable 
 supplies of rice, to alleviate the distress of Britain. 
 
 Vide Agricultural Report for Westmoreland. 
 
 SECTION 
 
[ 139 ] 
 
 SECTION IX. 
 
 SOME EXAMPLES OF THE GREAT DEFECTS IN THE 
 
 MORAE AND RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS OF THE 
 
 ORIENTALS. 
 
 The salutary influence of sound moral and reli- 
 gious principles on the happiness of individuals, and 
 on the general prosperity of large communities, has 
 seldom been questioned even by scepticism itself. 
 Some have ventured so far as to assert, that the 
 maintenance of virtue among the magistrates and 
 subjects of a state, is the only thing worth pursuing 
 after, in the arrangement of its government : that its 
 forms are inditfercnt, that form being always pre- 
 ferable which is most virtuously administered. 
 
 Without discussing the truth of this assertion, this 
 may surely be admitted, that to confer upon its in- 
 habitants 
 
140 THOUGHTS ox f 
 
 habitants a purer code of moral doctrines, and a 
 more rational system of rclio;ious faith, would be ren- 
 dering to Britisii India a very important sei*vice : its 
 present circumstances considered, this benefit would 
 appear one of the most important which its rulers 
 could bestow. The Christian religion, although it 
 has not in any country been steadily adhered to, in 
 the whole of its original spirit, and to the full extent 
 of its salutary injunctions ; and although it has per- 
 haps been still less perfectly understood, regardmg 
 it as a system of doctrine, it has nevertheless exalted 
 those nations who have professed it, to a higher rank, 
 than any other scheme of faith proposed to human 
 belief. It may, therefore, be deemed a wise and 
 happy dispensation of the Ruler of nations, that he 
 has permitted so large a portion of Asia to fall under 
 the dominion of Christian states; and, that the know- 
 ledge, at least, of a sounder system of duty sliould 
 thus be lirought nearer the immediate reach of their 
 attainment. 
 
 It must also, however, be regarded as a fortunate 
 destination for the inhabitants of Ilindostan, that 
 they did not fall under the dominion of Europeans at 
 an earlier period ; before the influence of knowledge 
 and philosophy had dis})elled the gloomy bigotry of 
 the western world, and rendered it less incapable of 
 forbearance to opposite opinions. Had the Hindoos 
 been conquered at an earlier period, by only a fe^v 
 centuries, the obstinacy of their own faith, and the 
 intolerant spirit of the times, would, in all probability, 
 
 have 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 141 
 
 kave subjected them to the same cruelties which were 
 exercised against the natives of America a short 
 time before ; or to the still more severe persecution 
 which the Indians themselves had experienced from 
 their JVIahomedan conquerors. 
 
 The moderation of the present times leaves no 
 room for the apprehension, that any measures of vio- 
 lence or cruelty, will be again practised for the con- 
 version of our heathen subjects, either in the eastern 
 or western hemisphere : the danger becomes now of 
 an opposite kind ; since moderation has also its ex- 
 tremes ; the danger apjjcars to be, that it may beget 
 a total indifterence to the religious condition of the 
 people. To animate the supineness of the age, with 
 a degree of zeal necessary for propagating the salu- 
 tary system of its own belief; it must be prompted 
 by a full persuasion of tlie hurtful tendency of the 
 Brahmenical superstition; of its discouragements to 
 knowledge, and its injury to virtue. The indifference 
 of some to every mode of religious faith, may render 
 it difficult to convince t/icm of all, or perhaps of cmi/ 
 of the evils resulting from that gi'oss and inveterate 
 superstition*, though no person who has carefully 
 
 examined 
 
 * It IS curious to observe how the indifference, or rather 
 the dislike of some old settlers in India, is expressed against 
 the system of their forefathers. It is compared with the Hin- 
 doo institutions with an affectation of impartiality, while in the 
 meantime the latter system is extolled in its greatest puerilities 
 snd follies : its grossest fables are always asserted to convey 
 
 some 
 
142 THOUGHTS OJf 
 
 examined Indian manners, can possibly doubt of this 
 fact in his own mind. 
 
 On this point there can be, among impartial ob- 
 servers, but one sentiment ; they must be very gene- 
 rally convinced, that though the conquests made by 
 Europeans, are gradually operating as a remedy a- 
 gainst many of the cmelties and exactions of a bar- 
 barous government in these countries, yet that there 
 is another class of evils, hardly less numerous, flow- 
 ing from fanaticism and superstition among the peo- 
 ple, for which there has not yet been found any alle- 
 viation, much less any adequate cure. 
 
 1 . The very structure and arrangement of society 
 itself, is in India formed by the religious system, 
 which there interferes \A'ith every temporal as well as 
 spiritual concern of its professors. It thus lays, in 
 its very foundation, the grand obstacle to every im- 
 provement of the condition of the people. It has 
 divided the whole community into four great classes, 
 
 and 
 
 some hidden but sound lessons of wisdom. They inveigh 
 against the schisms, disputes and differences of the western 
 world, ascribing them solely to their religious dogmata. They 
 palliate the most fanatical and most painful of the Hindoo rites, 
 and never fail in discovering some salutary influence which they 
 shed upon society. Wrapt up in devout admiration of the 
 beauty and sublimity of the bedahs, they affect to triumph in 
 their supposed superiority over the simplicity of the Hebrew 
 and Greek Scriptures. This affectation is the more ridiculous, 
 because it is indulged by those who pretend to great taste, and 
 profound knowledge of Sanscreet learning. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 143 
 
 and stationed each class between certain walls of 
 sep aration, w hich are impassable by the purest vir* 
 tue, or by the most conspicuous merit; and while 
 the Hindoo in almost every thing else has submitted 
 to the will of his conquerors, here alone he has been 
 invincible; no change of his political condition, no 
 rigour of persuasion, has been able to force him to 
 s werve from the institutions of his cast. 
 
 " He then," says a late writer*, " who is fortu- 
 nate enough to be born a Brahmen, being placed by 
 his birth in the possession of all that he can desire, 
 finds no necessity for exerting the faculties, either of 
 his mind or body ; it is even unneedful that he should 
 protect his rank from the envy or attacks of his infe- 
 riors : that rank is guarded by the adamantine. wall 
 of superstitious veneration, which, from the earliest 
 ages, it has been thought equally impious and useless 
 to assail. Those of the Khatry, Byse, and Soodera 
 classes, are equally placed by the same imperious 
 sanction between two limits, beyond the one they 
 dare not advance, below the other they dread not to 
 fall : thus hope and fear, the two great stimulants of 
 human exertion, are entirely taken away. Such a 
 religious obligation is perhaps calculated to preserve 
 internal peace ; but while it thus assists the first steps 
 towards civilization, it so debases the mind, and lulls 
 it to so languid a repose, that all the higher ap- 
 proaches are entirely precluded." 
 
 The 
 
 * Vide Cock burn's Essav. 
 
144 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 The institution of casts may therefore be regarded 
 as the cause why civilization had so early stopped in 
 India, and why the different attainments made pro- 
 gressively by other nations, are not found among the 
 Hindoos, whose manners have been wholly station- 
 ary, from the earliest ages to the present times. It 
 is, however, far easier to ascertain the wide and bane- 
 ful influence of such a system, on the enterprise aiid 
 improvement of society, than to discover any ade- 
 quate or safe means by which this immense C^olos- 
 sus of superstition may either be weakened or over- 
 thrown. 
 
 2. The number oi aithun'iasts and x-a2:rants. of all 
 descriptions, who pervade the v hole of the peninsula 
 on religious pretences, is so great, as not only to 
 check the operations of rural industry, but frequently 
 to unhinge the police, and disturb the government 
 under the most powerful sovereigns. Tavcrnier has 
 estimated i\\v. number of these wanderin<i; devotees at 
 an hundred and ten thousand ; but from the most 
 authentic accounts, as well as the observation of the 
 most accurate of our countrymen, his statement is 
 probably below their actual amount. iVlr Richard- 
 son, author of the Persian and Arabic Dictionary, 
 has characterised these vagrants, under tlie article 
 Fakeer, in the- following manner : " In this singular 
 class of mei\. who in Hindostan despise every sort of 
 clothiniz, there are a number of enthusiasts, but a far 
 greater proportion of knaves ; every vagabond who 
 has an aversion to labour, being received into a fra- 
 
 3 ternitv 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 14^ 
 
 temity which is regulated by laws of a secret and un- 
 common nature. The Hindoos view them with a 
 wonderful respect, not only on account of their sanc- 
 tified reputation, but from a substantial dread of their 
 power. The Fakeer pilgrimages often consist of many 
 thousands of naked saints, who exact, ^vherever they 
 pass, a general tribute ; while their character is too 
 sacred for the civil power to take cognizance of their 
 conduct. Every invention of perverted ingenuity is 
 exhausted by them in distorting and deforming na- 
 ture : some, of the most elevated enthusiasm, strike 
 off even tlieir own heads, on great solemnities, as a 
 sacrifice to the Ganges, which they worship." 
 
 During the reign of Aurungzebe, while that mo- 
 narch A^•as inarchinty into the Deccan, his bao'sajze 
 was attacked and plundered by a tribe of those ban- 
 ditti, almost within view of the whole army. In the 
 time also of this most powerful of all the Mogul Em- 
 perors, these Fakeers, instituted by Bistemia, an old 
 woman of great wealth, raised a formidable rebellion. 
 This woman was followed after, chiefly on account of 
 her high reputation in the arts of magic and sorcery : 
 her enciianted pot was the skull of an enemy, in which 
 oivls, bats, snakes, and human flesh formed a broth 
 for her frantic followers*. These fanatics, to the 
 number of twenty thousand, were led on by Bistemia, 
 and were opposed by a favourite general of the Em- 
 peror, who \\ as instructed to resist her with her own 
 
 K weapons, 
 
 * Vide Indian Recreations, Vol. IT. 
 
146 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 weapons, and was therefore furnished with spells 
 formed by the hands of Aurungzebe himself. This 
 artitice, in this instance, was successful ; for a bat- 
 tle ensued, in which Bistemia, and her whole army, 
 were cut off. 
 
 Even in our own times, and within the British ter- 
 ritories, these irregularities still prevail; and several 
 bands of the same description have lately been dis- 
 persed by our troops. During the celebrated march 
 of General Goddart, across the peninsula, several 
 thousands of Fakeers, whom he calls Pandurams, 
 attacked and drove away his baggage-cattle ; these, 
 however, he soon recovered, by attacking and pur- 
 suing the robbers in his turn, of whom some were 
 killed : two thousand more hovered on his rear, till 
 the experience of their bretheren taught them to keep 
 at a more respectful distance. 
 
 No efforts of the British power or policy, have hi- 
 therto provided an adequate remedy for the mischiefs 
 arising from this spirit of fanaticism ; which, by ab- 
 stracting so many hands from useful labour, and by 
 committing so many depredations upon pro})erty, 
 continues to operate very sensibly against the im- 
 provement and in'osperity of India. That remedy, 
 applied by Aurungzebe and some of the Emperors 
 before him, is not only precarious and uncertain, but 
 the most unlikely ever to be adopted by the present 
 government of the country. It was his policy, as 
 ■well as that of Acbar and Jehanguire, to assyme an 
 
 high 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 147 
 
 high 'tone of fanaticism, and to assert such strong 
 pretensions to sanctity, as might either foil these re- 
 ligionists in a contest, with their own weapons, or 
 attract the veneration of their ignorant subjects. It 
 was for this strange purpose that the great Acbar, 
 the Augustus of the East, pretended to the gift of 
 inspiration, and the power of working miracles. 
 Surely a far more dignified and rational measure 
 would have been, to endeavour by diffusing know- 
 ledge, to dispel this dreadful gloom of fanaticism from 
 the minds of his people. 
 
 3. There are other parts of the Brahminical super- 
 stition, which are not merely hurtful to the police of 
 the country, but incompatible with the exercise of 
 the judicial power. Persecutions for witchcraft, sor- 
 cery and necromancy, which in former times dis- 
 graced the criminal codes of several European na- 
 tions, remain in full force in the East ; and there cer- 
 tainly cannot be given a more infalible indication of 
 barbarous jurisprudence, nor can there perhaps exist 
 any institution more hostile to reason, and the prin- 
 ciples of justice. The cruel trial by ordeal is of the 
 same nature; and the continuance of it in India, 
 among many other circumstances, displays a striking 
 example of that barbarism v»'hich is still perpetuated 
 in the country, by the grossness of its superstition. 
 The minuteness of description employed in defining 
 the difl'ercnt modes of this trial, at once proves the 
 universality and frequency of the practice ; nor can 
 w^e console ourselves on the prospect of its disuse, 
 
 K 2 since 
 
148 fllOUGIlTS ON 
 
 since the present Governor General has been obhged 
 to interfere in order to stop its frequency within the 
 jurisdiction of the British courts of justice. 
 
 But the juridical power has often been disturbed 
 in the British provinces by the religious guides of the 
 people themselves ; famed as they have always been 
 for humanity and submissive conduct. The inviola- 
 bility of a Brahmin is a fixed principle of the Hin- 
 doo system, apparently the corner stone of that im- 
 mense fabric. To deprive a Brahmin, therefore, of 
 life, either by direct violence, or by causing his death 
 in any mode, is a crime which admits of no expia- 
 tion. Here, then, is a maxim which places at once 
 a whole class of society, in some measure beyond the 
 reach of justice. 
 
 The practical influence of this maxim reaches 
 greatly beyond this class ; the institution of D'herna, 
 which is tantamount to a caption, or arrest, is found- 
 ed upon it. This expedient is used by the Brah- 
 mins to gain a point in litigation, which they cannot 
 otherwise accomplish. The person who adopts this 
 mode of prosecution, proceeds to the door of the de- 
 fendant, and there sits down in d'herna, with poison, 
 u dagger, or some other instrument of suicide, and 
 threatens his own destruction, if his adversary shall 
 attempt to escape from his house. By the rigour of 
 practical discipline the Brahmin fasts during this 
 process; and imperious superstition requires that 
 the creditor shall fast also, and thus tliey both re- 
 main 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 149 
 
 main till tlie institutor of the d'hcrna obtains full sar 
 tisfaction. 
 
 The Brahmin who makes this suit, seldom at- 
 tempts it without a resolution to persevere, and hence 
 he rarely fails, since the party arrested, were he to 
 suffer him to perish with famine, would incur a guilt 
 never to be expiated either by himself or his poste- 
 rity. 
 
 This practice, which is ver}^ general beyond the 
 British provinces, is said to have become less fre- 
 quent in Benares, and other places, within the Juris- 
 diction of our courts. The interference of the judges, 
 and of the resident of that province, has, however, 
 on some occasions, been insufficient to check it ; in 
 doing this it has generally been deepied prudent to 
 avoid coercion, lest the appearance of force might 
 drive the claimant to suicide*. The discredit of such 
 an act would not attach merely to the officers of jus- 
 tice, but to government >tself. 
 
 Although it is not to be inferred from what is here 
 said, that this practice is universal, or even general 
 in India, yet many instances are known to occur un^^ 
 der the native governments ; and even in Calcutta it- 
 self the Brahmins are seen still to obtain charity from 
 the Hindoos by placing themselves before their 
 house, with a declaration to remain there till their 
 
 K 3 demand 
 
 * Vide Asiatic Researches, Lord Teisrnmouth. 
 
i5() THOUGHTS OS 
 
 demand is granted. .Whether from reverence tor their 
 order, or from the smalhiess of the requisitions made, 
 it is observed that such sohcitations are almost uni- 
 versally successful. 
 
 4. Another mode of defeating the ends of justice, 
 equally singular and cruel, is the erection of what is 
 named a Koor. This appellation is given to a circu- 
 lar pile of wood, prepared for conflagration. Upon 
 this pile is placed, sometimes a cow, sometimes an 
 aged woman, who is intended to be consumed. 
 
 The object of this practice is to Intimidate the of- 
 ficers of government, from making their demands of 
 rent ; and the sacrifice is supposed to involve in great 
 sin, the person whose conduct forces the constructor 
 of a Koor to have recourse to tliis expedient. In 
 1780, three Brahmins in Benares, erected a Koor, 
 to compel the revenue officers to make a diminution 
 of their assessment. They had placed on the pile a 
 won:ian, blind from age, who must have been de- 
 stroyed but for the timely interference of authority. 
 
 These cruel practices have generally been commit- 
 ted by the Brahmins themselves, who should not only 
 be best acquainted with the tenets of Hindoo feith, 
 but also most strongly influenced by its practical pre- 
 cepts. The last mentioned fact seems peculiarly re- 
 pugnant to that mildness of disposition, by which the 
 author of the Historical Disquisition concerning an- 
 ticnt India, affirms the inhabitants of it to have been 
 
 dis.. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 151 
 
 distinguished in every age. As a general position, 
 liable to particular exceptions, we are not authorised 
 to contravert it; but on all hands it must be admit- 
 ted, that individuals in India are irritated by petty 
 offences, to the perpetiation of certain acts which no 
 provocation can justify. ]\Iany examples might be 
 produced of Brahmins killing their children, their pa- 
 rents, and even themselves, prompted by fanaticism, 
 by pride, by vindictive malice and violence of tem- 
 per. If such be the conduct of the spiritual guides 
 of the Hindoos, the common people may easily be 
 conceived liable to less restraint, and therefore capa- 
 ble of committing still more extravagant enormities. 
 
 SECTION 
 
[ 152 i 
 
 SECTION X. 
 
 CERTAIN CRUEL AND IMMORAL CUSTOMS TOLER- 
 ATED BY THE HINDOO RELIGION. 
 
 That the practice of infanticide should ever be- 
 come so general as to be ranked among the customs 
 and usages of any race of men, requires the most 
 unexceptionable testimony to gain belief* ; yet this 
 melancholy fact, as far as regards female infants, is 
 fully established by immemorial usage among the 
 
 Raje- 
 
 * The practice is known, however, to exist in several parts 
 of China, and to prevail to a melancholy extent in Otaheite : 
 in the place last named, this cruel custom, united with the un- 
 natural practices of the Arreoys ("nobles^, has rapidly dimi- 
 nished the population of that island, since it was first discover- 
 ed by Europeans. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMEXT, ETC. 15 
 
 i^> 
 
 Rajekoomers, who inhabit the district of Juanpore, 
 adjoining the territories of Oude, and within the Bri- 
 tish provinces. 
 
 Amons this tribe of the Hindoos, it was discover- 
 cd in 1 789, by the Resident of Benares, that a cus- 
 tom had long subsisted, and was then general, of 
 putting to death their female offspring, by causing 
 their mothers to starve tliem. The Resident had an 
 opportunity of authenticating the existence of this 
 custom by their own confession* : he conversed with 
 many, who all unequivocally admitted the reality of 
 the custom, but all did not acknowledge its atrocity; 
 on the contrary, they alledged as a reason for it, the 
 expence and difficulty of procuring suitable matches 
 for their daughters, should they allow them to arrive 
 at maturity. 
 
 '^ It naturally suggests itself as a question, regard- 
 ing tliis race of people," says the nobleman who has 
 recorded this fact, " by what means is it perpetuated 
 under the existence of such a horrid practice ? To 
 this question the reply uniformly made is, that the 
 custom, though general, is not universal, some ex- 
 ceptions being admitted among the more wealthy; 
 but that the tribe is perpetuated chiefly by intermar- 
 riages with other Rajepoot families, to which the Ra- 
 jekoomers are compelled by necessity. 
 
 A custom 
 
 * Asiatic Researches j a paper by Lord Teignmouth. 
 
154 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 A custom so repugnant to the dictates of humanity, 
 and to the fcehngs of natural affection, the British 
 government has tried to abolish, and with consider- 
 able success. The means chiefly resorted to, were 
 the denunciation of a severe penalty against it ; and 
 to the weight of civil authority, it added the sanction 
 of that religion which the Rajekoomers thembcives 
 professed. Where these motives failed, they pre- 
 vailed upon them to enter into an engagement, bind- 
 ins; themselves to desist in future from the barbarous 
 practice of causing their female children to be put to 
 death. The same practice having been found preva- 
 lent, but in a less degree, among the Rajebunses, a 
 small tribe within the province of Benares, a similar 
 method was pursued, to make them sensible of its 
 iniquity ; and an obligation was exacted from them, 
 containing similar provisions with that entered into 
 by the Rajekoomers*." 
 
 The 
 
 * The deed presented to these savage tribes for their sub- 
 scription, stated, that " Whereas the destruction of female 
 
 " children is held a great crime in the Brahma Bywant Poorarty 
 
 " where it is said that killing even a foetus, is as criminal as 
 
 " killing a Brahmin 5 and whereas the British government, 
 
 " whose subjects we are, has an utter detestation of such mur- 
 
 " derous practices, We do hereby agree not to commit any 
 
 " longer such detestable acts ; and any among us, (which God 
 
 -*' forbid) who shall be hereafter guilty, or shall not bring up, 
 
 " and get our daughters married to the best of our ability, 
 
 *' among those of our cast, shall be expelled from our tribe, 
 
 " and shall neither cat nor keep society with us, besides suf- 
 
 " fering hereafter the punishment denounced in the above 
 
 " Shaster and Pooran : we have therefore entered into this 
 
 ** agreement," &c. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERM\rEXT, ETC. 135 
 
 The boasted humanity of the Hindoo system to all 
 sentient beings, is but ill supported, when we come 
 to a close examination of the customs which it tole- 
 rates, the precepts which it enjoins, or the actual 
 conduct of its votaries. Though it be admitted that 
 some of the above horrid customs are a violation of 
 their written code, yet there are other practices 
 equally shocking, to which it affords its immediate 
 sanction. The public encouragement held out to 
 aged pilgrims who drown themselves in the Ganges, 
 under the notion of acquiring religious merit, is 
 equally repugnant, with the practice already noticed, 
 to reason and humanity*. The recommendation 
 gi^"en to a favourite wife to burn herself, on the same 
 funeral pile with the dead body of her husband, af- 
 fords not an unfrequent spectacle of deliberate cruel- 
 ty, which cannot, perhaps, be equalled in the whole 
 annals of superstition f. If some of these barbarous 
 usages have, in a great measure, been suppressed bv 
 the milder influence of a Christian government, it 
 at^brds a pleasing presumption, that even the wildest 
 fanaticism, mav in some instances be moderated : 
 and that by teiiiperate restraints, some of the most 
 
 destruc- 
 
 * No less than four or five persons have been seen drown- 
 ing themselves at one time, with the view of performing a re- 
 ligious sacrifice, of high value in their own estimation, and 
 that of many thousands who attend this frightful solemnity. 
 
 f That the merit of this sacrifice is inculcated, there is fuU 
 evidence in Bernier's Travels. 
 
156 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 destructive examples of barbarity may be gradually 
 weakened and effaced. 
 
 The cruel treatment of the sick, the aged, and dy- 
 ing, if not a precept, is a practical result of this de- 
 grading system, far more universal than any of those 
 already mentioned : it is of a nature which the most 
 moderate share of humanity would prompt any per- 
 son to use very zealous efforts to remedy. As soon 
 as any mortal symptoms are discovered in the state 
 of a patient by his physician, or by his relations, he 
 is, if in Bengal, removed from his bed, and carried 
 to the brink of the Ganges, where he is laid down 
 with his feet and legs immersed in the river : there, 
 instead of receiving from his friends any of the tender 
 consolations of sympathy, to alleviate the pain of his 
 departing moments, his mouth, nose, and ears, are 
 stuffed with clay, or wet sand, while the bye-standers 
 crowd close arround him, and incessantly pour tor- 
 rents of water upon his head and body. It is thus, 
 amidst the convulsive struggles of suffocation, added 
 to the agony of disease, that the wretched Hindoo 
 bids farewell to his present existence, and finally 
 closes his eyes upon the sufferings of life. 
 
 After death, the ceremony of burning the corpse is 
 hastily and partially performed by the relations ; this, 
 however, is observed by such only as are possessed 
 of some wealth ; among the generality poverty debars 
 the use of this decent ceremony, by its inability to 
 
 afford 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 157 
 
 afford even the small sum necessary for firewood. 
 On the death of the poorer sort, therefore, the car- 
 cases are tiirown naked and indiscriminately into the 
 river, where they float along the stream till they are 
 devoured by the vulture, or become a prey to the 
 alligator. 
 
 But waving these particular usages, some of which 
 are, perhaps, abuses which have sprung out of their 
 primitive institutions, it may be contended on good 
 grounds, that the general spirit of the system has it- 
 self a tendency, in many instances, to promote igno- 
 rance and encourage vice*. 
 
 The 
 
 * In the Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire, Mr 
 Orme has presented the public with a laborious and detailed 
 exposition of all those defects of the Hindoo system. The au- 
 thor, in this work, conveys no very favourable impression of 
 the Indian character j but his ideas are the result of personal 
 observation : they are clear, forcible, and correct. Towards 
 the close of his interesting disquisition, he thus sums up the 
 general impression which the subject left upon his mind. 
 
 " Having brought to a conclusion this essay on the govern- 
 ment and people of Hindostan, I cannot refrain from making 
 the reflections which so obviously arise from the subject — 
 Christianity vindicates all its glories, all its honours, and all 
 its reverence, when we behold the most horrid impieties avow- 
 ed amongst the nations on whom its influence does not shine, 
 as actions necessary in the common conduct of life : I mean 
 poisonings, treachery, and assassination, among the sons of 
 ambition, rapine, cruelty and extortion in the ministers of jus- 
 tice — I k-ave Divines to vindicate, by more sanctified reflec- 
 tions, the cause of their religion and their God." 
 
 He 
 
ISS THOUGHTS ON 
 
 The Hindoo system makes little or no provision 
 for the instruction of the great body of the people : a 
 defect the more remarkable, ^vhen we advert to the 
 number and authority of its priesthood, and the great 
 multiplicity and size of its sacred volumes. Their 
 vedahs, poorans, and other books held sacred, con- 
 tain, it is said, a copious system of sound morality; 
 and from the specimens already translated, this nmst 
 be partly admitted ; but the truths contained in these 
 -writings are almost totally obscured and rendered 
 useless by a vast mixture of puerile fictions and frivo- 
 lous regulations. And besides, the canonical books 
 of the Hindoos have always been regarded as a be- 
 quest too sacred to be committed to vulgar hands : 
 to the far greater part of the community their peru- 
 sal is strictly forbidden; closely guarded in the ar- 
 chives of the learned, to the great body of the people 
 they remain, in the most emphatic sense, " a dead 
 letter." 
 
 In the present condition of the natives of Hindos- 
 tan, this, however, is a matter of less consequence 
 than at first sight it may appear. Few individuals 
 among the commonalty are taught more than to read 
 
 and 
 
 Pie adds, " The sons of liberty may here behold the mighty 
 ills to which the slaves of a despotic power must be subject j 
 the spirit darkened by ignorance and fearj the body tortured 
 and tormented by punishments inflicted without justice, and 
 without measure: such a cojitrast to the blessings of liberty, 
 heightens at once the sense of our happiness, and our zeal for 
 the preserration of it." P, 41'1. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVEllNMEXT, ETC.. 15^ 
 
 and to write small memorandums or accounts ; and 
 of the few who have made this attainment, hardlv 
 any have made sivfficient progress to qualify tliem to 
 derive information from a book. *' Nothing can 
 surpass," says the author of Indian Recreations (an 
 eye witness of their manners), *' the ignorance of the 
 great body of the people, on every subject, whether 
 relating to religion, moralu, or general literature."' 
 
 Few of them can explain the genealogy or the at- 
 tributes e\ en of the most popular of their o\^■n deities : 
 they do not seem to comprehend, or to attach any 
 meaning to the ceremonies they daily attend : the 
 nature and obligations of moral duty, they must feci 
 in common with the rest of mankind, but they are 
 wholly incapable to explain them to each other, nmch 
 less to estinrate their importance. 
 
 The sciences in India, and also the liberal arts, 
 are confined at present, and probably always have 
 been confined to the great and learned alone. That 
 system of moral and theological kno^vledge, (what- 
 ever are its properties) which has for so many ages 
 been possessed by a few in the higher ranks, is pla- 
 ced as compleatly beyond the reach of the common 
 people, as if it did not exist : of consequence it can 
 be of little service in promoting their interest, or in 
 regulating their actions. Those religious and politi- 
 cal discussions which in Europe sometimes produce 
 disturbance, and which always sharpen and invigo- 
 rate the intellect are unknown in the East. There 
 
 an 
 
160 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 an utter stilness and silence reigns upon every ques- 
 tion of this nature, more resembling intellectual death 
 or annihilation itself, than the ordinary exercise of 
 the human understanding. 
 
 The consequences resulting from a degi*ee of ig- 
 norance so gross and universal, are too obvious to 
 require elucidation"*. It not only renders the great 
 mass of the people dupCs to the artifices of priest- 
 craft, but subjects thetn to the impositions of every 
 Charlatan who pretends to skill in any art or science 
 whatever. Those charms^ incantations, and exor- 
 cisms, which among them, still constitute a branch 
 of the medical art, clearly shew, that the grossest 
 impositions in other matters, as well as in religion, 
 may be practised and turned to account among an 
 uninformed multitude. 
 
 Perhaps the great superiority of the European 
 nations over the Asiatic, in general knowledge, as 
 ■well as arts and arms, ai'ises in a more considerable 
 degree than is commonly admitted, from the public 
 provision which exists among the former, for the in- 
 struction of the great body of the peoplef. The 
 multitude, who have but few sources of information, 
 derive no small advantage from those stated meet- 
 iiigs for receiving religious and moral instruction, 
 
 where 
 
 * Many of the oldest servants of Europeans axe unable toi 
 tell their own age. 
 
 -}- Indian Recreations, Vol. I, 
 
THE BRITISH GOVEKNMEXT, ETC. l<7l 
 
 where their various duties are illustrated, and the 
 practice of them is regularly inforced. Hence, a- 
 mong Britons, at least, while a sense of duty is che- 
 rished, a consciousness of his importance is also felt 
 by the individual, which prompts him to guard hi3 
 civil rank and privileges with equal jealousy and 
 pride. The Hindoo, either feels no such sentiments, 
 or they actuate him but feebly. On the contrary, a 
 sense of his inferiority seems continually to haunt 
 him : He obeys the command of another, witli a 
 promptitude u*hich seems rather the dictate of na- 
 ture, than the result of reflection. In most of those 
 manufactures that are conducted by European su- 
 perintendants, this diS|:)o>>ition of tiie natives is daily 
 conspicuous. While executing a process which they 
 and their ancestors have managed for ages, they yet 
 receive the directions of the European agent, as if 
 they M'cre dictated by inspiration ; although it may 
 happen, that this agent has had only the experience of 
 a few months to guide him. 
 
 The diffidence of the seapoy is particularly re- 
 markable ; and it constitutes, perhaps, the greatest 
 blemish in his professional character. On the day 
 of battle, while led on by his European officer, he is 
 distinguished by steadiness and bravery ; but should 
 he behold him fall, he flies, although in the retreat, 
 tliere were greater danger than in the battle. 
 
 Thus has ignorance, among the great body of the 
 native? of India, deeply shaded their character with 
 
 L a dilfidence^ 
 
U)'3 TiiduGHTs o"sr 
 
 a difTidence and timidity, which has not only render- 
 ed them the slaves of their own monarchs, but of 
 foreigners in every age ; and has in some measure 
 deiiraded them to an inferior rank amono; human 
 beings. From this depressed condition, which lias 
 so often excited the contempt of the brave, and which 
 ought always to have moved the compassion of the 
 wise, we shall, perhaps, in vain, endeavour to raise 
 them, so long as their intellects remain so compleat- 
 ly chained down by the multiplied fetters of an illi- 
 beral superstition. 
 
 In the mean time, the morals of the inhabitants of 
 India, are by no means free from the contaminating 
 influence of a system which is productive of such 
 baneful effects upon their understanding. Of the 
 ceremonies of Brahminism, some are shewy ; many 
 are absurd ; and not a few, both indecent and im- 
 moral. Its temples were formerly in some districts 
 richly endowed ; they are represented by all travel- 
 lers as maintaining a number of priests, and what 
 seems peculiar, a number of women consecrated to 
 this service, who are taught to sine; and dance at 
 public festivals in honour of the Gods. The volup- 
 tuous indolence in which they are destined to spend 
 their lives, renders them totally useless to so- 
 ciety ; while the indecency of their manners gives 
 room to suspect that they may injure it by their 
 
 *^xample*. 
 
 The 
 
 * Vide Indian Recreations Vol. I. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVEPwNMEXT, ETC. 16'S 
 
 The temples themselves, which in other countries 
 excite sentiments of reverence and devotion, are in 
 India plcnished with images of fecundity and of crea- 
 tive power too gross for description. Similar repre- 
 sentations are also displayed by those images which 
 at certain times are drawn throudi the streets amidst 
 the dancing, noise, and acclamations of the multi- 
 tude. The Ruth Jatra, or riding of the Gods, is a 
 ceremony at once cruel and indecent. The carria- 
 ges on which their deities are then placed, are Of • 
 immense height, and supported on sixteen wheels ; 
 the whole drawn along by thousands of fanatics, 
 some of whom fall down before these \\heels, and 
 being instantly crushed, are, as they believe, put in 
 possession of immortal bliss. 
 
 Though, according to the judicious Dr. Robertson, 
 it may be unjust to suppose that these representations 
 convey conceptions to the minds of the Hindoos, 
 equally gross and indelicate witii those which they 
 must impress on Europeans ; yet there hardly can 
 remain a doubt that they must affect the purity of 
 their morals. It v/ill not be contended that a Ro- 
 man could return to mix in society with advantage to 
 his delicacy and morals, after celebrating the orgies 
 of Bacchus, or the impure ceremonies of tlie Bona 
 Dea. Neither can it be urwd that an Hindoo must 
 •enter his family with any reiined notion of chastity 
 or self-denial, after beholding the lascivious gestures 
 
 L2 of 
 
Ib4 THOUGHTS OS 
 
 of the dancing ^vonien, and the indecent images of 
 those deities which he has been ^^•orshipping. 
 
 The Mussulmans, it is allowed, are addicted to 
 every species of indulgence and debauchery ; and if 
 the Hindoos are not equally so, it is chiefly to be as- 
 cribed to their early marriages, and to the number 
 of their w i\TS, wliich aftbrds them every opportunity 
 of gratifying or of extinguishing their passions as 
 soon as they arise. Their indulgence in certain gra- 
 tifications to excess, has generally been assigned as 
 the cause of that premature old age, and early decay, 
 so conspicuous in both sexes, but more especially 
 amoniX the females. In India a woman at twentv 
 live very frequcjitly exhibits grey hairs, and that 
 shrivelled appearance of age, which in Europe sel- 
 dom overtakes the sex till they have reached the 
 course of nearly half a century. 
 
 But besides these instances, in which the Hindoo 
 system seems to operate directly against the morals 
 of the people; it has other references w^hich must 
 produce indirectly the same unhappy effect. It has 
 in common with every false system, a tendency to 
 dissever religion from morals ; and to substitute in 
 room of the last a multitude of ceremonies, and a 
 train of bodily exercises. " To break off iniquity 
 " by repentance," to correct the whole life and con- 
 versation, the weakness of human nature has render- 
 ed at all times a difficult task : Hence mankind are 
 in general eager to adopt any easier mode that may 
 
 be 
 
*» .; 
 
 THE BRITISM GOVERNMENT -ETC. 16 
 
 fee held out to them of appeasing tnc oei'ty lor tne 
 violation of his laws. 
 
 In such devices the Hindoos have been iriore la- 
 borious than any other people. The vast period of 
 time that has elapsed since the first origin of their 
 institutions has conferred upon the system a degree 
 of complexness and maturity possessed by no other 
 ritual. Its ceremonies and dogmas are beyond com 
 parison more numerous than those either of the Gre- 
 cian or Roman paganism. The rites of the Hindoo 
 are indeed so multitudinous, that they must challenge 
 his attention in almost every action and moment of 
 his life : The forefeitures incurred by their neglect, 
 must often alarm him, whether he remain active or 
 idle, awake or asleep. If in any tiling, he is allow- 
 ed a discretionary power, it would seem to be in dis- 
 charging the moral duties of his station : in every 
 subordinate function, \vhether he eat- or drink, he 
 must do all to the satisfaction of his Brahmin, who 
 exercises over him the full rigour of an unrelenting 
 discipline. 
 
 It would be, perhaps, rash after all, to affirm that 
 the Hindoos are immoral and depraved in a degree 
 proportioned to the melancholy extent of their su' 
 j)erstitious system, though their minds are strongly 
 withdrawn by it from feeling the due weight of moral 
 obligations. Those ^^^lo are concerned in the police 
 know well the frequency of fraud, robbery, and mur- 
 der, as well as the great number of delinquents which 
 
 L 3 have 
 
16'6 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 have always rendered the prisons more crouded than 
 any other habitations in India. It has not been from 
 them, nor indeed from any class of men intimately 
 acquainted with their manners, that the Hindoo cha- 
 racter has received so many encomiums for its inno- 
 cence and simplicity. 
 
 The direct obstacles to improvement to be found 
 in the Hindoo scriptures themselves, are so numerous 
 and great, that the vague morality contained in them, 
 were it even taught to the people, (which it is not,) 
 would by no means compensate for the injury thus 
 sustained. These writings contain several ordina- 
 tions peculiarly hostile to the improvement of agri- 
 culture, and the increase of population, since they 
 preclude the inhabitants from the use of many im- 
 portant articles of food. Their precepts often trench 
 deeply upon industry itself, which among the body 
 of the people, is the great basis of moralit}^, and 
 primary fund of all subsistence. The number of 
 holidays wliich they enjoin to be wholly devoted to 
 the performance of expensive rites and she^'s, must 
 certainly tend to dissipate the minds of an indolent 
 race of men, and withdraw them from that neces- 
 sary labour, from which, in every country, the people 
 derive their support. These shews not only ingross 
 the tradesman's time, which is his revenue, but they 
 must also waste the sustenance he may have provid- 
 ed, by the necessity which he lies under to contri- 
 bute to their expence. 
 
 The 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. \67 
 
 The number of holidays distinguished in the Hin- 
 doo calendar is reckoned, by a personal witness, to 
 amount to nearly an hundred in each year ; and 
 though some of these are not of much practical note, 
 others claim their attention for several days toge- 
 ther*. Such an heavy deduction from their season 
 of labour must prove a severe tax on the industry 
 and sustenance of any people, but more especially 
 on that of the Hindoo, who can seldom boast of suf- 
 ficient foresight to provide a supply against a few 
 days either of sickness or of want of employment. 
 
 Of all the practical inconveniencies of this system 
 which have yet been noticed, this is by far the most 
 imiversally and severely felt by the people. Accord- 
 ingly, every thing that has been advanced in Europe 
 regarding the want of industry obsei'vable in Romaii 
 Catholic States, may be urged with double force 
 against the inhabitants of India ; for the most indo- 
 lent nation that has yet been found in this quarter of 
 the globe, far excels the listless votaries of Brahmiu- 
 ism in every exertion either of mind or of body. 
 
 From the combined operation of all these causes, 
 it has been the uniform persuasion of the wisest 
 among the Portuguese and Dutch nations, and like- 
 wise of our own, that the Hindoos can never be 
 fully civilized till their religious system is changed ; 
 
 Tlvdt, 
 
 * Indian Recreations Vol. I. 
 
IGS THOUGHTS OS 
 
 That, if they cannot be absolutely converted fi'om 
 their faith, the rigour of their superstition must be 
 considerably relaxed before any conspicuous improve- 
 ment can be effected, even in their pontical or civil 
 condition. This relaxation of the ties of bigotry 
 and superstition has, in every country, been effect- 
 ed chiefly by the increase of knowledge. Great 
 Britain, taught by the experience of the past, ought, 
 thereibre, to make strenuous and direct efforts to in- 
 struct the native population within her dominions ; 
 to enlai'ge their minds, and to refine their morals. 
 Efforts of this kind directed to tlie instruction of 
 youtli have hitherto been few ; and these so feebly 
 conducted as to be undeserving of notice, did they 
 not experimentally prove the practicability of this im- 
 portant measure. 
 
 From all that has yet been recorded on this sub- 
 ject, and from every thing that has been established 
 by fair experiment, this inference is unavoidable, that 
 in India no school has been altogether unprofitably 
 taught, and that no missionary doctrines have ever 
 been attended with any discernible advantage. 
 " Their parrow (talk) is very good" said the chiefs 
 of Otaheite, nieaning the discourses of the niission- 
 aries ; " they give us plenty of the w ord of God, but 
 *' few axes." In this island, where the missionary 
 labours have been so completely baffled, it would 
 seem that the natives themselves are aware of the 
 insufficiency of the means employed for their im- 
 provement, 
 
THE BIITTTSH GOVERNMENT, ETC. l6§ 
 
 proverrent, and feel a desire for objects suited to 
 their actual want?. Even the indolent and supersti- 
 tious Hindoos have been found accessible to insti'uc- 
 tion in points having a direct reference to their com- 
 fort, and tending immediately to better their con- 
 dition. We shall therefore enquire how far the ex- 
 ertions of the missionaries have been directed to 
 this primary object. 
 
 SECTION 
 
170 ] 
 
 SECTION XL 
 
 OF THE CONDUCT OF THE MISSTOISTARIES — CAUSES 
 OF THEIR WANT OF SUCCESS. 
 
 After having noticed the multiplied errors of In- 
 dian superstition, and illustrated some of the many 
 evils M'hich re^alt from it ; we are next to advert to 
 the propriety and fitness of the means which have 
 hitherto been adopted to dispel the ignorance of our 
 Indian subjects. For although indifference has 
 prompted some to conclude, that every change is in- 
 expedient, and the difficulty of the enterprise has 
 deterred others from attempting it, yet many, for a 
 period of near two hundred years, have pursued the 
 task of evangelising India with a considerable por- 
 tion of ardour and zeal. 
 
 lo 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 171 
 
 To US, were we permitted to hazard, an opinion 
 on this weighty subject, the European missionaries 
 seem not only to have mistaken the means, but the 
 period of hfe also, in which men are most easily in- 
 fluenced in their religious and moral sentiments. 
 Youth is tiie season in which prejudices are unform- 
 ed, and in which the mind is most accessible to new 
 inionnaiion. All meri, but chictiy the illiterate, ad- 
 here daring the maturity of age, to their religious 
 opinions with bigotted attachment. However gross 
 or absurd the tenets of these heathens may appear 
 to us, who have been educated in a different system, 
 yet to themselves they all appear equally sacred and 
 incontrovertible : Such is the powerful influence of 
 time, authority, and example. 
 
 The ill success, therefore, which has attended our 
 missionaries, in attempting to arraign the faith of a 
 whole people as absurd, and to decry their ceremo- 
 monies as sinful, ought not so much to surprise us, 
 as the folly of such an attempt, and the permission 
 given to undertake such an enterprise. Tlie libera- 
 lity of no country in Europe, is, perhaps, sufficient 
 to pennit even an attempt, openly made, to change 
 the national faith. There, in all probability, a sullen 
 contempt or open violence, would soon manifest the 
 detestation of the people against so rash an under-? 
 takinii". 
 
 On the part of the Hindoos, however, no violence 
 or concerted opposition has ever been made to this 
 
 measure. 
 
172 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 measure. Ever since the settlement of Europeans 
 in their country, various denominations of mii^siona- 
 ries have been at work to reclaim and convert the 
 natives, botli on the part of Government and indi- 
 viduals ; and if no desirable harvest has been reap- 
 ed from their labours, they have, at least, met with 
 no hostile treatment from the multitude, whose opi- 
 nions they arraigned. 
 
 The Portuguese, among whom, at one period, 
 conversion was held out as the grand object of con- 
 quest, engaged at first, in this great work, with an 
 ardour that seemed worthy of its importance ; and 
 with a perseverance that promised more happy fruits. 
 Their worship, from the number of its shewy rites, 
 was, in some degree assimilated to that of the natives 
 tliemselves, and might appear well calculated to 
 captivate the attention of the multitude, tlK)ugh it 
 might not greatly enlarge their understanding. Yet 
 the effects continually produced by all their exer- 
 tions, have invariably proved inadequate to the hopes 
 entertained by their projectors in Europe. 
 
 Saint Francis de Xavier himself, who was long 
 regarded as the great Apostle of the Gentiles in 
 the East, and who was believed by many to have 
 wrought miracles in this field of pious industry, has 
 left behind him the most scanty proofs of his suc- 
 cess. Thouirh the number of his nominal converts 
 was at one time so considerable, as to obtain for him 
 the honour of canonization ; yet it cannot be truly 
 
 ' affirmed. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. . 173 
 
 affirmed, that he has added much, either to the know- 
 ledge, industry, or virtue of the poor Pariahs, who 
 listened with so much devout admiration to his dis- 
 courses. His residence in India, during a period of 
 ten years previous to 1552, is said to have been sig- 
 nahzed by a number of conversions in Goa, Como- 
 rin, and Japan ; yet the present state of Christiani- 
 ty in all these parts affords but little corroboration 
 of this assertion, and far less proof of the preterna- 
 tural powers that have been ascribed to this celebrat- 
 ed maii. In fact, the annals of the Portugueze church 
 in the East, were at this period disgraced by the 
 same mixture of credulity and bigotry as in the pre- 
 sent state. 
 
 The Dutch, although that nation has long been 
 distinguished, more by an avidity in the pursuits of 
 commerce, than by zeal for the dissemination of re- 
 ligious knowledge, have not, however, left the task 
 untried of converting the native subjects of their In- 
 dian dominions. Chaplains have been appointed by 
 the Government, not only at Batavia, but at Chin- 
 sura and Calcapore in Bengal : In the two latter 
 settlements, the surroundinjj; inhabitants beinsr the 
 same as the British subjects in Bengal, the mission- 
 ary labours there had nearly the same unprolital^le 
 issue*. 
 
 A societv 
 
 * Ijidlan Recreations, Vol. I. 
 
]74 THOUGHTS ON- 
 
 A society of well-disposed persons in Britain, col- 
 lected a fund many years ago, and sent missionaries 
 to Bengal ; but although their estabhshment, still sub- 
 sists, no conversions of any moment have ever dig- 
 nified its labours. This society has for some time 
 past been associated with a Danibii njis'sion, formed 
 on a similar plan, and actuated by tiie same views. 
 By thus combining together their ettbrts and re- 
 sources, an elegant church has been built ; but few 
 of the natives, even of the lowest class, have ever 
 condescended to come under its roof. This edifice 
 has therefore been used as one of the ordinary places 
 of worship for the European inhabitants of Calcutta. 
 Excepting a few of the Pariah tribe, or out-casts, in 
 the neighbourhood of Madras, who are sometimes 
 seen listening to the discourses of the chaplains, with 
 much greater appearance of wonder than intelligence; 
 the missionaries of the East cannot boast of their 
 having gained to their society even those unfortunate 
 Hindoos who have l)een debarred from all communi- 
 cation with the rest of mankind. 
 
 These consequences are the unavoidable result of 
 the labours of conversion, at least on the plan that 
 they have been hitherto conducted on in India; and by 
 every person in any degree acquainted with the con- 
 dition of the natives, they might have been antici- 
 - pated. It is to be feared, that neither the zeal of 
 ■ our preachers, nor that of their employers, have been 
 guided by requisite knowledge. They have neglect- 
 ed to bestow education on the natives ; and they have 
 
 expected 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 175 
 
 expected their acquiescence in truths which they 
 were totally unqualified to comprehend. 
 
 The Spaniards, in America, were at first led astray 
 by a similar error. Their clergy are said to have 
 converted many thousands there by a single discourse, 
 and to have administered the initiatory ordinance of 
 Baptism to such multitudes, that they were no longer 
 able to lift up their hands.* But there is much rea- 
 son to apprehend that their enthusiasm has led them 
 to impose on themselves, as much as on the world : 
 for surely these new converts to Christianity could 
 hardly, in any sense, merit that honourable appella- 
 tion. In order to make them become christians, it 
 was first requisite to make them rational beings ; a 
 title to which uninformed savages, destitute of almost 
 every intellectual idea, can surely have but little 
 claim. 
 
 The first fruits of the American vineyard, as well 
 as of the Indian, were therefore useless by being pre- 
 mature. The acquiescence of the simple convert of 
 either country, was in doctrines to him incompre- 
 hensible; it could be therefore attended with no real 
 alteration, either in belief or in conduct ; no ne\v 
 light was conveyed to the understanding, no addi- 
 tional motives were supplied for the practice of duty."] 
 
 AVere 
 
 * Robertson's Hist, of South America. 
 
 \ A liberal use has been here made of the information given 
 In the Indian Recreations. 
 
176 THOUGHTS ON" 
 
 Were, therefore, the whole body of the people in 
 Hindostan, from caprice, or motives of interest, at 
 once to abandon their system, in the present state of 
 their intellectual improvement, such a circumstance 
 might afford a triumph to the missionaries, but it 
 could not be construed as a victory to truth ; nor 
 could the number of real christians be at all increased 
 by such an apostacy. In the present state of igno- 
 rance of the bulk of that people, not merely of rational 
 religion, but of almost every moral precept, to lay 
 before them the sublime doctrines of the gospel, 
 were to violate its prohibitions, " by casting pearls 
 before swine." 
 
 That mental degradation and total listlessness, 
 which we have already noticed, as having long cha- 
 racterised the Hindoos of the lower classes, must iirst 
 be removed before they even comprehend, much less 
 profit, by any religious doctrines whatever. It was 
 probably from viewing the subject in this aspect, that 
 Sir William Jones has been induced to assert, that 
 the Hindoo could never be converted by the Roman 
 Catholics nor by any other churcli : Th.is venerable 
 judge was, however, too well acquainted with the na- 
 tives of India to affirm of them that their youth was 
 incapable of instruction. He would have been ra- 
 ther inclined to panegyrise their aptitude for learn- 
 ino- : Since no school in India has vet been alto^e- 
 ther unsuccessfully taught ; and since the class of 
 half casts, or offspring of Europeans and natives has 
 uniformly been educated in the Christian r.eligion, 
 
 and 
 
THE BRtTiSH GOVERXMEKT, ETC. 177 
 
 aud become equally versant in its doctrines as tha 
 other scholars of the same age. 
 
 ]jut though knowledge has been imparted to this 
 class of our Indian subjects, it is not afiirmed that 
 they all have become real Christians or good men. 
 It is sufficient for our present view of the subject^ 
 that experience has demonstrated the natives of In- 
 dia to be capable, under the ordinary means of in- 
 sti'uction, of attaining a competent share of moral 
 and religious knowledge. " Paul may plant, and 
 " and Apollos may water," but the increase is the 
 gift of another hand ; that hand, which, to the know- 
 ledge of religion can alone add either its true spirit, 
 or its efficacy and power. 
 
 Let us, therefore, in Europe, no longer express 
 our surprise or regret at the want of success in the 
 missionary labourers of India; so long as these la- 
 bourers prosecute the task by means that are im- 
 practicable. In his present state of ignorance, and 
 under the terror of excommunication, the conversion 
 of an Hindoo by preacliing alone, may be regarded 
 as somewhat miraculous. To suppose him able to 
 comprehend the doctrines of our religion, and at li- 
 berty to embrace them, are assumptions equally con- 
 trary to fact : were the case otherwise, the few con- 
 verts that have been made in India, for a period of 
 two hundred years might seem a presumption that 
 the doctrines of our system, were either inferior in 
 value, or supported by less evidence than the tenets- 
 
 ' INI <?t' 
 
17$ THOUGHTS ON , 
 
 of that institution, to which he continues to adheice. 
 On the contrary, the doctrines of our religion are 
 addressed to us as " wise men," wlio are command- 
 fed to " judge what they say." It is therefore no 
 objection against them, that there may exist a state 
 of ignorance too gross for their comprehension ; or a 
 degree of superstitious fear which their allurements, 
 ill understood, are not able to overcome. 
 
 There must, in every mind, be some information, 
 some power of intellect, before a preference can be 
 given to any one system of opinions above another : 
 over total ignorance truth itself has no power. If 
 these positions are true, it must necessarily follow, 
 that the missionary labours have been taken up at 
 the A\ rong end. The means of diffusing the light of 
 the gospel through India, are not now the same with 
 those that were enjoyed by its first promulgators in 
 the world. : the miraculous powers are wanting: yet 
 tlie apostles, although in possession of an extraordi- 
 nary commission, and endowed with preternatural 
 powers, Mere commanded, nevertheless, to " teach 
 all nations." Can their uninspired and feeble suc- 
 cessors have wisely endeavoured to grasp at a more 
 expeditious method, Avhen encompassed with circum- 
 stances much less favourable? 
 
 "When the sway of the Pagan system first yielded 
 to that of Christianity, in the territories of Greece 
 and Home, a large portion of the people was capable 
 of comprehending its doctrines, and of examining the 
 
 evidence 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 179 
 
 t;vidence by which they are supported. Some gene- 
 ral knowledge of both was diftused before its recep- 
 tion ; and the circumstances of the people, in these 
 countries, were in many respects the reverse of what 
 they are in India. They were neither attached to 
 their theological system, nor to its practical rites, by 
 any insurmountable prejudice. It was a fabric con- 
 fessedly erected in a rude age, and the increase of 
 knowledge, in subsequent times, had widely exposed 
 its gi'ossness and imperfection. Horace, Juvenal, 
 Lucian, and some others of their most favourite 
 writers, had lashed the absurdities of the system, 
 and the very characters of its Gods, with equal free- 
 dom as those of their fellow citizens : and even before 
 they had ventured thus far, the worship of other 
 deities, and the observance of new rites, was regard- 
 ed rather as a mark of superior piety, than of any 
 malignity against the national faith. 
 
 The most dignified characters in the state, it is 
 true, were selected to preside in the sacerdotal chair, 
 and to perform the public functions of religion ; but 
 they discharged their duty with only outward gravity, 
 while inwardly they felt much indifference, or perhaps 
 contempt.* They beheld, therefore, without concern, 
 the advancement of a new system, from which they 
 dreaded no mischief. There was not amons them a 
 numerous and hereditary priesthood, who foresaw in 
 
 M 2 its 
 
 * Gibbon's decline and fall. 
 
ISO THOUGHTS on 
 
 its establishment the downfall or destruction of their 
 whole order. 
 
 Almost all these circumstances, in the condition 
 €)f the Hindoos, are either ditferent, or diametrically 
 opposite: among them no collision of opinion has 
 awakened the curiosity of the people, or roused the 
 human intellect : no books have ever reached their 
 hands to convey information, nor has even a news- 
 paper been printed in the native language. Of all 
 abstract ideas the multitude in India is almost entirely 
 destitute. To a people in this state, it is in vain that 
 you propose any system of doctrines for their discus- 
 sion : there can hardly be any sufficiently simple for 
 their understanding ; and perhaps none too gross for 
 their belic£ 
 
 Unfortunately for the Hindoos, their Brahmins 
 will not permit them to exercise the small portion of 
 intellect which they are known to possess ; since 
 every departure from the customary rites is held up 
 by them as of all things the most sinful, and not to 
 be expiated but by the severest penalties. Thus the 
 attachment of an Hindoo to his faith and worship, is 
 guarded equally by his ignorance and fear. It is the 
 care of the priesthood, who, among them, are the. 
 sole guides of opinioi?, to keep him constantly under 
 the dominion of both. They watch and labour to pre- 
 serve ignorance, not to disseminate knoAvledge, every 
 
 inlet 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERXMEXT, ETC« l^l 
 
 inlet to which is guarded as closely as the avenues of 
 death.* 
 
 These causes alone, without any violent opposition 
 on the part of the Hindoos, have hitherto prevented 
 any considerable degree of success from ever signa- 
 lising the labours of our missionaries in India. At 
 different times, as well as the present, the fervor oi" 
 zeal, or the efforts of humanity, have produced vari- 
 ous exertions in favour of the natives ; but as all these 
 plans have borne the same aspect, and have embraced 
 similar means, the causes of disappointment have re- 
 mained strong and permanent; their efforts have 
 proved almost uniformly fruitless. In the province 
 of Madura, and afterwards in the Mysore, some of 
 the lower classes have attended the discourses of 
 missionaries, and yielding a kind of assent to their 
 doctrines, if assent can be given to what is not un- 
 derstood, they have been enrolled in their catalogue 
 of Believers, although more than a nominal christi- 
 anity has never yet been found in these parts ; a 
 church and teachers have been established in Delhi 
 for near two hundred years,! and still subsists there ; 
 
 M 3 it 
 
 * Their conduct seems to resemble that of those persons who 
 :irc blamed for " detaining the truth in unrighteousness.'" 
 
 j- First planted by Portuguese Jesuits, according to Theve- 
 not. The labours of this Order were spread through almost 
 every country in the Eastern world. Vide Lettres edifiantes et 
 curieu^es. They boast of having performed miracles, and to 
 
 have 
 
182 THOUGHTS OS 
 
 it has, however, received no increase of converts to 
 afford any hope of final success. The missionaries 
 of the Propaganda have lately been depressed, and 
 either seem weary of so fruitless a task, or carry it 
 on with a feebleness which gives litde countenance 
 to the hopes of their employers. 
 
 ha^'e made numerous converts : but these narratives were not 
 believed, even by the natives, and have thrown discredit on 
 the whole of their exertions. 
 
 SECTION 
 
[ 183 ] 
 
 SECTION XII. 
 
 THE PROPRIETY OF ESTABLISHING SCHOOLS FOR 
 THE INSTRUCTION OF YOUTH IN INDIA. 
 
 These various attempts of European missionaries, 
 and many more might have been enumerated, ought 
 at least to have the effect of clearly demonstrating 
 the unfitness and impropriety of the means employ- 
 ed : they ought to convince the reflecting part of 
 mankind, that before the influence of true relifjion 
 can be felt by the natives of India, we must reverse 
 the order of proceeding, and begin the work hereafter, 
 not by haranguing the multitude, but by teaching the 
 youth — by increasing their knowledge, and improv- 
 ing their understanding. The zeal of the present age 
 seems to have revived ; its contributions are large : 
 
 and 
 
i84 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 and its effects will, perhaps, soon be renovated and 
 strengthened in the East. May we not hope to find 
 fewer missionaries, and a greater number of trades- 
 men, mcciianics, and school-masters hereafter esta- 
 bhshed in India; or are we forever to pursue that 
 plan of speculative doctrine, vvithout discipline, which 
 has for two hundred years proved wholly fmitless 
 and ineffectual, and to abandon, or overlook the 
 humbler and more laborious efforts of teachers, which 
 iiardly, in one instance, have been disappointed ? 
 
 This proposition ouglit no longer to be deemed 
 either visionary or of doubtful advantage : the esta- 
 blishment of district and parochial schools, has 
 proved in Europe the most successful method of 
 communicating information, and what is still more 
 valuable, moral principles to the great body of the 
 people. If this establishment has proved the most 
 effectual remedy against ignorance, vice, and memli- 
 city, in every country where it has been carefully sup- 
 ported ; does it not follow, ^\ ith the irresistible force 
 of an experimental truth, that we must resort to the 
 same measure in India, before we can expect, I do 
 not say their conversion, but any permanent amelio- 
 ration of their condition, or valuable accession to their 
 moral and religious knowledge? 
 
 In that country the prejudices of the people are 
 necessarily strong ; supported as they are by univer- 
 sal consent, and the example of the whole commu- 
 nity, they must always continue too po^verful to yield 
 
 te 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 185 
 
 to the transient impressions made on their minds, by 
 the loose discourses of itinerant missionaries. 
 
 Were seminaries of the kind now recommended 
 generally establislied in the country, the art of read- 
 ing their language, of writing, and of keeping ac- 
 counts, might be communicated to every class of the 
 people. The scriptures, and cheap books on mora- 
 lity and religion, might then be put into their hands 
 with some prospect of their profiting by the perusal. 
 Then, and perhaps not till then, can we hope to 
 avail ourselves fully of the generous eftbrts that are 
 now making by that great and respectable society 
 lately instituted by a late Governor General of India.'^ 
 
 Possessing such important guides of conduct, of 
 such means of perusing them, it may be hoped that 
 the natives of India would become at once more use- 
 ful in promoting their own best interests, and those 
 of the community, as intelligent husbandmen, mer- 
 chants, and manufacturers. Vi'ith better principles 
 of action laid before them, they would be more ai;le 
 to regulate their own conduct, and to appreciate tlie 
 truth and value of the Brahminical doctrines, not by 
 the encomiums of their interested teachers, but by 
 their intluence on the moral character, and their in- 
 sufficiency for the direction of human life. 
 
 Happily for the execution of this measure, the na- 
 tives have no aversion to commit their children to the 
 
 tuition 
 * Lord Teigumouth, President of the Bible Societj. 
 
186 • THOUGHTS OX 
 
 tuition of Europeans ; they are rather ambitious that 
 their oftspring should acquire the accomplishment of 
 reading and writing the English, though a foreign 
 language, as the means of enabling them to prose- 
 cute successfully some lucrative branch of trade, and 
 of introducing them as clerks and agents into the em- 
 ployment of the British. An Hindoo of rank will not, 
 it is confessed, allow his children either to eat or 
 sleep in the same apartment with Europeans, but 
 he is known to permit them freely to remain at a 
 day-school, which for the above named branches of 
 education is sufficient. 
 
 It is asserted by persons practically acquainted 
 %vith this subject, that the desire of the people after 
 education is so strong, that several have at present, 
 with much expence, placed their children under the 
 tuition of Europeans : and that there are many more 
 taught by such of the natives themselves as under- 
 stand the English language. Where neither of these 
 means of instruction can be afforded, there have been 
 many instances of spelling books, and copies for 
 learning to write, being purchased by such as have 
 supposed that they might acquire these branches of 
 knowledge by their own private application.* 
 
 There 
 
 * Indian Recreations, Vol. I. From this work it appears 
 that schools for the instruction of the natives, are already pretty 
 general in many parts of India : it is probable too, that such 
 institutions are of very old standing in that country. Their 
 method of teaching to read, write, and spell, by a single pro- 
 
 cess. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 187 
 
 There are at present residing in Calcutta two gen- 
 tlemen, who have not only witnessed these several 
 facts, but who have themselves been engaged in the 
 tuition of some natives of distinction, and who have 
 been able to communicate to them much useful in- 
 struction. The parsimonious habits of an Hindoo, 
 almost of every rank, rendering him averse to part with 
 money on any occasion, unless to his Brahmin, the 
 institution of schools here proposed, ought to be at- 
 tended with an established salary, as a provision for 
 the teachers : this provision might be occasionally 
 increased, by the contribution of such wealthy natives 
 as are able to afford a liberal assistance to the in- 
 struction of their children. In other cases the bene- 
 fit of knowledge would be more acceptable to the na- 
 tives by being conferred gratuitously. 
 
 This interesting experiment might be tried, with 
 much ease, and a very limited expenditure, at Bo?/i- 
 bai/j Madras, and Calcutta, where the whole con- 
 duct of it would be under the immediate inspection 
 of the different governments. In the latter city, in 
 particular, the children of half a million of people 
 might soon be taught to read, write, and keep ac- 
 counts ; a circumstance which ^^ ould prepare them 
 for the perusal of such books on morahty and religion 
 
 as 
 
 cess, Is at once expeditious and unexpensive. It is accomplish- 
 ed by forming the letters on sand, spread either upon the 
 ground or on a table j and one lesson is no sooner finished, 
 than the characters are effaced to make room for another. 
 
188 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 •as the respectable society already noticed, njight 
 deem it expedient to put into their liands. 
 
 There hitherto, it must be acknowledged, has been 
 found some difficulty in procuring sober and diligent 
 Europeans, who, in India, were willing to confine 
 their prospects of advancement to the irksome, and 
 in that country, laborious drudgery of teaching. The 
 notion of making a large fortune by pursuing the 
 cotton, silk, or indigo business, however uncertain, 
 has had always sufficient attraction to withdraw men 
 of education from a station of life that has too often 
 been regarded as unimportant, and even degrading. 
 
 In the present circumstances of Calcutta, this ob- 
 stacle can be little felt ; or rather does not exist ; and 
 in all our other settlements in India must be gradual- 
 ly diminishing. The number of children born to 
 Europeans by native women, is every year encrea- 
 sing ; and to provide employment for them, has al- 
 ready become a matter of serious consideration. By 
 the present regulations of the East India Company, 
 this class of young men is excluded from the service 
 of government, in every capacity, whether civil or 
 militar}^ Their education, as well as their limited 
 ambition seems to point them out as the most eligible 
 persons for the instruction of the native race of youth. 
 Their number is already so considerable as to pro- 
 duce, perhaps, a sufficient supply for every appoint- 
 ment of this nature, v» hich either the piety or bene- 
 volence of the age is likely to suggest. Their conti- 
 nual 
 
THE URITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 189 
 
 nual increase, must soon render them capable of 
 affording an adequate supply of teachers for almost 
 the whole of the British subjects in India, although 
 established on the extensive scale above proposed. 
 That economy of labour which has in some semina- 
 ries of Europe been so properly introduced, by the 
 employment of the more advanced scholars in teach- 
 ing the younger, necessity Avill point out as an expe- 
 dient still more indispensible in Asia. By means 
 of it no less than tliirteen hundred scholars have 
 been successfully taught by a single superintending 
 master^. 
 
 The contemplation of a measure of this kind is 
 the more pleasing, because the adoption of it will 
 immediately place in an useful profession, a nume- 
 rous class of unfortunate youth, who, for no fault of 
 their own, have been abandoned by their progenitors 
 on one side, and on account of their Christian edu- 
 cation, have been excluded from the society of the 
 other. 
 
 Had a sum been devoted to this measure nearly 
 equal to ^hat has been expended for two hundred 
 years in haranguing the ignorant multitudes by mis- 
 sionaries, hardly more intelligent than themselves, it 
 is not too rash to assert that the hiowkclge of Chris- 
 tianity would have, perhaps, been already commen- 
 surate 
 
 * Bell's Tract on tlie School at Madras. 
 
!yO THOUGHTS ON 
 
 surate -with the limits of our Indian Empire : Or 
 should this great work have as yet been only in a 
 train of accomplishment, the contributors to the 
 measure must have long since had the satisfaction of 
 feeliiig, that the exercise of their benevolence, was 
 in this important instance fully approved by their 
 reason. 
 
 Theirs would have been the singular comfort of 
 beholding the youth of the largest, and most popu- 
 lous territory ever subjected to European dominion, 
 at once placed within the reach of a rational and use- 
 ful education : They would have seen superstition 
 becoming gmdually weaker and at last destroyed, by 
 being seasonably attacked before its seeds had ger- 
 minated in the minds of the rising generation. Their 
 understanding, being sti'engthened by more rational 
 principles, would have at last revolted against that 
 system of " bodily exercise" which infallible wisdom 
 has pronounced equally unprofitable either to " life 
 *' or godliness." 
 
 The existence of knowledge and of superstition 
 at one time in the same society is scarcely possible : 
 They are incompatible, and must subsist and flourish 
 bv each others mutual destruction : while the former 
 advances, the latter must recede, and whenever the 
 light of the gospel is seen to arise, the darkness of 
 fJaganisn] must soon disappear. 
 
 Having 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 19 T 
 
 Havinff now finished such observations as were 
 deemed necessary on the first part of our subject, 
 the civilization of British India ; and having confin- 
 ed our remarks chiefly to its references to these car- 
 dinal points in the comfort of our subjects ; namely, 
 their peace and security ; secondly, their subsistence ; 
 and lastly, their religious and moral instmction, it is 
 possible many useful hints and judicious regulations 
 may have been omitted. It was supposed the im- 
 portance of the topics insisted on, and of the mea- 
 sures of reform proposed, might easily compensate 
 for the smallness of their number : It was believed 
 that plainness, and practicability in the means of its 
 execution, ought to characterise every scheme for the 
 instruction and improvement of a population so im- 
 mense as that of Hindostan, and so far removed from 
 the controul of its projectors. If little new, or in- 
 genious is to be discovered in the few measures of 
 reform here submitted to the learned body which is 
 to decide on their merits ; it is because less danger 
 might be incurred by adopting }ilans that were al* 
 ready known, than by hazarding new schemes on 
 grounds merely tlieoretical. If experience has prov- 
 ed a good education bestowed on youth, to be the 
 only expedient that has hitherto gained a single ra- 
 tional and sincere convert to our faith ; this kind of in- 
 struction has of necessity formed a principle point 
 of discussion in the foregoing pages. 
 
 Were this object fully attained, many other subsi- 
 diary arrangements would readilv su^^est themselves, 
 
 or 
 
152 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 or rather Avoiild be forced into practice by the vxry 
 operation of this great prehniinary measure. Tiie 
 assistance of the press, that powerful instrument in 
 the diffusion of knowledge is always resorted to in 
 every part of the British Empire Avhere the inhabi- 
 tants have been taught to read and write. In India 
 all articles of public business relating to the revenue 
 or police are already printed in the appropriated cha- 
 racters of the Persian, Ilindostanee, and Ijengallee 
 dialects : An etfort which has not merely surprised 
 the natives by its ingenuity, but has at the same time 
 put them in possession of printing, to them a new 
 and most important art. 
 
 The examples of Constantinople and Marhannah 
 in Syria, afford, however, sufficient proof that the in- 
 fluence of the press in disseminating knowledge, and 
 guiding opinion, is not very considerable, till the 
 great body of the people has received some elemen* 
 tary education. It is for this reason, that the press 
 has not been insisted on as a primary measure of 
 instruction for Hindostan. 
 
 In this short dissertation little notice is taken of 
 two mighty evils that have long been ascribed to the 
 influence of Europeans in the East: the reason is, 
 that the author after long ocular observation denies 
 their reality, and hrmlv believes them to be the ofts- 
 pring of vulgar prejudice and misconception. The^ 
 one is the rapacity and oppression of Europeans du- 
 riniT their residence in the country; and the second 
 
 is 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 193 
 
 is. the supposed loss occasioned by transferring their 
 large property to Europe on their departure from 
 the East. 
 
 Of the first of these evils the natives themselves 
 have not the smallest conception or belief: On the 
 contrary, there are a thousand examples of their re- 
 lying on the truth, justice, and generosity of the Eu- 
 ropeans in preference to their own countrymen. They 
 have never complained of an evil of which they a- 
 lone are sufferers ; this of itself is strong presump- 
 tion against its reality. It is besides inconsistent with 
 the upright administration of justice, which in India 
 has been as unimpeachable as in England. 
 
 On the subject of the drain of wealth by the re- 
 mittance of fortunes from India, there seems to be 
 a strange misconception of facts, as well as absurdity 
 in reasoning. The man who purchases goods by 
 himself or by his agent, to transfer in that sha[)e his 
 property to Europe, in fact becomes a customer to 
 the native manufacturer to a much greater extent 
 than before. His whole accumulated gains go at a 
 jieriod to the growers, manufactiu'ers, and merchants 
 of the country : and it is not easy to conceive how 
 an increase of business and full j)avment can injure 
 the parties in this transaction, or how the payment 
 of manufactured produce in India can ever drain 
 that country. The fact certainly is, that every indi- 
 vidual thus remitting his accumulated savings becomes 
 more useful to the manufacturers of the country than 
 
 N " he 
 
li)^ THOUGHTS ON 
 
 he was during the whole period of his residence there. 
 In this last case, he only supported a few idle ser- 
 vants and domestics ; and in the first, his whole gains 
 are applied at once to the payment of industrious 
 labourers and artizans. 
 
 From a similar consideration, we have omitted'the 
 notice of some very judicious arrangements of eccle- 
 siastical policy, which were nearly a centui^y ago pro- 
 posed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, by Doctors 
 Prideaux and Marshall. Their measures for the in- 
 struction of British India do no small credit to the 
 accuracy of their information, as well as to the sound- 
 ness of their judgment. But the expedients which these 
 gentlemen have suggested, almost necessarily present 
 themselves, after the general education of the people 
 has paved the way for their adoption. Let a suffi- 
 cient share of elementary learning, industrious ha- 
 bits and moral principles be conferred on our subjects 
 in the East, and an adequate number of ecclesiasti- 
 cal guides will not long be wanting. 
 
 .'>1<CTI0N 
 
[ 195 ] 
 
 SECTION Xia 
 
 THE MEANS OF DIFFUSING MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 INSTRUCTION THROUGHOUT OTHER PARTS OF 
 
 THE EASTERN WORLD. 
 
 Although the British nation may appear less im- 
 mediately concerned in the promotion of this mea- 
 sure, than in disseminating knowledge among its own 
 subjects ; yet it cannot be denied that the undertak- 
 ing is a duty enjoined equally by Christianity and 
 natural reliction. Whoever believes in the former, 
 must admit that it authorises this inference, that man- 
 kind are in want of preternatural assistance both for 
 the knowledge and the practice of duty. That prin- 
 ciple of universal good will, and native benevolence 
 which it uniformly recommends, implies the commu- 
 
 N 3 nicatioa 
 
196 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 nication to our fellow creatures of every benefit in 
 our power to bestow : That commandment too, so 
 remarkable for its clearness and universality, which 
 enforces the duty of doing to others whatever we 
 would wish to be done by them, admits of no dere- 
 liction of any relative duty on the part of those who 
 believe in its divine authority. 
 
 The advantages which have arisen from the Chris- 
 tian institute and doctrine, wherever received, im- 
 pose a new obligation to disseminate the knowledge 
 of this system as widely as possible, independent of 
 any specific precept to this effect. Paganism in all 
 ages has been remarkably defective in provisions for 
 the instruction, the comfort, and the rights of the 
 great body of the people. It possessed no adequate 
 contrivance for speedily communicating to the multi- 
 tude even the ordinary occurrences of the times. — 
 The acta diurna which were daily written at Rome, 
 could not, perhaps, convey through that great Em- 
 pire one half of the information which is circulated 
 through some of the smaller states of modern Eu- 
 rope. Throughout the whole precincts of Paganism 
 in the wide regions of the East, there is at present, 
 and has always been the same paucity of the means 
 of instruction, and a remarkable sterility of know- 
 ledge. 
 
 By the sanctions of this dark and insociable sys- 
 tem, no less than one half of the human species is 
 doomed to a state of servility and degradation : The 
 
 seclusion 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. IQJ 
 
 seclusion of the female sex, not only precludes infor- 
 mation from infancy and youth, but at once bereaves 
 society of its fairest ornaments, and poisons the sources 
 of its sweetest comforts. No subsidiary arrangements 
 are provided by Paganism for the numerous wants 
 and weaknesses of humanity: She affords no charita- 
 ble asylum for the poor, the destitute, the sick and 
 infirm. 
 
 Christianity, which has, in Europe, by maxims of 
 mercy, so much softened the hoiTors of war, is con- 
 trasted in the East, by a system which yields no sym- 
 pathy nor even safety to the vanquished ; and which 
 holds out nothing to the wretched captive, but in- 
 stant vengeance, or perpetual slavery. The duty of 
 " loving our enemies," under her auspices, so far 
 from being supported by general opinion, is hardly 
 acknowledged in any part of the Pagan world ; and by 
 far the greatest portion of it denies this duty all admis- 
 sion into the number of human virtues. Instances 
 of the stern and unrelenting character of Oriental 
 Paganism, and examples of its disregard of the best 
 interests of humanity, might be produced sufficient 
 to fill a volume, and distress the reader : Enouirh, 
 perhaps, has already been stated in former parts of 
 this essay to establish a desire to lessen its power, 
 and narrow the sphere of its influence. There are 
 two leading circumstances, however, which merit par- 
 ticular notice; namely, the maxims of pubhc law 
 which it has established for the intercourse of diffe- 
 rent nations ; and the rank and privilege which it has 
 
 N 3 assiiined 
 
 o 
 
IQS THOUGHTS ON 
 
 assigned to the different individuals living iij the same 
 community. 
 
 Neither in the ancient world, nor in modern Pa- 
 ganism, was there ever entertained any idea of jus- 
 tice, except among the members of the same state. 
 The prosperity of a nation, instead of the comfort 
 and wealth of the surrounding states, was supposed 
 to imply, either the depression and weakness, or the 
 utter ruin of all around it. Hence war was uniform- 
 ly a system of absolute conquest or of utter exter- 
 mination : and the best patriot in a country was he 
 who most cordially hated all the neighbouring king- 
 doms ; and he, who, when victorious, most cruelly 
 trampled upon their rights. Thus the miseries of 
 the vanquished had no limits either in extent or du- 
 ration. On the contrary, among Christian states, 
 though war is not abolished, the real sufferings of 
 humanity are confined chiefly to the field of contest. 
 Thousands, (as at the present hour) are led thitlier, 
 but at the same time there are many millions ^vho 
 are living in quietness, and who only " read of 
 <' battles." 
 
 Farther, Paganism was defective in forming the 
 internal structure of society itself: She divided it in- 
 to two classes, recognising only the bondman and the 
 free : The former possessed every thing ; the latter, 
 nothing. By the unwilling labour of this last class, 
 the whole society was supported ; and, although it 
 contained perhaps nine tenths of the whole society, 
 
 as 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNJVrENT, ETC. IQQ 
 
 as well as that very portion by which all subsistence 
 was provided, its comforts were guarded by no law. 
 These, as M^ell as its sufferings, were left to be de- 
 termined by the caprice of the master. Christianity, 
 which firet announced the dignity of a rational and 
 immortal being, gradually paved the way for the 
 establishment of a system of more equal rights. Its 
 boldest enemies have confessed that its influence has 
 been tending gradually to abolish this iniquitous state 
 of society, and over one half of the globe it has al- 
 ready literally bro-ken the " chains of the captive, 
 ^' and set the prisoner free." This confession is ren- 
 dered unavoidable, by comparing the actual state of 
 those nations which profess Christianity, with the con- 
 dition of those where it is unknown. 
 
 In those regions in which " the gospel has been 
 *' preached to the poor," men of the lowest class 
 have been seen passing through all tlie gradations of 
 society to stations of comfort, respectability, rank, 
 power, and distinction. By rewarding, instead of 
 compelling the labours of the poor, a new order of 
 society has arisen ; an arrangement has been fonned 
 which has abolished the monopoly of every comfort 
 and distinction by a single class ; and which holds 
 out all the rational comforts of man, to every indi- 
 vidual of our race. This system has gradually al- 
 tered the very form and structure of society itself; 
 it has operated through all its gradations, from the 
 captive in the dungeon to tlie monarch on the throne ; 
 and must, therefore, unquestionably be regarded as 
 
 N4 the 
 
tlOO THOUGHTS ON . 
 
 the most happy change ever wrought in favour of hu- 
 manity. Tiie proof of its existence and reahty, hap- 
 pily does not rest upon our knowledge of the state of 
 tlie ancient world ; but is undeniably evinced by the 
 actual condition of the heathen and Christian nations, 
 as at the present moment exposed to every impar- 
 tial beholder. The very imperfections, however, of 
 heathenism seem to set limits to its extent and du- 
 ration. 
 
 Independent of the intimations of scripture, which 
 announce the decline and ultimate downfall of the 
 Pagan system, there are circumstances in the very 
 progress of human society which seem to lead to 
 the same conclusion. Almost the whole continent 
 of America has, within a few centuries, been added 
 to the Christian commonwealth : and the blessings of 
 knowledge and civilization are not now, as they were 
 in the days of antiquity, confined to a single nation, 
 to one community, or to a small portion of that com- 
 munity. If we are to trust to the lessons either of 
 history or of experience, they coincide with the in- 
 timations of scripture, and demonstrate that there is 
 a tendency in knowledge to spread itself, and in hu- 
 man associations to improve. Notwithstanding all 
 that has been said, and so often repeated, concern- 
 ing the high attainments of antiquity, the world con- 
 tains at present, perhaps, a greater share of know- 
 ledge than it ever possessed at any former period. 
 One thing seems certain, this knowledge is, by the 
 invention of tlie press, more widely diffused and tar 
 
 more 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 201 
 
 more generally useful than in any former aera which 
 authentic history has recorded. More than one half 
 of the dobe, before the discoveries of modern navi- 
 gators, M as unknown ; and the intercourse esta- 
 blished between its difterent regions is probably more 
 than ten times greater than the limited commerce of 
 antiquity could maintain. 
 
 A more enlarged intercourse between the different 
 nations of the world, and a greater facility of diffus- 
 ing knowledge by the invention of printing, are the 
 two leading circumstances that distinguish modern 
 times, and that seem to confer upon them a degree 
 of splendour, at least equal to that of the brightest 
 aeras of antiquity. 
 
 This increased international correspondence has a 
 direct tendency, in various ways, to disseminate know- 
 ledge, and to improve the arts of life ; a tendency 
 which is strengthened by the prevailing maxims of 
 modern ])olicy. It is now univer*^ally allowed to be 
 a duty on the part of eveiy government to favour 
 the advancement of science, and to promote indus- 
 try among its subjects ; and tliis duty is deemed 
 hardly less urgent, .or indispensible, than that para- 
 mount obligation of bestowing protection. 
 
 In such circumstances, it is difficult to account for 
 that air of ridicule and contempt which it has been 
 attempted lately to cast upon almost every recent ef- 
 fort that has been made to communicate knowledge 
 
 to 
 
202 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 to those Asiatic nations with whom we are connected 
 by aUiance, or by trade ; and to treat with contume- 
 ly the humane labours of those who have endeavoiar- 
 ed to ameliorate the condition of the subjects of Bri- 
 tish India, whether by communicating to them, civil, 
 moral, or religious instruction. 
 
 Ignorance among the native inhabitants seems at 
 present to be regarded, by many Europeans, at least 
 in India, as tlie grand pledge of our power, and the 
 only potent charm by which we are to preserve, in 
 their minds, that tame and unquahfied submission, 
 even to illegitimate commands, in the private inter- 
 course of life. Hence all attempts to dispel it are 
 held up as either dangerous, absurd, or impracti- 
 cable ; however strongly such attempts may be re- 
 commended by the present aspect of our affairs in 
 the East ; or however powerfully they may be urged 
 by the dictates of humanity itself 
 
 The vast acquisitions lately made in Asia, by our 
 various successes against the Mahratta confederacy, 
 by our recent victories, and by the expulsion of the 
 French out of Syria and Egypt, have conferred upon 
 Great Britain an extent of territory and influence in 
 the East, which hath never been possessed by any 
 iiation, ancient or modern. 
 
 The number of additional subjects acquired in 
 our Eastern Empire, has been estimated, by compu- 
 tations apparently moderate, to amount to no less than 
 
 fiftv 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 203 
 
 iifty ^millions of souls. The condition of this vast 
 population, though unquestionably much benefited, as 
 we have seen, by European intercourse in the essen- 
 tial points of subsistence, security, and good order, 
 remains still so depressed by an accumulation of ig- 
 nprance^ want, ,aiid vice, as admits not only of very 
 {!i*eat improvements, but which challenges sympathy 
 ^pd commiseration. 
 
 Even the other Asiatic nations claim our regard, 
 since among tliem our intercourse is frequent, though 
 our political connection be less intimate. Among 
 the M'hole race of Orientals, without almost a single 
 exception, tlie great bulk of the inhabitants arc cloath- 
 ed in a mannea' sp partial, scanty, and unclean, as 
 must prove inadequate to the calls of humanity, even 
 in the most favourable climates. Their food is spar- 
 ing and insufficient, even when estimated by the rules 
 of the most abstemious system of manners. Theyai'e, 
 however, depressed by another species of suffering, 
 the more to be regretted, because more capable of 
 alleviation from our beneficence ; tlieir minds, through 
 every class of the people, are detained in darkness by 
 the stern ritual of a superstition, which seems to pre- 
 clude almost every rational comfort, and to debar all 
 intellectual improvement. 
 
 In such circun\stances, it might have been imagin- 
 ed, that any attempt, whether of government or of 
 individuals, to improve the condition of our Indian 
 subjects, or of these Asiatic states, would have been 
 
 regarded 
 
204 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 regarded as neither irrational, nor unbecoming the 
 British character. But it seems the mean education 
 possessed by some of the missionaries ; the fanaticism 
 of a few individuals among them, and their too fre- 
 quent faiku'e of success, have proved sufficient with 
 many of their countrymen, to stamp the whole of 
 their proceedings with such an aspect of absurdity, 
 as has induced them to consider every attempt to 
 convey instruction to these degraded races of men, 
 as the offspring either of a weak or of a disordered 
 mind. These sentiments are most frequently enter- 
 tained by such Europeans as from an early change of 
 situation, and from having presented to them diffe- 
 rent religious systems, have been induced, not merely to 
 disregard them, but to brand them as the impositions 
 of craft practised upon ignorance ; and the number 
 of this class in our foreign settlements, is unhappily 
 far from being inconsiderable. 
 
 Such conclusions, however, if not absolutely ground- 
 less, are too general and sweeping to derive support 
 even from the wrong principles from which they are 
 inferred. That our missionaries in the East have 
 hitherto been very unsuccessful, will not, perhaps, be 
 denied ; but it is equally certain, that they have re- 
 ceived no steady encouragement nor adequate sup- 
 port : That they have frequently employed unsuitable 
 means for the attainment of the object they had in 
 view, is but too certain ; but this fact is far from de- 
 monstrating the impracticabihty of the object itself; 
 much less can it disprove the importance of the cause 
 
 which 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERXMEXT, ETC. 20j 
 
 which they were engaged to promote ; nor can it 
 shew the impossibihty of its final estabhshment bv 
 abler advocates, and more judicious measures. 
 
 Suddenly to change either the civil institutions, or 
 the religious system of a great community, it may be 
 confessed, is a scheme which may neither prove prac- 
 ticable nor wise ; yet the most judicious part of so- 
 ciety, both in India and Europe, have conceived the 
 object in view to be widely different from this, and 
 have been ever persuaded, that to promote the know- 
 ledge and virtue of our Asiatic subjects, by instruct- 
 ing their youth, is a task which by no means implies 
 the same difficulty or danger. They are convinced, 
 by many examples, of European skill having already 
 much instructed the natives of the East in several 
 arts; of its having taught them many new branches of 
 industry, and that the silent operation of the same in- 
 tercourse, will in time infallibly improve the Asiatic 
 character, both in energy and kno\\ ledge. The most 
 distinguishing advantage enjoyed by the Euro{)ean 
 subjects of Great Britain, seems to arise from that 
 system of useful education which is there conferred 
 upon all ranks, and from the liberal spirit of her go- 
 vernn)cnt, which extends its care and protection 
 equally to all the members of the community. As 
 tlie influence of this government in Asia is at present 
 manifestly more extensive than at any former period ; 
 it is conceived by many, that the present posture of 
 its affairs is verv favourable for making; new efforts 
 to transfer some portion of these peculiar blessings 
 
 to 
 
206 TJIOUGHTS ON" 
 
 to our Indian subjects, and to the Oriental king- 
 doms. 
 
 Instead, therefore, of ridiculing the labours of such 
 persons as have already engaged in this laudable en- 
 terprise of instructing ignorant nations, if men of 
 local knowledge had contributed, by their advice and' 
 assistance, a vei'y different result might have, perhaps, 
 already rewarded -their toils. Even the missionaries, 
 whom it has become so fashionable to deride, seem' 
 to have erred rather in the means they have adopted, 
 than in estimating the value of the object of their pur- 
 suit Those individuals of their order who have pe- 
 netrated into the Eastern hemisphere, prompted 
 solely by a desire of removing ignorance, and of al- 
 leviating the many evils occasioned by it, among such 
 vast numbers of their fellow creatures, far from me- 
 riting the obloquy of their cotemporaries, seem to 
 have been actuated by feelings that are honourable 
 to themselves, and to human nature. In this light 
 the conduct of some of their number has been viewed 
 by several of the most enlightened travellers of the pre- 
 sent age — men whose testimony is above the suspi- 
 cion of enthusiasm, or of any irrational bias to par- 
 ticular theological tenets. 
 
 My Barrow * the intellisient author of Travels in 
 Southern Africa, mentions, in terms of high approba- 
 
 tiony 
 
 * It has been thought necessary to offer a few instances of 
 success in the missionary labours, with detailed exactness, be- 
 cause 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 207 
 
 tion, the labours of Mr Kircherer, a regularly bred 
 clergyman of the reformed church, who alone, and 
 totally unprotected, proceeded from the Cape of 
 Good Hope into the midst of the Bosjesman hordes, 
 as far as the banks of Orange River. This gentle- 
 man, he observes, of mild and persuasive manners, 
 conceived that a solitary being, without arms, or any 
 visible means of injuring his fellow mortals, might 
 enter into the most savage hordes without suspicion 
 of violence, and consequently without danger to him- 
 self 
 
 * 
 
 The event proved that his conjecture was right; 
 he lived for many years among a tribe, the most 
 needy and wretched ttiat he could discover : he shared 
 with them every inconvenience, and suffered a tota,l 
 privation of all the comforts, and vei'y often many of 
 the necessaries of life. With a weak constitution he 
 braved the vicissitudes of an unsteady climate; and 
 with scanty cloathing, and in hovels so paltry, as not 
 to defend him from either wind or rain : he often 
 lay in the open air, in the midst of desarts as wide 
 and wild as those of Arabia. 
 
 It was in these circumstances that he learned their 
 language, and instructed them in the benevolent doc- 
 trines 
 
 cause there are many who treat every attempt of this nature as 
 wild, absurd, and impracticable j and there are many more who 
 contribute large sums for the instruction of our heathen sub • 
 jects, by means that have uniformly proved unsuccessful. 
 * Barrow's Travels in Southern Africa. 
 
£08 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 trines of Christianity ; endeavouring, with humane as- 
 siduity, to assuage their miserable lot in this life, by 
 assuring them of " a future and better world." 
 
 This benevolent missionary became at last so much 
 attached to this indigent and deplorable race of be- 
 ings, who possess nothing they can call their own, 
 but who live from day to day on the precarious spoils 
 of the chace, and frequently on the spontaneous 
 roots of a bairen soil, that it was not without diffi- 
 culty, and great distress to his feelings, that he was 
 able to tear himself from his little flock, when labour- 
 ing under a disease that threatened to terminate his 
 life. *' When one reflects for a moment," continues 
 Mr Barrow, " on the dangers and difficulties which 
 these religious enthusiasts voluntarily undergo, with- 
 out any prospect of reward, or even of reputation in 
 tliis world, it is impossible to withhold admiration 
 of a conduct so seemingly disinterested, and whose 
 motives seem to be under an influence so different 
 from that by \\hich most human actions are go- 
 verned." 
 
 This disinterested zeal of the missionaries is by no 
 means singular, or even rare among that class of 
 men. Till lately, \vhen the French invasion of Italy 
 destroyed its funds, the college of Propaganda^ in 
 Home, had numerous agents in ahnost every corner 
 of Asia, who willingly forsook all the comforts of ci- 
 vilized life, and the intercourse of all their friends, 
 to encounter the dangers of liostile climates, and the 
 
 still 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 20-9 
 
 still more perilous association of barbarous men : by 
 all of them these sacrifices were made without any 
 prospect of temporal reward : in fact, a very scanty 
 subsistence was all that the most laborious of these 
 men have ever reaped fi'om their unremitting efforts, 
 and for encountering situations of uncommon danger. 
 
 , It affords some consolation to reflect, that these 
 meritorious labours have not been altogether without 
 success.* In China, Japan, Siam, and Ava, tlie 
 discourses of the missionaries, and particularly their 
 maihematical instructions, have made, at different 
 periods, a considerable impression on majry of the 
 higher ranks, and even among the princes of tliese 
 kingdoms. In Cochin-China, a Ptoman missionary, 
 who had been appointed timiar bishop of that coun- 
 try, so far ingratiated himself with the king, tiiat 
 after his death and interment, he was raised from 
 the G;rave, that new funeral honours miiiht be con- 
 
 O -^ Or 
 
 ferred upon him, expressive of the regard of that 
 people. I 
 
 O SECTION 
 
 * There can be no question, Kowever, that much greater 
 effects would have been produced, had these misisionaries con- 
 fined themselves more particularly to the education of children, 
 and to the communication of the more useful mechanic arts, 
 when they addressed such as were advanced in life. It is ma- 
 nifest, from their own accounts, that hunger and nakedness 
 were the grreat wants which were first to be removed from these 
 savages, before any relish could be created for intellectual 
 food. ■-■:'; 
 
 f Barrow's Ta^avels In Southern Africa. 
 
[ 210 ] 
 
 SECTION XIV. 
 
 OF THE AFRICAN Bf ISSIONARIES AND THEIR 
 CONVERTS. 
 
 In general, it would seem that the instructions of the 
 niissionaries have had the greatest influence, wherever 
 the people were not already pre-occupied with a ma- 
 tured system of their own. On the banks of Zondcr- 
 End river, near Bavian's Kloof, in Southern Africa, 
 three Moravian missionaries have gradually attracted 
 to their society a number of the wandering and des- 
 titute Hottentots of that district. As their conduct 
 has been successful, in a very difficult and almost 
 hopeless case, it forms a rule for the guidance of 
 future missionaries, among the most savage of the 
 Oriental tribes : they began by supplying their cor- 
 poreal, before their intellectual wants. 
 
 By 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 211 
 
 By gradually accustoming them to cleanliness and 
 industry, they have succeeded in changing the natu- 
 ral habits of the Hottentots so completely, that they 
 have now not only a relish for dress, but are enabled 
 to subsist and clothe themselves by the produce of 
 their own labour. They are already acquainted with 
 many of the duties, and aspire to the comforts of ra- 
 tional beings: an effect that probably never could 
 have been produced by holding to them vague and 
 temporary harangues on speculative tenets, before 
 their minds were rendered capable of comprehending 
 them, by a previous education. 
 
 The comforts enjoyed by this little society, have, 
 on various occasions, drawn to it such accessions from 
 the destitute savages of that neighbourhood, as have 
 greatly increased its original number. During tiie 
 short period of the British government in that part of 
 Africa, it had amounted to above six hundred souls; 
 new proselytes were, however, so frequently added, 
 that the missionaries had found it expedient to send 
 to Europe for a farther supply of instructors. 
 
 At the period when Mr Barrjw passed through 
 this district, his attention was drawn to tliis society 
 while assembled in the open field on Sunday, for the 
 purpose of performing divine service. A scene so 
 novel in this part of Africa, and so different from 
 what he liad been accustomed to observe amono; this 
 unhappy class of beings, at once gratified his feelings, 
 and excited a lively curiosity regarding the nature of 
 
 2 an 
 
212 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 tin establishment which could produce such beneficial 
 effects. 
 
 The three missionaries from -whom he learnt the 
 particulars of this society, belong to a sect of Moravians 
 termed llerahuters, from the name of a village in 
 Saxony, which had afforded them an asylum when 
 driven from Moravia. " They were plain and de- 
 cent in their dress/' adds this traveller, " of modest 
 manners, and intelligent hi conversation." Although 
 zealous in the cause of their mission, they were free 
 from bigotry and enthusiasm.^ 
 
 # 
 
 Around the different dwellings of these missionaries, 
 and those of their flock also, every thing participated 
 of that neatness and simplicity which forms the 
 strouQ-cst feature in their character : the church which 
 they had built was a plain and neat ediMce : their 
 mill for grinding corn was superior to any in the whole 
 colony : their gardens were also kept in good order, 
 and produced abundance of vegetables, for the sup- 
 ply of the table : almost every thing that had been 
 done Avas by the labour of their own hands; for, 
 agreeably to the mles of the society of which they 
 were members, each missionary had learned some 
 useful profession. One was skilled in every branch 
 of smith's work, the second aa as a school-master, and 
 the third a taylor. 
 
 The 
 
 * Vide Barrow's Travels in Southern Africa* 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 213 
 
 The six hundred proselytes who had joined these 
 teachers were cantoned in a valley adjoining the river, 
 and in huts, with a small portion of (^round annexed 
 to each, for the purpose of raising sustenance. The 
 various stages of their improvement were still visible, 
 and marked with exactness the length of time they 
 had joined this community : the earliest converts were 
 best clothed, cleanest, and most perfectly accommo- 
 dated ; a circumstance which aiforded a pleasing de- 
 monstration that their improvement a\ as gradual, and 
 that the amelioration of their state was progressive, 
 arising from a change both in their manners and in- 
 dustry. The condition of the greater part had already 
 become preferable to that of the poor in some parts 
 of England. 
 
 Tlie circumstance which seems chiefly to have en- 
 abled these missionaries to overcome the indolence 
 and filthy habits that distinguish savage life, is their 
 iirst endeavouring to accustom them to bodily labour 
 and cleanliness, before proposing to their minds any 
 abstract doctrines or theolodcal tenets. 
 
 O 
 
 A method the very reverse of this has frustrated the 
 labours of by far the greater part of European mis- 
 sionaries, in almost every part of Asia : in the case 
 now under review, every individual Hottentot who 
 chose to learn a trade, was immediately paid for his 
 labour, as soon as he could earn wages. Some in 
 consequence of this hired themselves for a limited 
 time to the neighbouring peasants ; some made mats 
 
 O 3 and 
 
214 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 and brooms for sale ; others reared poultry ; and 
 not a few subsisted themselves and their families by 
 their cattle and sheep. The greater part of the so- 
 ciety was by these means enabled to purchase de- 
 cent cloathing ; and to appear at church dressed in 
 printed cottons, instead of the filthy habiliments 
 which had invariably distinguished that tribe in their 
 natural state, and which had conferred upon them a 
 sort of pre-eminence in wretchedness and loathsome 
 barbarity. 
 
 These various improvements, thus effected among 
 this tribe of Hottentots, are not to be considered as 
 precarious or transient in their nature ; for since they 
 are gradual, and have proceeded upon rational prin- 
 ciples, as well as a thorough conviction among the 
 natives themselves of their utility, they have conti- 
 nued, and must continue in a state of gradual ad- 
 vancement. Every individual being at last fully per- 
 suaded that cleanliness is greatly conducive to his 
 health and his comfort, he is willing to bestow any 
 little money he can spare in purchasing cloaths, in- 
 stead of spirits and tobacco, which, in his unrechiim- 
 ed state, constituted the supreme objects of his de- 
 sire, although they had occasioned the greater part 
 of those evils and mischiefs which had embittered 
 his condition. 
 
 Such have been the effects of the judicious ar- 
 rangements a'jd instructions of the missionaries at 
 Baviuns Kioof. That enthusiam and fanatical spirit 
 
 which 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 215 
 
 which has so often characterised the Moravian secta- 
 ries in Europe, having found no place in this society, 
 their discourses are there short, and replete with 
 good sense and useful advice : and so far are they 
 from making any ostentatious display of a large list 
 of new converts to their persuasion, that they have 
 ever been remarkably cautious in conferring either 
 the name or privileges of their new profession upon 
 any of the proselytes at an unseasonable period. 
 
 Not more than sixty, of ten times that number of 
 converts, had, at the period alluded to, been admit- 
 ted members of the Christian Church, by the initia- 
 tory rite of baptism. Their conduct in this respect 
 has also been as different from that of other missio- 
 naries in the East, as the consequences which have 
 been the result of it. In that country it has been 
 too common, to publish at the different stations, and 
 to transmit to Europe a pompous catalogue of con- 
 verts to the Christian Church, not without strong sus- 
 picion of its magnitude being increased by the arti- 
 lices of these converts themselves ; the same persons 
 presenting themselves at different places under feign- 
 ed names. 
 
 This successful example of the Moravians in Afri- 
 ca, which has thus been given in detail, on the au- 
 thority of Mr Barrow, is in every particular consist- 
 ent with the personal knowledge of several English 
 gentlemen, who were then upon the spot : But to 
 such as are in any degree acquainted with the cha- 
 racter 
 
£1^ THOUGHTS ON 
 
 racter of that ^^ritcr no additional testimony will be 
 pecessary to authenticate any fact recorded in his 
 volumes. 
 
 ; . As many important inferences are to be drawn 
 from this conduct of the Moravians of Bavians Kloof, 
 they ought not to rest on a solitary example ; the 
 same lesson may be drawn from a thousand instances, 
 as w ill appear in the sequel. 
 
 1 . We have to infer from it, first, as a rule for 
 the guidance of future missionaries, that they ought 
 to learn the more useful of the mechajiical trades. 
 The primary lesson which savage man seems capable 
 of receiving, is to labour with his hands ; this nature 
 seems to have ordained as an early provision against 
 cold, hunfjer, and other urg-ent wants. Even in the 
 communicating of this instruction the missionary must 
 meet with many disappointments, and he ought to 
 possess, along with mechanicqil skill, great patience, 
 and ipuch practical acquaintance with human cha- 
 racter. 
 
 i2. As the individuals of foreign and independent 
 tribes are free, and cannot be compelled to attend 
 the instructions of their teachers, they can only be 
 attached to them by motives of interest : every new 
 lesson ought to be productive of some benefit : it 
 ought either to convey a positive comfort, or remove 
 some wants. Hence the missionaries of rude and 
 unreclaimed nations must be men of acthe and un- 
 wearied 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 217 
 
 wearied benevolence ; they ought not, as heretofore, 
 to be drawn from the haunts of the soHtary and re- 
 cluse ; where the mind is too often soured by the 
 acrimony of polemical doctrines, and where the stu- 
 dents are generally unqualified by any acquaintance 
 with those mechanical labours which must supply the 
 primary w ants of man. 
 
 3. The missionaries must beware of magnifying 
 the extent and importance of their own labours ; by 
 giving premature admission to their new converts in- 
 to the rank and privileges of Christianity. By a con- 
 trary method the natives will be too apt to disgrace 
 its doctrines by the gTossness of their conceptions, 
 and will perhaps still oftener offend the purity of its 
 precepts by the innnorality and extravagance of their 
 conduct. 
 
 4. The missionaries ought assiduously to apply to 
 the instruction of the young ; not merely in the ele- 
 ments of learning, as signifying the knowledge of 
 letters, but in communicating habits of domestic in- 
 dustry and useful labour, i or these purposes a course 
 of discipline will be found more effectual than oral 
 instruction. 
 
 rifthly, the missionary must " shew his faith by 
 " his works." His conduct must at all times prove 
 an ornauient, not a disgrace to his profession ; for of 
 all the human causes of the speedy difHision of Chris- 
 tianity among the heathen nations, this has justly been 
 
 regarded 
 
2IS THOUGHTS OK 
 
 regarded as the most powerful, namely, the upright 
 
 and blameless Hf'p of its early prnf(P«:sors * 
 
 Should these rules of evangelising rude nations be 
 observed, and this mode of instruction, it will be at- 
 tended with equally good effect among every savage 
 people. 
 
 For if the same happy fruits have not been reap- 
 ed from missionary labours in India and among the 
 other Oriental nations, it must be attributed to the 
 neglect of these necessary means : it cannot, assured- 
 ly, be ascribed to any greater indocility in the natives, 
 or to any superior difficulty of communicating in- 
 struction to the peaceable Hindoos: notwithstand- 
 ing the boasted permanency of their system, the 
 great reformer Nanuk has converted the whole na- 
 tion of the Seeks to a different faith. 
 
 Our failure so often in these countries must have 
 arisen from the adoption of a less judicious mode of 
 instruction, from the promulgation of mysterious doc- 
 trines, previous to the communication of knowledge 
 sufficient either to appreciate their value or to com- 
 prehend their meaning. 
 
 The same cause, will, in a great measure account 
 r the small benefit or advantage which has hitherto 
 
 been 
 
 * Vide Gibbon's decline and fall of the Roman Empire. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. S1.9 
 
 been reaped from their new faith, by the converts 
 themselves, whether in the knov/ledge of duty, or in 
 the conduct of hfe. Neidier the remnant of Portu- 
 guese Christians in the East, nor the new proselytes 
 to our faith from amonG^ the heathens, enjoy any su- 
 perior reputation tor mlegnty of conduct or respecta- 
 bility of ciiaractei-; nor arc chey in any respect more 
 trust-worthy m tne transaction of ordinary business. 
 The Oriental convert, as we have hitherto seen his 
 education conducied, on hi^ admission into the church, 
 chani^es his name only ; no additional information is 
 conveyed to his understaadino;, nor any new motives 
 afforded him for the practice of duty. 
 
 In those circumstances, finding the ties of his for- 
 mer system, \\'hatever they were, compleatly broken, 
 a laxity of principle is to be apprehended, rather than 
 a more ric^id adherence to virtue. From such a con- 
 duct, on the part of the missionaries, and from such 
 a plan of instruction little benefit could be expect- 
 ed : 3^et the failure ot it has occasioned this indolent 
 and unphiiosophical conclusion, that no effort of ours 
 can improve the Oriental nations. 
 
 The contrary of this position, seems, however, to 
 be established by the whole of our past experience : 
 for in Bengal, where the missionaries have been most 
 unsuccessful, many strong proofs are found of the 
 practibility of not only improving the ordinary classes 
 of the natives, but also of instructing savages. In 
 the interior parts of that province, there are several 
 
 tribes 
 
i!20 THOUGHTS ON" 
 
 tribes of mountaineers in a state of complete barba- 
 rism : strangers to almost every comfort of social life, 
 and even to the modes of the Hindoo superstition 
 itself. 
 
 These savages are often totally naked, and subsist 
 chietiy on noisome reptiles, or roots which tliey pick 
 up in the woods. They have hardly any intercourse 
 with the agricultural inhabitants of the plain, but that 
 of nocturnal incursions, for the purpose of robbery 
 and depredation. The frequency of such inroads had, 
 at different times, proved a severe annoyance to the 
 cultivators in the adjoining districts, and materially 
 injured the revenues of government. In some large 
 tracts in the neighbourhood of iVlongheer and Bogle- 
 pore, these destructive inroads were still prevalent 
 Avhen Mr Cleveland, a gentleman of singular bene- 
 volence, as well as of a correct judgment, was ap- 
 pointed chief of that part of the country. To him 
 belongs the merit of at once redressing the griev- 
 ances of those husbandmen, and accomplishing the 
 reformation of those barbarians who disturbed their 
 labours. 
 
 The method he pursued consisted of gentle and 
 courteous treatment of the savages; the punctual 
 payment of the baskets, matts, and other trifling ar- 
 ticles which they offered for sale ; small presents of 
 cloth, or whatever might prove most gratifying to their 
 wants. The effect produced by this treatment was 
 perfect confidence in their new chief; and more fre- 
 quent 
 
THE BRITISH GOVEEXMEXT, ETC. 221 
 
 quent intercourse with his peopie. In the space of 
 a few 3*ears, some of the most tractable were em- 
 bodied into a kind of battahon, and were so much 
 gratified by a small pittance of pay, which was regu- 
 larly issued to them, that when they were afterwards 
 entrusted with arms, their service was of material ad- 
 vantage in defending the peasants from the depreda- 
 tions of the rest of their tribe. The order and pro- 
 tection thus estabiisiied, gradually paved the way for 
 the inti'oductiun of as much industry as enabled these 
 destitute beings to procure their own subsistence. 
 Every change introduced into their manners was so 
 contrived as to produce some new comfort to them- 
 selves ; hence their attachment to ]\Ir Cleveland was 
 strengthened, and a desire was excited of deriving 
 fresh benefits from his liberality. A monument 
 erected to the memory of this valuable man, who 
 died amidst these labours, attests the high esteem for 
 his character that was entertained by the Governor- 
 General and Council of Bengal. From it we learn, 
 that this worthy person, " witiiout blood-shed or the 
 terrors of authority, employing only the means of 
 conciliation, contidence and benevolence, attempted 
 and accomplished the entire subjection of the lawless 
 and savage inhabitants of the juni2;letcrry of Rajah 
 IVIahl." 
 
 Much room is afforded in every part of India for 
 benevolent exertions of this kind. From Chunar to 
 the Coromandel coast hoards of savao;es ran2;e their 
 native mountains, through a tract of country extcnd- 
 
 
222 THOUGHTS ON' 
 
 ing many hundred miles — the period during \vhich 
 they have continued in this state surpasses all tradi- 
 tion. From their slender acquauitance with the 
 Brahminical rites, they have been supposed more an- 
 cient than the first establishment of that system. 
 
 But the advantages derived from European instruc- 
 tion and intercourse, have not been contined to the 
 remote and savage corners of the East : in Calcutta 
 itself, the capital of British India, we have already 
 noticed, that some natives of distinction have been 
 taught all the elementary branches of European learn- 
 ing, with considerable success ; nor has any difficulty 
 occurred in communicating this instruction, farther 
 than that which is at first unavoidably occasioned by 
 the want of a common language between the teachers 
 and their scholars. From the great proficiency lately 
 made by many of the English in the different dialects 
 of the East, this difficulty is becoming daily less; 
 and in teaching the different trades, and mechanical 
 arts, it has almost entirely disappeared* Improved 
 processes in the manufacture of opium, indigo, and 
 saltpetre, have been taught the natives with the same 
 facility and expedition that the knowledge of these 
 arts could have been communicated to the inhabitants 
 of any country in Europe. Ship-building, practical 
 mathematics, and navigation, under European direc- 
 tion, have, as we have already seen, made no con- 
 temptible progress among our Asiatic subjects, when 
 
 we 
 
 * 
 
 * Because in these, abstract terms are not employed. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 223 
 
 v/e advert to the short period which has elapsed since 
 their attention has been directed to these important 
 branches of knowledge. 
 
 If, therefore, in every other department of science 
 and learning, the skill of Europeans has been of such 
 singular benefit to the natives of India, and has pro- 
 duced such substantial improvements, can there re- 
 main any doubt that it is equally practicable to 
 instruct them in the principles of religion and mo- 
 rals? 
 
 If the niisslonai les have been uniformly more un- 
 successful than any other class of teachers in the 
 East, does there not thence arise a very strong pre- 
 sumption, either against their own knowledge of the 
 subjects which they have attempted to teach, or 
 against the methods they have adopted to communi- 
 cate their instructions ? 
 
 But on the former part of this statement it is the 
 less needful to enlarge, as the present state of learn- 
 ing, among a considerable part of the missionaries, 
 must have frequently evinced to eveiy person con- 
 versant with them, not only a want of European 
 science, but what is more to be regretted in their 
 situation, a remarkable ignorance of local circum- 
 stances, and even of the character and manners of 
 the natives. 
 
 The 
 
224 TllOUGHfS ON 
 
 The earliest missionary establishments in Hindos* 
 tan, and perhaps in the East, were instituted under 
 circumstances apparently the most auspicious. They 
 were, however, soon rendered fruitless and nugatory, 
 by the ignorance and ineptitude of tlie teachers, and 
 by an indiscreet zeal, which alarmed the prejudices 
 of the Mahomedans. 
 
 The reign of Acbar, when they first made their 
 appearance, was distinguished by a degree of toler- 
 ance altogether uncommon under Mahomedan go- 
 vernments. That monarch, who is still revered as 
 the Augustus of Asia, not only afforded equal pro- 
 tection to the adherents of eveiy sect, but discovered a 
 strong inclination to become acquainted with the pe- 
 culiar tenets which distinguished each ; and at the 
 same time shewed a peculiar predilection for the 
 Christian doctrines. 
 
 Prompted by this curiosity, he ^vrote Albuquerque, 
 the Portuguese viceroy, for certain Christian priests, 
 to be sent to his court at Am'-a.. Tiiree members of 
 the College of Jesuits were dispatched to him on this 
 occasion ; Jeronimo Xavier, the rector at Goa, Ema- 
 nuel Pigneiro, and Benedict de Gois, Their recep- 
 tion \vas favourable, and well suited to the dignity of 
 the monarch who had given the invitation. A church 
 was built for these men, it was endowed for their 
 support, and liberty was granted to teach their doc- 
 trine : a privilege which Avas continued during several 
 
 successive reigns. 
 
 Under 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 225 
 
 Under the protection of this Emperor, and by his 
 desire, Jeronimo wrote a defence of the doctrines of 
 Christianity against the Mahornedans, which was 
 translated into Persian, and entitled The Mirror of 
 Truth, The worship of images, and various other 
 superstitions of the Church of Rome, which, in this 
 work, were held up as the doctrines of Christ, not 
 only drew upon its author the indignation of all de- 
 vout Musselmans, but afforded them the most dan- 
 gerous advantages over him, in the replies which they 
 made to it.* 
 
 On this occasion Ahmed Eben Zin Alabedin pub- 
 lished a reply, entitled The Brusher of the Mirror, 
 which the Mahornedans not only regard as a victory 
 over the Jesuit, but as the compleat triumph of their 
 cause: nor have the efforts of the Propaganda in 
 Rome been able to alter their opinion, by the various 
 replies which it has since ordered to be written against 
 this popular work. 
 
 That the Christian religion, disfigured as it then 
 was by the gross superstitions and corruptions of the 
 monks of the sixteenth century, did not spread in 
 Asia, is a circumstance that cannot justly be regret- 
 ted : that the mysterious dogmas, and fanatical effu- 
 sions of some of the still more ignorant declaimers 
 
 "who 
 P 
 
 * Vide the Life of Mahomed, by Prideaux. Catalogue of 
 Books, &e. 
 
225 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 who have succeeded them, have made no general 
 impression, may be regarded as a fortunate circum- 
 stance, since the simple doctrines of piety and mo- 
 rality, as laid down in the scriptures, must have easier 
 admission, as well as happier effect, when they shall 
 hereafter be presented to the Orientals, uncontami- 
 nated by such spurious admixture. 
 
 SECTION 
 
[ 227 3 
 
 SECTION XV. 
 
 THE SMALL SUCCESS OF VARIOUS MISSIONARY 
 
 LABOURS OWING TO THE IMMORAL LIVES 
 
 OF THE CONVERTS AND TEACHERS. 
 
 Perhaps the greatest difficulty in diffusing the 
 Gospel in the East, will in future times arise, not from 
 the incapacity of the natives, nor even their unwil- 
 lingness to receive instruction, but from the profligate 
 and unworthy conduct both of the converts them- 
 selves, and of their European guides. Mr Terry, 
 chaplain to the English ambassador at the court of 
 Shah Jehan, asserts, that he was prevented, from 
 this circumstance, from ever attempting to convert 
 any of the natives ; the lives of former proselytes 
 having so frequently disgraced their profession. His 
 opinion has been thus strongly expressed by M. 
 
 V9, ' Thuv. 
 
228 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 Thevenot ; " 11 ni' a toujours paru qu'il -y-a fort peu 
 de profit, par le mauvais example que les Chrestiens 
 ieur donnent — vivant dans un eftroyable dissolution, 
 et s' abandonnans a toutes sortes de debauches."* 
 
 The converts made by both the Dutch and Eng- 
 lish missionaries, have been charged for more than a 
 century past, with much greater laxity of moi'als than 
 either the Mahomedans or Hindoos, according to 
 Dr. Prideaux.t The influence of government being, 
 in subsequent times, on the side of the teachers, has 
 had sufficient po^^ er to draw over to the profession, 
 many of the selfish and unprincipled, who are always 
 ready to join whatever party might best promote their 
 interested views. 
 
 Little moral or religious instruction being in gene-f 
 ral bestowed upon the converts, previous to their as- 
 suming tiie profession, they have too frequently ex- 
 posed their new faith to the scandal and reproach of 
 the Gentiles ; and have in some measure forced upon 
 them conclusions unfavourable to its truth and use- 
 fulness; for it will, perhaps, be always difficult to 
 persuade the nations of the East, of the superior ex- 
 cellence of our religion, so long as the lives of its 
 professors hold up to them an undeniable objection 
 to its influence in point of fact. The inference which, 
 in such circumstances, they must unavoidably draw, 
 
 IS 
 
 * Relation de diverses Voyages, 
 f- Life of Mahomed, p. 117, 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 229 
 
 is of an opposite nature, namely, that the religion 
 which they ought to prefer, is that which produces 
 the most virtuous behaviour, and the most valuable 
 men. 
 
 From the over anxious zeal, however, of our mis- 
 sionaries, and their desire to swell the catalooue of 
 believers, the number of such nominal converts is far 
 greater than is commonly supposed. After making 
 every allowance for the exaggeration of the Jesuits, 
 their increase in China and Japan was rapid and ex- 
 tensive. In the latter country, in particular, a few 
 years after their establishment, great apprehensions 
 were entertained lest the new converts and their 
 teachers might overturn the established government; 
 and this circumstance, some time after, gave rise to 
 the most cruel persecution which is recorded in the 
 page of history.* The Emperor of China at first 
 also greatly encouraged th6 settlement of the society 
 of Jesus — a church was erected within the precincts 
 of the palace, and the officers of the government 
 were encouraQ;ed to attend a mathematical school 
 which these fathers were appointed to teach. Their 
 pretension to the power of working miracles, and their 
 fi'equent interferences with political affairs, prevent- 
 ed the diffusion of their doctrines, and subverted 
 that influence which their knowledge must otherwise 
 have secured. 
 
 P 3 The 
 
 * Relation de divjjrses Voyages; par M. Thevenot. 
 
aSO THOUGHTS ON 
 
 The Dutch, nearly two centuries ago, had no fewer 
 than forty clergymen employed in their different set- 
 tlements ; and in the island of ( eylon, which did not 
 then constitute above a tenth part of their Oriental 
 possessions, they had eighty thousand professing 
 Christians enrolled on the books of their clergy.* 
 On the Malabar and Coromandel coasts the number 
 of Portuguese converts must have been still greater, 
 for it is asserted of St. Francis Xavier, their first 
 missionary, that he alone baptised upw ards of a mil- 
 lion of the infidels. 
 
 When it is considered that in these early periods, 
 there were no public schools, nor indeed any method 
 of communicating suitable instruction, for waiit Of a 
 common language, it must necessarily follow, that 
 the far greater number of these professing Christians 
 knew little of that religion but the name. Tippoo 
 Saheb expelled forty thousand of them from his do- 
 minions, under the aukward Appellation of Kallis- 
 tauns ; a fact, from which it appears, ttiat the name 
 itself was but imperfectly known in some parts where 
 it was pfofessed.f 
 
 The opinion of Sir Thomas Rhoe, concerning the 
 converts of Agra, is recorded by Thevenot, in terms 
 sufficiently expressive, although in that city their 
 number was far from being so great as in some others-; 
 
 quel- 
 
 * Prideaux's Tracts. 
 •«. Tide a Persian Tract on the Revenue of the Mysore. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 231 
 
 quclque diligence que j'aye pu faire,*je naye point 
 vu dans ce pays un seul converty qu'ori peut dire 
 ^tre veritablement Chrestien, ct fort pen qui en fasse 
 profession, si ce nest un petit nonibre qui a ete bap- 
 tist pour de Targent, et entretenu par ies Jesuits.* 
 
 The number of proselytes, however, in the East 
 has varied at different times. In China, Japan, Mal- 
 lacca, and the Phillippines, they '^vere at one period 
 in no inconsiderable multitude. But the close affi- 
 nity between the Roman Catholic ceremonies and 
 the rites of the Pagan worship, if they made the 
 transition easy to the latter, offered at the same time 
 many facihties and inducements to a relapse. Ac- 
 cordingly Paganism has again resumed its seat in 
 many parts where Catholicism had once been esta- 
 l)lished. There is in both systems tlie same nmlti- 
 plicity of rites and observances, and tlie same neg- 
 lect of moral duties. Each pays an equal respect to 
 days, meats, and external ablutions ; and cheiishes 
 the same reverence for the virtues of holy water, and 
 a similar neglect or contempt of morality. 
 
 A number of converts of this description, widely 
 dispersed among our Heathen and JMahomedan sub- 
 jects in the East, are, perhaps, of all men the least 
 •qualified to adorn their profession by a suitable be- 
 haviour, and to display the influence of true religion 
 «n the conduct of hfe. Hence flow the prejudices 
 
 P 4 against 
 
 * Relation de diverses Voyages. 
 
2SQi THOUGHTS ON 
 
 against a system intrinsically excellent, wiiich arc 
 known to exist among many even of the higher ranks 
 of the natives. It is difficult to separate, in their 
 minds, that ignorance and vice which is so frequent 
 among the proselytes, from their profession itself. 
 Their religion and its fruits are closely associated in 
 the imagination; and this circumstance is perhaps 
 alone sufficient to account for the small progress 
 which genuine Christianity has made in the East, 
 after the laborious effi^rts of various classes of mis- 
 sionaries, for a period of more than two hundred 
 years. 
 
 The inferences which may be deduced from this 
 account of the different attempts that have hitherto 
 been made to proselyte the Eastern nations, can 
 convey^ little more than negative instruction : their la- 
 i^ours are to be regarded more useful as a warn- 
 ing than as a guide ; from their example however we 
 may infer, 
 
 1. That no concessions can safely be made to the 
 prejudices of the natives, by clothing our religion 
 with adventitious ceremonies, and new theological 
 dogmata. The precepts of the Gospel are not only 
 clear and simple, but perfectly consonant to the dic- 
 tates of reason. Its positive ordinances are few ; to 
 load it with a more complex ritual, would not only 
 diminish its beauty, but would also obstruct its pro- 
 gress, and lessen its usefulness. What \\ ould it avail 
 the Hindoo, for example, were we to free him from 
 
 the 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. , 253 
 
 the painful observances of his own system, only to 
 impose a fresh yoke, perhaps equally galling ; and 
 place up against him a new " writing of ordinances,'' 
 hardly less difficult to bear. If he could not literally 
 look back to the " flesh-pots of Egypt," he would, 
 like the Portuguese converts, relapse into his former 
 ritual, more congenial to his habits, and presenting 
 but little difference even to his imagination?* 
 
 2. We may further infer, from the history of 
 Eastern missions, that the persons selected for the 
 instruction of the more cultivated nations of Asia, 
 ought not to be men unacquainted with human learn- 
 ing. Their skill in the European sciences was the 
 great source of that respect and attention which was 
 paid to the Jesuit missionaries at the court of the 
 "Mogul, as well as at those of the Emperors of China 
 and Japan. They communicated in these parts many 
 branches of knowledge highly useful ; they reformed 
 
 their 
 
 * Ample confirmation of this fact is aftbrded in several parts 
 of the Eastern world ; where, although the Roman Catholic 
 ceremonies, and the profession of that faith was once almost 
 universal, yet scarcely a vestige of either is now to be traced. 
 In the Lettres edifiantes et curieuses, of the Jesuits, it was at 
 one period boasted, that many thousand converts were made 
 through almost all the provinces of the Deccan, and particu- 
 larly in Madura. It it certain, however, that the few tracer 
 ©f Christianity to be discerned in these quarters are extremely 
 faint, or almost wholly obliterated. If persecution eradicated 
 it from Japan and China; in India, it seems to have been lost 
 by a gradual assimilation to the superstitious systems of the 
 country. 
 
■l'J4> THOUGHTS OH 
 
 their calendar, and improved their skill in astronomy 
 and mathematics : hence they were favourably recei- 
 'Ved in the palaces of the great, and made several 
 converts among the officers of government, whose 
 protection they often found as servicea!)le as their 
 example was powerful in influencing the opinions of 
 the multitude. 
 
 3. In reviewing the various attempts that have 
 •been made to introduce the comforts of civilised life 
 among savage tribes, it has almost invariably been 
 found that the greatest progress has been made, where 
 the missionaries were either mechanics, or at least 
 where they began their efforts by teaching the more 
 simple and useful trades. Men wholly illiterate, and 
 in the rudest stasjes of social union, have been often 
 almost entirely extirpated by the vices they had learn- 
 ed from European intercourse, before they were able 
 to profit by their instructions. The few exceptions 
 from this melancholy tact, that have been yet record- 
 ed, are to be discovered where trades-people and me- 
 chanics had been left among the natives, instead of 
 clerical or reliaious missionaries.* 
 
 o 
 
 Lastly, 
 
 * The island of Otahelte in the South Sea, has suffered a 
 rapid diminution in the number of its inhabitants, since it was 
 first visited by Europeans j to their intercourse may probably 
 be ascribed the frequency of war, of intoxication, and other 
 sources of calamity. Captain Cook estimated the Inhabitants, 
 in his time, at 100,000 j while at the period of the arrival of 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. QS5 
 
 Lastly, we may infer from the conduct of former 
 missionaries, that the insti'uctors to be sent amono- 
 the Oriental nations, ought to be men of " quiet and 
 "peaceable lives," not disposed to intermeddle in the 
 cabals of party, nor to interfere with the meaisures 
 of government. It was the neglect of this maxim 
 
 that 
 
 the Duff they were reduced to 15, DOG, and by the last accounts 
 from the missionaries, and Captain Turnbull, they were reduc- 
 ed to 5000., The horrid practice of infanticide instead of being 
 checked, had 'increased •, fdr it ils asserted, that the pfoportiou 
 of males to females, is as ten to one. Vide TurnbulPs voyage 
 round the world. The fate of the Sandwich islanders, has 
 been almost, in every respect, the reverse of that of the Ota- 
 heitean population. Among them the intercourse of Europeans 
 has brought about a great and rapid advancement in civiliza- 
 tion. Instead of fanatical missionaries, who could teach them 
 nothing within their comprehension, or convicts and deserters, 
 who communicate every thing bad, they had American traders 
 who resided among them fourteen years. At Owhyhee, the 
 principal island, the character of the Prince, a man of extra- 
 ordinary talents, has happily coincided with every effort that 
 was made for the improvement of the natives. This chief 
 named Tamahamad, is pourtrayed like a second Peter the 
 Great, rising above his age, and the prejudices of savage life j 
 his genius seems formed to lead, rather than to urge forward 
 the progress of improvement among his people. Unfettered 
 by the customs of his country, he has employed American and 
 European artificers in constructing his palace after the style 
 and model of civilized life. By engaging his own subjects to 
 assist in these labours, they have acquired considerable skill in 
 the mechanical arts ; they have enabled him to increase his 
 navy, a favourite object of this prince : and " I have no doubt,'' 
 says Captain Turnbull, " that in a very few years, he will 
 " erect these islands into a power very far from despicable.'* 
 
236 THOUGHTS ON^ 
 
 that involved, not only the missionaries themselves 
 in Japan, but their whole flocks to the rigours of a 
 persecution, the most cruel which is to be met with 
 in the whole records of history. In China and In- 
 dia the new proselytes have sometimes been in dan- 
 ger from a similar catasti'ophe arising from the same 
 cause. Christianity holds up no proscription against 
 any particular forms of government, but supposing 
 all may be useful, it powerfully recommends univer- 
 sal submission to the powers established, as "to the 
 " ordinance of God." When taught in this manner, 
 it possesses strong claims to the countenance and sup- 
 port of every government. 
 
 SECTION 
 
r ^37 J 
 
 SECTION XVL 
 
 OF THE ADVANTAGES DERIVED FROM THE INSTI- 
 TUTION OF PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS CONCLUSION. 
 
 To conclude, since the grand object of instructing 
 and converting the Eastern world, has hitherto ma- 
 nifesdy baffled all the efforts of the different nations 
 who have acquired cither territory or influence in 
 these regions, it must be inferred, that something in- 
 efficient or unsuitable has entered into all their mea- 
 sures for effecting this great purpose ; It must be 
 evident that the true method of influencing the habits 
 and opinions of that great mass of population, has 
 not yet been discovered, or at least has not yet been 
 adopted. 
 
 In 
 
238 ' THOUGHTS OX 
 
 In a matter bearing so direct a reference to the 
 comfort of millions of our race ; it might be deem- 
 ed presumptuous to dictate, and in any private indi- 
 viduals, perhaps bold even to speculate upon so great 
 and momentous a concern. To what we have already 
 advanced in a former part of this essay, it may not 
 however be improper to add, that this grand ob- 
 ject can, p^erhaps, be only accomplished in a gradual 
 manner in Asia, as it has already been in the great- 
 est part of Europe ; and that it will be effected in 
 both quarters of the world, by means altogether si- 
 milar, or exactly the same ; that is, by a general in- 
 stitution of parochial or district seminaries of edu- 
 cation. 
 
 In Europe this measure has for a considerable 
 time been regarded as the only sure and effectual 
 method of diffusing knowledge, and of intiuencing 
 opinion among the great body of the people ; in 
 Asia, experience will probably soon demonstrate that 
 there also it will be productive of the same happy ef- 
 fects ; for in every country, the great outline of hu- 
 man wants and advantages is so nearly the same, 
 that the first are to be relieved, and the last promot- 
 ed by means almost precisely similar. However 
 strongly it may excite our regret, it is certainly cu- 
 rious to contemplate the causes which may have with- 
 drawn the attention of our missionaries from this 
 measure in the East, and which have prevented them 
 ,from adopting an expedient so obviously useful. 
 
 I 
 
 This 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 239 
 
 This acquaintance of these men with European 
 learning, however small, seems to have impressed 
 them with a high idea of their own superiority over 
 the ignorant natives : Hence they seem to have en- 
 tertained the splendid hope of speedily converting 
 the pagan multitude by the po\^er of their own elo- 
 quence alone ; they believed themselves capable of 
 at once supplanting their crude and monstrous ritual, 
 by a religious system which tliey justly regarded as 
 far superior, both in truth and usefulness. 
 
 In entertaining these magnificent expectations, the 
 missionaries seem to have supposed that they were 
 supported by the example and success of the first 
 teachers of Christianity, who by their preaching had 
 eradicated superstition from the Roman provinces, 
 after it had taken hold of the soil, by a thousand ra- 
 mifications, and who planted in its stead, not merely 
 a new faith, but one which contraverted the precon- 
 ceived notions of the inhabitants. They imagined 
 that by pursuing similar means, they might accom- 
 plish the same important end. Forgetting that the 
 Apostles had uniformly felt and acknowledged that 
 their own endeavours were inadequate to produce 
 the mighty consequences that followed them, and 
 had on that account termed them " the foolishness 
 " of preaching ;" adding the express declaration, 
 that while they " planted and watered," the increase 
 
 was the gift of Heaven. 
 
 The 
 
i240 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 The missionaries for a while seem not even to have 
 apprehended, much less to have foreseen and calculated, 
 the great difficulty in changing the belief of a whole 
 people, whose minds were pre-occupied by a different 
 system established by time and countenanced by au- 
 thority : they were not aware, that the innumerable 
 deities and rites of paganism are closely interwoven 
 with every circumstance of business and of pleasure, 
 and that it is almost impossible to lay aside the obser- 
 vance of them, without at the same time renouncing 
 the commerce of mankind, and the amusements of 
 society*. These circumstances were overlooked 
 which might have taught them that the sudden con- 
 version of a multitude to a new system of faith and 
 practice could only be effected by the aid of the same 
 power which had assisted the Apostles " in turning 
 " the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the 
 '' just." 
 
 The influence and the resources of Europeans even 
 in India, was at first too slender to countenance the 
 idea of erecting any general establishment for the 
 instruction of youth. No adequate fund could then 
 be provided for such purposes, and what was, per- 
 haps, still more essentially necessary to success, no 
 middle class of inhabitants then existed in Asia, like 
 the native born offspring of Europeans, nor any in- 
 termediate race, qualified like it, to instruct the youth 
 m the learning^ of both continents. 
 
 In 
 
 * Gibbon's Decline and Fall, ^'c. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 241 
 
 In pursuing that line of conduct, which is still un- 
 happily adopted, the first missionaries appear more 
 excuseable in these earlier periods than their succes- 
 sors can be deemed at present. In their time, the 
 advantages of conferring elementary education on 
 the body of the peoijle, were far from being general- 
 ly understood. In the most civilized nations of Eu- 
 rope, parochial schools were then but partially esta- 
 blished. In many countries, they were either un- 
 known, or the introduction of them was dreaded as 
 a dangerous inlet to schism, heresy, and innovation. 
 It was not till after the decisive experiments of Fre- 
 derick II. had demonstrated their beileficial effects 
 in the province of Silesia, that they were generally 
 established throughout Germany and the Austrian 
 dominions. 
 
 From that period the establishment of schools has 
 begun to be considered as the grand remedy against 
 vice and mendicity among the lower orders in every 
 country of Europe. Their salutary influence in re- 
 moving many of the most inveterate evils of society 
 has been since felt and acknowledged, almost equally 
 in every stage of its progress, from the utmost bar- 
 barism to a state of the most perfect civilization ; and 
 the future historian will lind himself obliged to record 
 its beneficial effects on the morals of Africa as well 
 as of Europe. 
 
 In the former coiuitry, according to the latest in- 
 formation, it lias become a pretty general custom 
 
 Q amon"; 
 
242 THOUGHTS ON" 
 
 among the professors of the Mahommedan religion, 
 to establish sehools in the interior wilds of that con- 
 tinent. By a report to a committee of the House of 
 Commons, from the Directors of the Sierra Leone 
 Company, we learn that about 70 years ago a small 
 number of Mahommedans established themselves in 
 a country about forty miles north of that settlement, 
 called by them the Mandingo country. Agreeable 
 to a general practice among the adherents of their 
 faith, they formed seminaries, in which the Arabic 
 language and the doctrines of Mahommed were 
 taught. 
 
 In these societies the customs of Islamism were 
 adopted, and in particular, that of not selling any of 
 their children for slaves : laws founded on the Koran 
 were introduced ; those practices which chiefly mili- 
 tated against population were abandoned ; and in 
 spite of many internal convulsions a great degree of 
 comparative civilization and security were introduced. 
 The influx of inhabitants, as well as the increase of 
 population was rapid, and the whole power over that 
 part of the country has fallen into the hands of these 
 Mahommedan teachers. Many of those who have 
 been taught in these schools are emigrating to the 
 neighbouring kingdoms, where they succeed to pow- 
 er, and introduce a considerable portion of their re- 
 ligion and laws, by extending the same system of 
 scholastic instruction. 
 
 The 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMEXT, ETC. 943 
 
 The ascendancy thus obtained by these Mahomme- 
 dans, is so marked and po\A erful, that several of the 
 neighbouring chiefs liave adopted their names, with 
 a view of drawing to themselves some share of that 
 respect with which they are invested.* 
 
 In Silesia, as we have already noticed, the effects 
 of the trivial schools, as they are there called, have 
 been still more salutary and conspicuous. They 
 have there been established on better principles, and 
 have been conducted with greater energy and regula- 
 rity. The industry and virtue, as well as elementary 
 learning, which have been conferred on the inhabit- 
 ants of that province, has tended rapidly to increase 
 their number, and have uniformly kept pace with the 
 extension of these seminaries. So late as the con- 
 quest 1752, there were but few schools in Silesia; 
 and these ^vere in sucli a languid condition, that a 
 few only of the peasants were initiated in the com- 
 mon branches of education. 
 
 During the short space of forty years, that suc- 
 ceeded this period, 3500 seminaries had been esta- 
 blished, and almost the whole body of the people 
 had received some tincture of leaiuing, as well as the 
 invaluable habits of industry and virtue. 
 
 Before the seven years w^ar, the knowledge and 
 curiosity of the people were so limited, as scarcely to 
 
 Q 2 bring; 
 
 * Winterbottom's travels In Africa. 
 
244 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 bring into demand a single periodical publication, 
 while in 1798 seventeen literary productions, by the 
 day, the week, or the month, had an extensive cir- 
 culation, and conveyed valuable information to the 
 people on many subjects immediately and generally 
 useful. 
 
 " Probably no country in Europe," says an Ame- 
 rican, from whom this statement is given, " could so 
 strongly contest our superiority, in conferring learn- 
 ing on the people as Germany ; and she for this fa- 
 vourable distinction is indebted principally to Frede- 
 rick II. By the zeal with which he pursued the pur- 
 pose of spreading useful knowledge among all classes 
 of the people who were his subjects ; by the influence 
 of his example, and of his success, many thousands 
 have been benefited far beyond tlie limits of his do- 
 minions."* 
 
 In Great Britain, where parochial schools have 
 been so long and so generally established, as in some 
 measure to identify them with the constitution itself, 
 we are, perhaps, unable fully to appreciate their va- 
 lue, or to ascertain exactly \\ hat portion of our ad- 
 vantages, may be peculiarly derived from these insti- 
 tutions. The general diffusion of knowledge, of in- 
 dustry, and of virtuous habits among the lower ranks 
 of our citizens, has, however, been uniformly point- 
 ed 
 
 * Adam's Letters on Silesia. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMEyX, ETC. 245 
 
 cd out by foreigners, as the sources not only of our 
 unexampled wealth, but of that preponderating in- 
 fluence which the Empire has o^ained in the great 
 community of nations. 
 
 A race of intelligent individuals, they allege, is 
 continually emerging from the mass of the people ; 
 ever ready to step forward and invigorate the ranks 
 of our warriors and statesmen, as often as they have 
 been thinned by accident, or enfeebled by luxury. 
 Hence, they assert, has originated not only tiie unex- 
 ampled extension of our commerce, but our celebrity 
 in the different departments whether of science or of 
 
 war.* 
 
 In 
 
 * Unhappily our schools though general, have not been uni- 
 versally established even in our domestic empire. Some per- 
 sons have urged, and with much plausibility, that the distract- 
 ed and frequently unsettled state of Ireland arises chiefly from 
 the want of a sober and virtuous education rendered accessible 
 to the children of the peasantry. To ascribe its disturbances 
 to any political cause, or peculiar grievance, and to hold up 
 this to the multitude, may serve the purposes of the factious^ 
 but such a position is totally unwarranted by every fact. 
 The laws by which that part of the united kingdom is govern- 
 ed, are, with a very few exceptions, precisely the same with 
 those which regulate Middlesex : The government administer- 
 ing them consists of the same persons j there can, therefore, 
 exist no political grievances but such as are felt in every other 
 part of the empire. The grossest immorality, idleness, and 
 intoxication, they assert, prevails among the lower ranks j and 
 where there is a total want of education and good principle., 
 
246 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 In whatCA'er degree we may credit these general 
 observations, on the utility of public instruction, they 
 are unquestionably more peculiarly applicable at pre- 
 sent to the northern part of the island ; where, from 
 
 tlie 
 
 it Is easy to persuade the multitude, that government, and not 
 their own vices, is the cause of their misery. From the want 
 of established parochial seminaries in several parts of England 
 the poor of some districts have greatly encreased, and the 
 rates for their support have arisen to an enormous sum. Per- 
 haps the multifarious, contradictory mass, called the poor laws, 
 will finally be superseded by one simple regulation, providing 
 a general education, and suitable employment for the children 
 of the lower classes. Nothing but the length of time since 
 the first establishment of these laws, and the most inveterate 
 prejudices which from this circumstance have taken hold of the 
 people, could compel them for a single year, to submit to a 
 system so incongruous. Inefficient, and hostile to industry and 
 virtue. A sum of so many millions held up annually as a 
 bribe to idleness and vice, throws a deep stain upon the know- 
 ledge and political economy of the country. The reputation 
 of charity and humanity which this bounty has been supposed 
 to confer upon the nation, has been greatly misunderstood, or 
 most Injudiciously bestowed ; since the number of poor In 
 England has encreased to a tenfold proportion of what would 
 have existed under a system less miserable and Injurious In Its< 
 effects upon society. In India, as well as in Europe, there Is 
 a considerable portion of Etiaum or Charity-lands set apart for 
 the maintenance of the poor 5 and there, if they had not been 
 misapplied by the corruption of the officers appointed to ma- 
 nage them, they would have produced the same baneful effects 
 on the morals and industry of the people, as those which have 
 peen invariably seen to result from them in Europe. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 247 
 
 the happy constitution of its parochial schools, a very 
 considerable portion of literature is placed witliin the 
 reach of the poorest individuals of the community ; 
 and where that share of knowledge thus diffused a- 
 mong the commonalty, can alone accoflnt for the 
 uncommon proportion of the inhabitants, which in 
 almost every quarter of the world has arisen to wealth 
 and distinction. The Count Faujus St. Fond has 
 admitted this fact, so honourable to this country, by 
 asserting, that to the migration of our citizens into 
 foreign countries, these nations are frequently indebt- 
 ed for the brightest ornaments which they possess :* 
 and Dr. Currie, in a late work, has perhaps assigned 
 the true cause of this acknowledged fact : he has as- 
 cribed it to the liberal and virtuous education so ge- 
 perally bestowed on the Qommon people. f 
 
 Since, then, the institution of public seminaries, 
 for the instruction of youth, has been so eminently 
 beneficial in every country where they have been in- 
 troduced and supported ; and since their effects have 
 been found so peculiarly salutary among the inhabi- 
 tants of Great Britain, may we not hope that a time 
 will soon arrive, Avhen these establishments shall be 
 no longer confined to our domestic empire : that the 
 period so earnestly desired by the pious and benevo- 
 lent, shall be no longer deferred ; when the native 
 subjects of our foreign dominions shall be permitted 
 
 to 
 
 * Vide his Mineralogical Tour, 
 f The Life of the Poet Burns, 
 
248 THOUGHTS ON" 
 
 to share in a public benefit, that has been so long 
 enjoyed by the parent state, and proved so eminent- 
 ly useful? 
 
 If it be too sanguine to affirm, that the remote 
 and independent nations of the Eastern ^vorld can be 
 all instructed and improved by any effort of ours, 
 still it ought to be remembered, that there are many 
 Avide and populous tracts in that quarter of the globe 
 (so close in our connection,) who have now a direct 
 claim upon our aid, and from whom, without inhu' 
 manity, we cannot withhold our best endeavours to 
 communicate a share of whatever religious or moral 
 knowledge we may possess. 
 
 Were it possible to transfer, unimpaired, the whole 
 spirit of our scholastic institutions, and their disci- 
 pline, to the regions of Hindostan, is it very ex- 
 travagant to suppose, that they might there multiply 
 and invigorate the languid seminaries of our native 
 subjects ; or that they might operate powerfully, as 
 they have done every where else, in disseminating 
 knowledge, virtue, and true religion among the innu- 
 merable multitudes of Asia? This measure might 
 soon draw after it, (if it does not actually imply) a 
 daily, and weekly instruction from the school, the 
 press, and the pulpit: and if it be possible to renew 
 the energies of an indolent and corrupted people, it 
 might prove the means of finally rescuing them from 
 -timt ab^'ss of poverty and superstition, in which igno- 
 rance 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERXMENT, ETC. 1249 
 
 ranee and vice, more than any other cause, have con- 
 tributed for many ages to detain them. 
 
 These suppositions imply no impossibility : and as 
 far as the instruction of the British subjects in Asia 
 is concerned, the task may be difficult, but by no 
 means so desperate, or Utopian, as some have repre- 
 sented it. Of the propositions which are submitted 
 in tliis essay, it may be asserted, that none are im- 
 practicable, since it is certain that every one of them 
 has already been adopted, and put in execution, on 
 a scale more or less extensive. The plans above re- 
 commended, if they have not the ambiguous merit 
 of novelty, may all claim the negative commendation 
 of being neither dans:erous, nor alto2:ether useless : 
 for some benefit has already been derived from 
 their partial adoption ; and perhaps, in no one case 
 have they either wholly miscarried or proved inju- 
 rious. 
 
 From the foregoing sketch, imperfect as it may 
 seem, it may be obviously inferred, that the far 
 greater part of the British subjects in the East, are 
 greatly removed from a state of primitive barbarism : 
 they are settled in fixed habitations, collected into 
 cities, accustomed to subordination, and in a consi- 
 derable degree acquainted ^vith the arts of civilized 
 life. To improve farther those who have already 
 made so many advances to civilization, is certainly a 
 much easier task tlian to cultivate such as remain in 
 
 a state 
 
250 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 a state utterly barbarous.* The instruction already 
 communicated to the Hindoos, in many oi the most 
 useful of our arts, seems fully to warrant this observa- 
 tion. 
 
 
 
 It has been seen also, that the natives of Hindos- 
 tan, though neither so mild nor placid in their man- 
 ners, as some have asserted, are a submissive and 
 patient people : this aspect of their character sug- 
 gests a hope, that judicious and moderate schemes 
 of improvement, may either prove successful, or if 
 found abortive, will not excite that turbulent resist- 
 ance, nor those disastrous consequences, which are 
 go justly apprehended in almost every other case. 
 
 Another favourable view of this subject arises from 
 that wonderful degree of uniformity of manners and 
 institutions, which prevails through almost the whole 
 of the British territories in the East. One general 
 sclieme of improvement may be found applicable to 
 the whole of her extended empire. That variety of 
 plans, and complexity of measures, which might dis- 
 tract 
 
 * Tins statement seems to receive confirmation from the 
 actual condition of the inhabitants of New Holland. The in- 
 tercourse of Europeans has made very little impression upon 
 them j and from all that we can learn, has afforded no improve- 
 ment. In North Amei'ica, many whole tribes of savages have 
 been wholly extirpated by the too close vicinity of their Eu- 
 ropean neighbours ; while it may be doubted, whether such as 
 have survived in other tribes, have yet felt any sensible ame- 
 liuj-ation of their v.retched condition. 
 
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, ETC. 251 
 
 tract the attention of government, or interfere with 
 each other, will be found as unnecessary as it would 
 be unsafe.* The uniformity of language in Hindos- 
 tan aflbrds another great facility in the means of com- 
 munication with that part of Asia. The spoken dia- 
 lects are few, and apparently from one common oii- 
 gin; the written language throughout the whole of 
 India is almost universally the same ; a matter of no 
 small moment in the communication of knowledge. 
 
 Many other apparently favourable circumstances 
 for the instruction and improvement of the Eastern 
 world, might easily be enumerated, some of a per- 
 manent, others of an incidental nature: ^vhile the 
 grand obstacle to all improvement, which has been 
 supposed to arise from the boasted permanency of 
 Oriental manners, must be greatly lessened by the 
 contemplation of some late events in India. The 
 reformer Nanuck has proselyted to a new faith 
 almost the whole of the Panjab ; a territory, from its 
 situation, of great importance, and of a proportion- 
 able extent to that which, in Europe, has embraced 
 the doctrines of the reformation. This extraordinary 
 Itask has been accomplished with but very few visible 
 means of success : may it not therefore be hoped, 
 from the dignified position which the British po^^■er 
 no\v holds in the East, and the commanding influence 
 which it is known to possess, that its measures wili 
 be received with respect ; and that the splendid vie-. 
 
 tori6s 
 
 * Mitchell's E«say, 
 
252 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 tories so recently atchieved, hav^ing greatly encreased 
 its connection with Upper India, may, at the same 
 time, have opened to us, in the Panjah, a wide field, 
 which in future may signalise the labours of Euro- 
 pean teachers, by presenting to them a vast country 
 where no Brahminical prejudices, nor hereditary 
 priesthood can obstruct their progress. 
 
 Amidst so many concumng circumstances, of a 
 favourable kind, the zeal spread throughout Great 
 Britam, at present ardent, ought not to be suffered 
 to evaporate without attempting some new efforts in 
 favour of her Eastern subjects. To neglect so hap- 
 py an opportunity, as that which seems now to be 
 presented to her by the " Ruler of Nations ;" would 
 be an injustice to herself, as well as undutiful to the 
 many millions " which Providence has cast into her 
 arms, for their protection and weltare."* Whatever 
 may be attempted, whether particular efforts may 
 hereafter succeed or prove abortive, the wise and 
 considerate have this consolation left, that human 
 intercourse is never left without resources ; but is 
 ordained, by its very author to become, by its own 
 energies, the source of mutual improvement among 
 all tlie different classes of which our race is com- 
 posed. 
 
 * Sir William Jones's work. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
[ 9,55 ] 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 Of the truth of the greater part of the positions at- 
 tempted to be proved in the foregoing pages of this 
 tract, the author from having been for several years 
 an eye witness of Indian manners, had the fullest 
 proof and conviction : For this reason, chiefly, the 
 ostentatious display of documents and authorities to 
 confirm his reasonings or to authenticate the facts 
 has been avoided. Abundance of these, might, no 
 doubt, have been adduced ; but as they could furnish 
 110 additional evidence to his own mind, he was not 
 aware that they might have afforded greater confi- 
 dence to the reader who had not the same previous 
 impressions. 
 
 The 
 
^256 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 Tlie most important of the preceding statements 
 and facts are directed principally to establish these 
 different points; namely, that there is a possibi- 
 lity of improving the condition of the natives of In- 
 dia, by diminishing their armies, and thus preventing 
 war ; secondly, that such improvements it may be 
 practicable to introduce into their agricultural system 
 as might, (in the fertile regions of India) almost en- 
 tirely eradicate the calamity of famine ; and lastly, 
 that virtuous habits, as well as useful knowledge may 
 he communicated to the people, by estabhshing in 
 each district, proper seminaries of education. Such 
 as have actually witnessed the effects of European 
 government have certainly little need of accumulated 
 proofs to establish any, or all of these facts. They 
 have seen the inhabitants multiplying rapidly around 
 ail the European settlements ; war and insurrection 
 becoming less frequent ; and in proportion as Euro- 
 pean ascendancy has been strengthened, gieater in- 
 dustry, as well as tranquillity are beginning to pre- 
 
 vail. 
 
 These appearances of renovating prosperity, after 
 the dreadful devastations, revolts, and massacres that 
 iiave so long been perpetuated among the native 
 princes, are described with much energy and precision 
 in a letter from Lord William Bentinck to the Mar- 
 quis Weilesley ; we select it as a recent addition to 
 the numerous documents of the same nature that 
 are to be found in the accurate narratives of Mr 
 Orme. 
 
 *' ]\Iy 
 
APPENDIX. Q57 
 
 '** jVfy Lord, I have the honour of transmitthig to 
 your Excellency the address of the inhabitants of this 
 settlement, on the splendid termination of the Mah- 
 ratta war. I feel it almost supertkious to express 
 my entire concurrence in the sentiments of that meet- 
 ing. As an Englishman, I must admire and be grate- 
 ful to the men, who have raised my country to so 
 high a pitch of prosperity and glory. 
 
 Extending, however, the view beyond the imme- 
 •liiate prospect of our own national advantages, it is 
 most pleasing to reflect, that tlie result of this war af- 
 fords a hope of equal benefit to the great mass of the 
 people, whose rulers have been conquered. If the 
 annals of the Indian histoi'y are retraced, and more 
 particularly the events of the later years, it will be 
 found that this vast Peninsula has presented one con- 
 tinued scene of anarchy and misery. Constant revo- 
 lutions, without even a professed legitimate object, 
 have succeeded each other. Wars of great and petty 
 chieftains, unwarranted in their origin, and unprin- 
 cipled in their conduct, for the sole object of robbery 
 and plunder, have depopulated and laid waste the 
 general face of this unhappy country. Justice, order, 
 consideration of public and private rights, no where 
 appear in relief of this melancholy picture. 
 
 Happily a period has arrived to these barbarous 
 excesses. For the first time, the blessings of univer- 
 sal tranquillity may be expected. That system of 
 India, which would comprehend in one bond of mu- 
 
 R tual 
 
25S APPENDIX. 
 
 tiial defence, and reciprocal forbearance, the preda- 
 tory chiefs of this great empire, deserves the admira- 
 tion of all the civilized world. That system, one of 
 the noblest efforts of the wisdom and patriotism of a 
 subject, which has founded British greatness upon 
 Indian happiness, demands, in a particular mannei^ 
 the thanks and applause of the country." 
 
 The suggestions advanced concerning the improve- 
 Tnent of the Hindoo husbandry, and the means re- 
 commended for the prevention of famine, will per- 
 haps appear to some persons still more romantic and 
 impracticable than the scheme proposed for reducing 
 the number of the native armies and promoting tran- 
 quillity. That such objections should be urged must 
 not be deemed surprising ; they ought rather to be 
 expected ; for only a few years have elapsed, since 
 the period whtn, in Britain itself, it was deemed 
 excellent husbandry to lay do^\n the lands to pasture, 
 after being scourged to barrenness, without either a 
 green crop, a fallow, or even a handful of hay-seeds. 
 The present practice in Scotland is so different from 
 that in use 40 years ago, that the recommendation 
 of it at that period, must have been regarded as still 
 more romantic and absurd, than any plan held up 
 for the adoption of the Hindoos in the preceding re- 
 marks. Agricultural practices differ so much in dif- 
 ferent districts, and at various periods, that there 
 must always be some M'ho object to every innovation 
 as either impracticable or dangerous. These persons 
 hold up with great triumph the prejudices of the Asi- 
 atics, 
 
 i 
 
APPENDIX. 259 
 
 Cities, their superstition, and their veneration for an- 
 cient use, as insuperable obstacles to all improve- 
 ment. The state of China, where the people labour 
 under the same obstinate attachment to ancient cus- 
 tom, and are guided by prejudices equally strong, 
 clearly demonstrates all such arguments, however 
 specious, to be really destitute of all solidity. 
 
 The sketch laid down in the A3^een Acbery of the 
 general management of rural affairs, during the reign 
 of Acber, will shew in what state the Hindoo hus- 
 bandry actually hm been, and a very brief account of 
 the rural economy of China, will demonstrate to 
 what perfection, in a similar climate, and in circum- 
 stances equally unpromising, it 7?iai/ be carried. 
 
 The materials for this purpose are scanty ; fortu- 
 nately, however, they are of good authority, and per- 
 fectly decisive with regard to the agricultural state of 
 the country. 1'he testimony of the Chinese in Cal- 
 cutta, of Dr. Dinwiddle of the Chinese Embassy, 
 and above all the account of Sir George Staunton, 
 iiearly establish the vast population of that empire 
 There can be little reason altogether to discredit the 
 account of that Mandarin, who stated the population 
 of the fifteen provinces at 333 millions : the number 
 of large towns, and populous districts, through which 
 the Embassy passed, with every particular of their 
 rural economy mentioned, all tend to corroborate 
 this estimate, enormous as it may seem. 
 
 
260 APPENDIX. 
 
 The surface of China seems not only cultivated to 
 the utmost, but almost in every place, it is the cul» 
 ture of the garden transferred to the field. The oc- 
 cupancy of farmers, who are in many cases small pro- 
 prietors, generally consist only of a few acres conti- 
 nually in crop : there are no large capitalists farming 
 extensive districts. Throughout the whole country 
 you observe few cattle, and almost no inclosures. 
 The small supply of cattle and sheep brought from 
 Tartary, are fed in the house on chopped straw : so 
 little milk, butter, or cheese is made, that there was 
 isome ditncuity in procuring a small supply of these 
 articles for the use of the Embassy. 
 
 From excessive population, and the scarcity of ani- 
 mal food ; the poverty of the great body of the peo- 
 ple is as conspicuous as the meanness of their fare. 
 Great numbers are forced to live upon the water, on 
 livhat they can there procure. This is more particu- 
 larly the case on the numerous rivers and canals, 
 which intersect the country in all directions. On a 
 single branch of the Pehio (or white river), where 
 the Embassy passed, 100,000 men were found in 
 the junks, and ditferent craft that plied the stream ; 
 yet these form but an inconsiderable portion of the 
 people who live entirely upon the water in other paits."* 
 Even the embankments of rivers, where they are raised 
 up to carry shipping over the hollows, are not lost 
 to husbandry. Those of the Euho are laid out in 
 
 gravel 
 
 ^ ■* Vide Sir G. Staunton's Chinese Embassy. 
 
APPENDIX. 261 
 
 gi'avel walks, and slopes, upon which are planted 
 fruit trees, and all kinds of culinary vegetables. 
 
 The canals, though they run in every direction, 
 are crowded either with to\Ans, or military stations, 
 on their banks, at very small distances. From this 
 circumstance the police of the Country is so perfect, 
 that theft or robbery is seldom committed, though 
 the cottages are unguarded. Their dwellings are con- 
 structed, in the coimtry, of mud for the walls, with 
 larix and straw for the roof : in the towns, the walls 
 are brick, and the roofs of tiles ; iiardiy in any case 
 are there « indows of better materials than oiled paper. 
 These dwellings, mean as they appear, are tolerably 
 neat, and in a temperate climate like China, are" 
 found not uncomfortable. Each cotta2:e has a gar- 
 den attached to it, and conveniences for rearing hogs, 
 and ducks, two great articles of Chinese live stock.- '" 
 
 The great aim of the Chinese farmer is the raisinj^ 
 the largest possible quantity of food ; for this end he 
 conducts all operations \^ilh spirit, and the strictest 
 economy. The wheat is either sown in drills, or is 
 dibbled : the number of hands necessary for this 
 purpose is of great advantage, while the saving of 
 seed by it has been computed to be no less in quan- 
 tity than the whole annual subsistence of all the peo- 
 ple in Great Britain. Wheat is made into vermicelli, 
 or soft cakes bv steam : but rice is the favourite iood 
 — this, with vegetables and garlic, is the grand sus- 
 tenance of the common people. Their method of 
 
 li 3 ^ plant- 
 
26i2 APPENDIX. 
 
 planting, watering, reaping, and threshing this crop, 
 shews their husbandry to much advantage. By con- 
 stant irrigation they arc enabled to raise two crops 
 in the year, of all kinds except sugar. The land un- 
 der this crop lies for a short time unoccupied in win- 
 ter, but they admit of no fallow, for the same field 
 is cropped from age to age. 
 
 In order to sustain the fertility of the soil, during 
 constant cropping, means of procuring manure arc 
 practised, which have never been thought of by any 
 other people — all animal excretions are carefully col* 
 lected in vessels sunk in the road sides. The dust 
 from the roads is gathered up and sold — human excre- 
 ment, urine, and the very soap-suds used in shaving, 
 are collected with care. But the grand effort for 
 preserving fertility is irrigation ; mills, chain-pumps, 
 and embankments are frequent in every province — 
 and the husbandman, when he repairs to the field, is 
 as regularly furnished with a scoop for watering, or 
 a hand-pui!jp, as the European labourer with a hoe 
 or spade. The practice of watering is a complete 
 and well arranged system. 
 
 From lands thus diligently cultivated, and in con- 
 tinual crop, a vast quantity of sustenance must be 
 produced ; yet all is insufficient for the population of 
 China, where every animal, clean or unclean, is used 
 for food. The grub which preys on the roots of the 
 sugar-cane is an article of food ; and after winding 
 oft' the silk from ^hc worm, that insect is devoured in 
 
 its 
 
APPENDIX. 263 
 
 its aurelia state. In the mountainous parts, which 
 only can be spared for raising timber, the cones of 
 the larix, the most common tree, are used as a part 
 of diet. Nor are all those means found adequate to 
 the consumption ; mountains and rocks are bared of 
 their soil, which is carried to parts better fitted for 
 cultivation ; and the sides of hills are terraced for 
 the raising of grain, in a country the remotest parts 
 of which are filled with people. 
 
 The most approved practices, and the soundest 
 principles of good husbandry among European na- 
 tions, are found totally inapplicable to the circum- 
 stances of this singular people. It has been proved 
 by irresistible arguments, as well as good practice, 
 that horses, in most situations, are more advantageous 
 for the team in England than oxen :* in China, this 
 reasoning would be absurd, and the practice ruinous. 
 There a pair of horses would eat up the whole suste- 
 nance of the family; even a single bullock cannot al- 
 ways be afforded for the plough : in some cases men, 
 but oftener women, draw the plough, while the per- 
 son who holds it must at the same time be employed 
 in sowing the seed. All our rules for the construc- 
 tion of the implements of husbandry are thus done 
 away, since the more slender, they may, in such cir- 
 cumstances, prove more useful ; nor will the Chinese 
 plough, contemptible as it appears, be deemed an 
 
 R 4 iin- 
 
 * Vide Report for Northumberland, by Messrs. Baillle and 
 Culley, 
 
i!6".i APrEN-Dix. 
 
 improper instrument, wiien the nature of the vork td 
 "be cxeeuted is kept in view. 
 
 A farmer's wife drawino; a plough of three or four 
 pounds ^^ eight, in a possession of as many acres, are 
 circumstances which, however absurd to us they may 
 appear, are vouched by eye witnesses of tlie first re- 
 spectability, and constitute a part of that husbandry 
 which supports, if not the most wealthy, certainly the 
 most populous empire ever recorded in the annals of 
 the human race. The taxes on land, paid by these 
 farmers, amount from ten to twenty per cent. ; and 
 the rent paid to the proprietor is said to be about one 
 half of the produce. 
 
 After all these operations on land, it is doubtful 
 whether, on the same S])ace, it yields an equal pro- 
 portion of food to that which is drawn from the water. 
 All stagnant \\aters, as well as the rivers, are stored 
 with fish, some methods of catching which are pecu- 
 liar to the Chinese. Tiie Hew-tze, or fishing cormo- 
 rant, is employed for this purpose The boats are 
 innumerable, and ten of these animals are employed 
 in each. After diving and catching their prey, their 
 fidelity is secured by a ring, which is placed around 
 the neck, in order to prevent them ti'om swallowing 
 what they have taken. Aquatic animals are also taken 
 in great numbers, and particularly ducks. After the 
 method of the Hindoos, the fowler conceals his whole 
 body in the water except the head, which is inserted 
 into a pumpkin, with openings for the eyes : in this 
 
 manner 
 
APPENDIX. Q65 
 
 manner he is suffered to approach till he can pull 
 down the animal under water by the feet. Many in- 
 habitants of boats live with their families entirely up- 
 on water; and supply themselves with vegetables, 
 which are raised on a floating teiTace, supported by 
 a kind of basket-work underneath. Some of the 
 lakes in China, which are peopled in this manner, 
 are of great extent ; and the canals are far superior 
 to every effort of a similar nature, that hath hitherto 
 been executed by human skill ; the imperial canal 
 alone, extending the length of hve hundred miles, 
 over valleys, and through mountains, that seemed to 
 bid defiance to all navio-ation. 
 
 o 
 
 Two very important branches of rural economy, 
 which are almost peculiar to the Chinese, and "which 
 afford employment to a vast number of hands, are the 
 productions of tea and silk. The tea plant is raised 
 generally on mounds, clefts, and hills, that are in- 
 capable of other cultivation ; w hen cultivated by the 
 hand of the farmer, it is j^lanted in rows four feet 
 asunder, and dressed with all the correctness of 
 Chinese husbandry. Vast tracts of land are employ- 
 ed in raising this product, which affords the uuiversal 
 beverage of all ranks, and which lessens the destruc- 
 tive appetite for spirituous liquors. The chachaw, 
 or flower of tea, camellia sesanqua of Linneus, grows 
 on the mountain tops : it is mixed with tea by wav of 
 improving its flavour, and affords a line arom-itic oil. 
 The operose process of rolling and roasting the tea 
 for preservation, affords employment to many other 
 
 hands 
 
266 APPENDIX. 
 
 hands besides those of the farmer, from the great 
 number of iron and earthen plates made use of for 
 this purpose. 
 
 One half, perhaps, of all the labour in China may 
 be termed in-door work, and is performed by the 
 women : they raise mulberries, feed worms, spin cot- 
 ton, and are almost the only weavers. They are fre- 
 quently not permitted to sit at table, but are confined 
 to drudge like menial servants. In many provinces 
 their feet are crippled from their infancy, so that 
 they are necessarily confined in whatever employment 
 they may be placed. 
 
 Though the Chinese are chiefly employed in culti- 
 vating rice, Indian corn, and millet, yet in the vari- 
 ety of crops they are not inferior to the Ryuts of 
 Hindostan ; and in almost every branch of husbandry 
 they are greatly superior. This appears conspicuous 
 in the neatness and regularity with which the former 
 cultivate the sugar cane, a favourite crop of both na- 
 tions. I have frequently compared the size of their 
 cane with that of Bengal, of which it is nearly four 
 times the size. This is partly owing to the better heart 
 in which they keep their fields, but probably still 
 more to the planting it in rows, and careful hand- 
 hoeins. The free admission of air to all their stand- 
 ing corn is an important consideration wdth the Chinese 
 cultivator, and for this he probably is indebted for 
 the peculiar health and richness of his crops. The 
 medication of their seeds in cess-pool water, they also 
 
 con- 
 
APPENDIX* 2G7 
 
 consider as necessary to good husbandry ; and their 
 turnip crops were remarked by Sir George Staunton 
 to be uncommonly vigorous, which he imputes to 
 this cause ; in this, however, some of the best judges 
 think he is mistaken : the fly cannot be prevented by 
 it ; since that insect preys not on the seed, but the 
 early leaves. 
 
 The demand for wood, in architecture and In the 
 construction of shipping, as well as for agricultural 
 purposes, must be very great, in so vast a society ; 
 but here the Chinese economise as in every thing 
 else ; they, like the Hindoos, make use of the bam- 
 boo for many different purposes, in which no Eu- 
 ropean could suppose it fit to be employed. They 
 possess about sixty varieties of this tree, which is ap- 
 plied to far more than an equal number of purposes. 
 Their machinery for irrigation are almost wholly of 
 this timber, though many of those machines are large 
 and powerful, raising upwards of three hundred tuns 
 of water in twenty four hours. Their household fur- 
 niture, roofs, and masts, are almost all of this wood, 
 both in India and China ; which by its quick growth 
 speedily becomes of use, while the raising of an 
 equal quantity of other timber would require more 
 than twenty times the space of ground, as well as 
 much longer time. Of the toughness and durability 
 of this tree we have evidence in the specimens that 
 are brought to Europe ; but no man will obtain be- 
 lief m stating its quick gro^^•th, to such as have not 
 resided in a tropical climate. 
 
 The 
 
2.6s APPENDIX. 
 
 The agriculture of China, employs, no doubt, a 
 greater number of hands than any other profession, 
 yet we must allow that the elegant manutactures of 
 that country, in silk, ivory, lacker and China-ware 
 must furnish employment to a number perhaps equal 
 to all the operative classes in Europe. In some dis- 
 tricts the working up of Quartz, Feldspath, and Mica 
 into that beautiful article which derives its name from 
 the country, is itself a stupenduous operation ; for we 
 are told that at Kin-te-Chin, three thousand furnaces 
 are lighted up at one time, for the manufacture of 
 porcelain only. 
 
 If any are disposed to doubt the efficacy of that 
 scholastic discipline which in this essay is recommend- 
 ed for the youth of British India, the answer is obvious 
 and irresistible ; the plan has already been tried, and 
 with happy success. Many of th.e natives have al- 
 ready been taught not only reading, ^\Titing, and phi- 
 lology, but are considerably vcrsant in mathematics 
 and history. In the C'oUege of Fort W'iiham, near- 
 ly eighty Moonshecs and Pundits made such progress 
 as to be very useful in teaching the junior servants of 
 the Company. Golam Mossein Kl>an, who lately 
 died in the neighbourhood of Gayah, was a historian 
 of sufticient merit to have raised him to eminence 
 even in Europe. His Seer Mutakherreen " or his- 
 tory of his own times," is equally clear and interest- 
 ing as that of Burnet : His characters are better dc- 
 liAeated, while tliS lan^juage is more dignified, and 
 
 more 
 
APPENDIX. 26^ 
 
 more free from coloquial quaintness and vulgarity. 
 Wretchedly as this work has been translated into our 
 language, it has yet afforded more information on 
 the state of India than the writings of any author of 
 the present age. 
 
 Tuffussil Hossein Khan, a late nobleman, who exe- 
 cuted many difficult and important diplomatic func- 
 tions, under the government of Mr Hastings, affords 
 another splendid proof of the attainments of which 
 the Asiatics are capable in European learning. The 
 Latin, French, and Italian, as well as English lan- 
 guage ^vere familiar to this accomplished statesman. 
 His translations of Addison and several of our classics 
 are executed with equal taste and accuracy; the 
 charge against the Orientals of tasteless floridity, of 
 unchaste ornaments, and of inaccurate and superfi- 
 cial knowledge of all scientific learning, by his writ- 
 ings, has either been greatly weakened or complete- 
 ly overthrown. 
 
 Several letters of this exti'aordinary person have 
 been preserved by his friend and correspondent in 
 Britain, Mr David Anderson. One is inserted as a 
 specimen of their merit ; the more \\'iiljngly as it 
 gives some account, towards the close, of his own stu- 
 dies, after he had finally retired from the busy scenes 
 which engaged him while he acted as a political 
 agent of our government, and the prime Minister in 
 fhe government of Oude. Of this letter, originally 
 
 Persian 
 
270 APPENDIX. 
 
 Persian, the following translation is nearly literal* : 
 After the usual compliments he thus proceeds : — 
 
 " Your communication arrived at a time when I 
 was become impatient to hear of your health and 
 welfare ; it gave me great pleasure. May God long 
 preserve you, who are thus so kindly mindful of your 
 friends. The attachment which I feel toward you ; 
 the impression which your friendship has left on my 
 mind, and the distress which our separation has oc- 
 casioned to me, exceed the bounds of expression. 
 But as your residence in England seems agreeable to 
 yourself, preferring your happiness to my own, I must 
 submit. Thank God the tidings of your welfare, and 
 of the satisfaction which you enjoy in your own coun- 
 try are such as afford consolation to your far dis- 
 tant friends. 
 
 " The Nabob Ally Ibrahim Khan is in perfect 
 health, and continues to devote his attention to the 
 administration of justice in Benares : I have written 
 a letter to him communicating your message. Ma- 
 hajee Scindiah now rules, with great power, over all 
 the countries dependent on Agra and Delhi. In 
 consequence of the difficulties in which that chief 
 was involved about two years ago, from the insur- 
 rection of some of the Rajahs in the neighbourhood, 
 
 Ismael 
 
 * A judicious account of Tufussil Hosscm Khan lias been in- 
 serted in the Asiatic Annual Register, by Mr David Ander- 
 
AT»PEND1X. 271 
 
 Ismael Beg Khan acquired a considerable degree of 
 power. He lately began to excite disturbances in 
 different parts of the country ; and the Rajahs of 
 Joudpore, and Jaypore gave him their assistance. 
 On this Scindiah determined to oppose them, and 
 sent the army he had raised under General de Boigne, 
 together with about 40 or 50,000 horse, partly com- 
 posed of his own troops, and partly of those of Tuc- 
 cojee Holkar and Aly Bahadur, both of whom had 
 been with him during the last year and a half. This 
 force fell in with the enemy at Patam, on the borders 
 of the Rajaput country: a battle ensued, and the 
 Rajahs of Joudpore and Jaypore and Ismael Beg 
 Khan were defeated and put to flight ; and their ar- 
 tillery, elephants, and baggage fell into the hands of 
 the Mahrattas. Ismael Bei Khan fled in disorder 
 to the vicinity of Jaypore ; the Rajahs there supplied 
 him with some additional stores and money, and en- 
 couraged him : they are endeavouring to collect an 
 army, and are as well prepared as they can be for an- 
 other action. Although Tuscojee Holkar, and Al- 
 ly Bahadur, are, in reality, not well disposed towards 
 Scindiah, yet according , to the custom of the i\Iah- 
 rattas, when a war arises they unite with him, and 
 from their continuance with him, on the present oc- 
 casion, Scindiali has derived the greatest support. 
 
 " Bow Buckshey is extremely well. For this last 
 year he has held the ofllice of Minister of Finance to 
 Mahajee Scindiah, and he has discharged the duties 
 of it in his usual way, with which you are well ac- 
 quainted. 
 
272 APPENDIX. 
 
 quainted. Ranee Beg who had been the person wh* 
 negociated the treaty between Scindiah and Rajah 
 Heemut Bahadur, and Ismael Beg ; and that treaty 
 being subsequently broken, he is at present much 
 chagrined. 
 
 " As to the ti-eaties of alliance against Tippoo, 
 which were lately concluded between the British go- 
 vernment and the Peishwah, through Mr Mallet and 
 the Nizam Ally Khaif, through ]VIr Kennoway; the 
 march of General IMeadows, with a gi^eat force 
 against Tippoo, and the reduction of a portion of his 
 territories, yielding, annually, a revenue of about 40 
 lacs of rupees ; all these circumstances will have 
 been more fully communicated to you, by the cor* 
 respondence of your English friends, than I am ca» 
 pable of doing. 
 
 " Aly own situation at present, is this ; I attend 
 in the presence of Lord Cornwallis, who shews me 
 great favour and kindness, and seems pleased with 
 me. From the good opinion he entertains of me^ 
 he thought oi sending me as resident on the part of 
 his government, to the Nizam Ally Khan; but as I 
 had been long absent trom home, and found it diffi- 
 cult to remain even at Calcutta, I saw that it would 
 be out of my power to undertake so distant a jour- 
 ney, and I theretore requested his Lordship that he 
 would excuse me. I still continue to recommend 
 myself to him, by my attention and services, in such 
 
 matters 
 
APPENDIX- 27 
 
 matters as are more immediately the objects of my 
 duty. 
 
 " You ask me, if I continue my studies^ as usual ; 
 or if my employment in public business has diverted 
 my thoughts from literary pursuits? Some time ago 
 I employed myself for a few months, in reading the' 
 history of England ; and chiefly with a view of ac- 
 quiring a competent knowledge of tlie language. I 
 have since given it up, and have been engaged in 
 translating the principia of Sir Isaac Newton ; Tho- 
 mas Simson's book on Algebra ; Emerson on miecha- 
 nics; Appolonius de Sectione Rationis translated in- 
 to Latin by Dr Halley ; and a work on Conic Sections 
 by De I'Hopital, a Frenchman. All these books I 
 am translating into Arabic, besides several short 
 treatises on logarithms, curve lines, &c. Some of 
 them I have already finished, and some moretjf tliem 
 will soon be brouo;ht to a conclusion — In short I con- 
 tinue to devote my leisure hours to these pursuits. 
 JVIay your prosperity and welfare be perpetuated." ^ 
 
 This respectable native was in the beginning of 
 1800 seized with an illness which in a few weeks 
 proved fatal. Lord Teignmouth, who was long inti- 
 mately acquainted with his singular merit?f, often em- 
 ployed him during the period of his government, and 
 he has since drawn a sketch of his charucter, \\hich 
 all who knew him must acknowledge to be jusl- 
 " Tuffussil Ilossein Khan," his Lordship remarks, 
 " united in an eminent deg;ree, an extensive know- 
 
 S led^e 
 
274 APPENDIX. 
 
 ledge of mankind with the deepest erudition. His 
 conversation was polite and instructive ; his manners 
 elegant and engaging ; his integrity firm ; his honour 
 unimpeached. It was his great predilection for ma- 
 thematical knowledge that induced him to cultivate 
 an acquaintance with the English, and with European 
 authors, and from tiiis source he derived that superior 
 knowledge which so nmch distinguished him among 
 his countrymen. 
 
 To some readers there may appeal^ an omission in 
 the foregoing tract, which it may not be improper to 
 notice in this place : it relates to the plan of coloni- 
 zation, which has so frequently been attempted, in 
 ancient as well as in modern times. This measure 
 has been wholly omitted as incompatible with the 
 prosperity and safety of the parent state. Many 
 speculative writers, hoAN'ever, have maintained that 
 tlie most speedy and effectual mode of improving 
 our dependencies in the East, would be that of colo- 
 nizing them, with a portion of European population. 
 In the present circumstances of our domestic empire, 
 such a project is, we apprehend neither safe nor use- 
 ful ; and to effect the measure in India, to an extent 
 at all likely to produce any beneficial influence on 
 that part of Asia, seems altogether impracticable. 
 
 In a climate so hostile as that of India to Euro- 
 pean constitutions, all our colonists have been found 
 soon to languish, in their bodily health, and in their 
 sjnrit of enterprise and activity : their numbers, in- 
 stead 
 
APPENDIX. £75 
 
 Stead of being increased, have rapidly diminished, 
 and to such a degree, that in all the settlements, whe- 
 ther of the Portuguese, Dutch, French, or English, 
 the race of settlers must have long since been anni- 
 hilated, but for the fresh supplies which annually ar- 
 rive from Europe. Their offspring by native females, 
 by far the most considerable portion of the society, 
 in the course of a few generations, assimilates so 
 closely with the indigenous inhabitants, in their com- 
 plexion, in their manners, and in the whole of their 
 habits, that any remaining difference that may sub- 
 sist is scarcely discernible. The diminished respect 
 which they receive on account of their spurious ori- 
 gin ; their low rank, as well as their contemptible 
 number, precludes almost all hope of any beneficial in- 
 fluence being ever derived by the Asiatics from their 
 intercourse. For a period of two hundied year's, 
 their condition has brei uniformly regarded by the 
 natives as low, degraded, and unconsequential. An 
 experiment of sUch considerable extent and duration, 
 has already, it would seem, sufficiently demonstrated 
 the inanity of every expectation that may have been 
 formed of benefiting the Asiatics by colonizing their 
 country from this quarter. 
 
 In the mean time, the great emigration that has 
 constantly been issuing from Holland, Spain, and 
 Portugal, in order to people or improve tlieir vast 
 dominions in Asia and America, has produced con- 
 sequences of the most important and alarming na- 
 ture to the domestic prosperity of these states. Dur- 
 
 S 2 ins 
 
'276 APPENDIX. 
 
 ing the two preceding centuries, a period when their 
 intercourse \\ith their foreio-n settlements was most 
 extensive, the parent states have been very rapidly 
 sinking in their relative degree of power, industry, 
 and rank among the great community of European 
 states. They have not only lost that spirit of enter- 
 j^jrise which had long maintained their consequence ; 
 but their inde[)endence and their very existence as 
 separate powers already appear either dubious or 
 in a very questionable shape. 
 
 Their experience it is fair to convert into a lesson 
 of wisdom: Great Britain has for a considerable pe- 
 riod possessed foreign dominions on a scale far more 
 enlarged than any other modern nation ; their extent 
 for some time past, has perhaps exceeded that of the 
 whole Roman Einpire. Should she, therefore, open 
 the door to emigration, and like these nations 
 offer encouragement for the removal of- her scanty 
 population to the wide regions of the Eastern and 
 A7estcrn hciriispheres, the same irretrievable cata- 
 strophe ^^•hich has already overwhelmed her coloni- 
 zing neighbours, must in all probability soon assail 
 herself Her circumstances seem to be still more 
 marked and dangerous ; with a very limited Euro- 
 pean territory, and a population comparatively small, 
 she has for a considerable time, almost singly oppo- 
 sed the approaching subjugation and despotism of 
 Europe ; the continental powers themselves have 
 been in the habit of looking up to her, as the sole 
 bulwark of whatever portion of liberty or independ- 
 ence 
 
 A 
 
APPENDIX. 277 
 
 ence may yet remaia among them. In what situa- 
 tion must they be left, or what must be her own fate 
 should she disperse her defenders over the wide re- 
 gions of Asia and America in order to people and 
 improve her foreign colonies ? The advantage, how- 
 ever great, would be lost in the hazard and expence 
 of the experiment ; for it is confessed, that even gold 
 itself may be bought at a price too dear. 
 
 This reasoning seems the more conclusive, as it 
 is well known that the spirit of emigration has alrea- 
 dy begun and made some progress in different parts 
 of the empire. Ever since the year 1730, the High- 
 land districts of North Britain have annually sent a 
 considerable portion of their inhabitants to the wilds 
 of America. The many thousands of our valuable 
 population which have thus been lost to the communi- 
 ty is not the only consideration that presents itself in 
 estimating this calamity. The most enterprising por- 
 tion of the inhabitants is not only for ever lost, but 
 gone perhaps to augment tlie resources and strength- 
 en the power of a rival state. The loss of capital 
 must also enter into this account ; for in the year 
 1802, no less than 45 1 individuals migrated from 
 the Highlands to America; and, although they con- 
 sisted of the poorer classes in that country, the mo- 
 ney carried along with them was not less than 
 £.100,000 Sterling. 
 
 « 
 
 An intelligent writer, in answer to Lord Selkirk's 
 observations upon this subject thus argues : "' The 
 
 S 3 direct 
 
S78 APPENDIX. 
 
 direct loss sustained by this country, in consequence 
 of these emigrations, is much greater than is, per- 
 haps, at first perceived. Histoiy teaches us that the 
 internal strength of a nation is in no case to be esti- 
 mated by the extent of its territory, but by the num- 
 ber of its citizens, and the utility of their labours : 
 that the population, the wealth, and the power of a 
 sj^to, cannot be supported with permanence by any 
 resources, exclusive of home productions, raised and 
 augmented by an increasing improvement of the soil. 
 Other sources of wealth may be cut off by political 
 convulsions; but nothing short of a convulsion of 
 nature, annihilating the fund on which the national 
 industry is to be exercised, can destroy the basis of 
 natural m ealth derived from the population and pro- 
 duce of the country itself While there exists an 
 acre of uncultivated and waste land within the king- 
 dom, or a market for the fish which swarm upon the 
 coasts, or sale for the manufactured produce of our 
 industry, evei^y man who leaves the country must be 
 considered as a national loss." 
 
 The nature and extent of this loss may be esti- 
 mated by adverting to the following considerations : 
 A very great number of inhabitants must embark in 
 the measure, and leave their country, otherwise no 
 discernible effect can be produced in the new settle- 
 ment into which they are introduced. In some of tlie 
 districts already noticed, nearly one-third of the ac- 
 tive hands are supposed to have emigrated to these 
 foreign settlements. The industry thus transferred to 
 
 another 
 
APPENDIX. 279 
 
 another country is very great ; but the expence of 
 education and maintenance must also be taken into 
 account. The period of Hfe for emigration may, in 
 general, be reckoned from fifteen to twenty-five ; the 
 precise time in which individuals are in a capacity to 
 remunerate the state for the unrequited consumption 
 and expenditure of infancy and youth. The loss in 
 point of population, by removing colonists at this 
 period of life is much greater than their actual num- 
 ber seems to imply : for although an equal number 
 of children under five years of age wer^ carried ofi^ 
 the effective population would receive comparatively 
 little injury ; since other children would supply the 
 place thus vacated for them. The expence of their 
 maintenance would be trifling, while on the other 
 hand, it would be long before a nation could recover 
 the loss even of a smaller portion of young men and 
 females between 15 and 25 years; though in this 
 case the expence incurred for their maintenance 
 would be much greater. 
 
 In this manner has the system of colonizing their 
 foreign settlements operated against the population, 
 wealth, and industry of the parent states ; there seem, 
 however, to exist in Britain some peculiar circum- 
 stances which must render the operation of this sys- 
 tem doubly destructive. There the navy, the army, 
 and an increased capital has C4=eated a great demand 
 for labour. Many thousand hands are annually em- 
 ployed from Ireland as farm servants and day la- 
 bourers along the western districts of Britain. It is 
 
 S 4 clear 
 
280 APPENDIX. 
 
 clear, however, that a decrease of the active popula- 
 tion must raise the price of labour ; and this circum- 
 stance throws a powerful bar in the way of manufac- 
 tures, and of all kinds of improvement. 
 
 It is now a well known fact, that even in the poor- 
 est districts of the iiighiands, the emigrants have car- 
 ried along with them very considerable sums of mo- 
 ney ; and this capital ought by no means to be esti- 
 mated by its bare amount; for it is of that kind 
 which was employed in agriculture, the most useful 
 to the state of ail modes in w hich capital can be em- 
 ployed. The industry of every country is nearly pro- 
 portioned to the capital which excites it; and capital 
 itself is reciprocally increased by that very industry 
 which it has excited. If it be hoarded up in gold and 
 silver, it atlbrds no profit to the state ; if employed in 
 exciting agricultural industry, it is the most beneficial 
 mode in which it can be engaged. It is precisely this 
 denomination of capital which emigration has been 
 annually draining from North Britain ever since 
 1730. The description of emigrants too, who have 
 removed along with it, is not less valuable, since the 
 Highlanders have been long kno^vn to form the 
 bravest soldiers, and the most gallant defenders of 
 their country. No accurate statement, perhaps, has 
 been made of the total amount either of the capital, 
 or of the number of men who, during tlie last seventy 
 3^ears, have thus removed to America, and who are 
 thereby lost for ever to the nation. The value of 
 both, if fairly estimated, would probably alarai us ; 
 
 , for 
 
APPENDIX. 281 
 
 for it is well known, that the greater part of this 
 wealth and industry is not merely lost to Britain, but 
 is thrown into the opposite scale, and is employed in 
 strengthening the resources of a rising, jealous, and 
 often hostile state. It is remarkable, in these cir- 
 cumstances of the country, that a nobleman of re- 
 puted talents, should hold up emigration as a relief 
 to North Britain, and should actually lead a colony 
 to the wilds of America, by his own personal inter- 
 ference and direction ; and it is perhaps equally 
 strange, that a speculative writer, of considerable 
 ability, should, nearly at the same time, have recom- 
 mended the colonization of British India, as one of 
 the best means of civilizing that extensive country — 
 when, in fact, the whole inhabitants of the British 
 Isles would make a very motely and inconsiderable 
 appearance amidst the countless multitudes of Asia. 
 
 THE END. 
 
»* 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A 
 
 Page 
 
 Advantages derived from the intercourse between Europe 
 
 and Asia, reciprocal, - - - 60 
 
 Approbation given to the troops, - - 21 
 Armies of the Mogul j their imperfect discipline, and bad 
 
 constitution, - _ - . "i^ 
 Anarchy of the Mogul Empire j cause of the rise of the 
 
 Mahratta powers, - - _ 75 
 
 Assaults of Bhurtpore, five in number, - - 30 
 
 Attila, a modern one, - - - 42 
 
 Aurungzebe, the disasters that succeeded his reign. 77 
 
 B 
 
 Bassein, the treaty of it j its propriety and use, 17 
 
 Barrow, his account of an attempt to convert the Bosjes- 
 
 man hordes, - - - - - 207 
 
 Bengal, Bahar and Orissa ; the long peace enjoyed there, 
 
 owing to disbanding the native troops, - - 91 
 
284 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Bhurtpore, the Rajah of, defends himself against many- 
 assaults, - - - - - 29 
 
 Boonsla Ragojee j his claims to the Pei^hwaships, - 17 
 
 Bombay Government, saves 100,000 men, - 117 
 
 Bonaparte, his plan of acquiring the provinces of Agra 
 , and Delhi, - . - . 12 
 
 British and Foreign Bible Society j its design and charac- 
 ter — Dedication, - - - - i. iv« 
 
 Buchannan, the Rev. Claudius j his premium to the dif- 
 ferent Universities, - - - 52 
 
 British Empire j its influence on the state of the natives 
 important, . _ . - 2 
 
 Its duration too short to ascertain its effects, - 3 
 
 Burke his singular opinions regarding the Company's Go- 
 vernment, _ _ _ - 49 
 
 Building, the most splendid in India of European struc- 
 ture, - - - - ,- 44 
 
 Calcutta, favourable for the institution of schools, 187 
 
 I. College of J its defects - - 63 
 
 Casts, their institution hostile to the progress of civiliza- 
 tion - - _ _ . i43 
 
 Causes of the French successes, character of Bona- 
 parte, ... . . 41 
 
 . of the Mahratta warj and of the powerful com- 
 
 bination of their chiefs, - " - - 19 
 
 Calumnies against the British government j means of refut- 
 ing them, - - - _ _ 43 
 
 Choice of servants for the Company : qualities necessary, 
 integrity and benevolence, - - 123 
 
 hout, the appellation of the Mahratta tribute, - 77 
 
INDEX. 
 
 285 
 
 Page 
 
 Civilization, some degree of it must precede conquest, 71 
 
 College of Calcutta j its great expence, - 63 
 
 Conciliation necessary to the government of India, 52 
 Confederacy formed by the French among the native 
 
 powers, ... - - 7 
 Comparative view of the British territories and the rest of 
 
 India, - - - - - 48 
 
 Company's servants j their real character, - 56 
 Cockburn's attack against them, - - ibid. 
 
 Crimes of the natives, perjury, - _ 54 
 
 D 
 
 Deeg the battle of, decisive and bloody, - - 27 
 Delays in assuming the civil government, their causes, 
 
 and the mischief they occasion, - - - 95 
 
 Defection of General Perron's officers, - - 23 
 
 D'Herna the process of j hostile to justice, - 149 
 Diffusion of Christianity in the East j its effects compared 
 
 with those of Paganism, - - - _ 196 
 Directors, their duty in the choice of servants, - 114 
 Diversity of climate in India, favourable to its improve- 
 ment, - - - - I 35 
 Distance of India, a motive of mildness in its govern- 
 ment, - - - - 21 
 Dispatches of General Lake to the Governor, - 80 
 Discretionary power justly confided to the commanders, 21 
 
 E 
 
 Eastern missions, the lessons to be drawn from them, 232 
 
 Education in Britain, qualified by a knowledge of business, 68 
 
 Efforts of the Board of Agriculture, - - ISy 
 
 Errors committed by the missionaries^ - - 174 
 
286 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Evils, two imaginary ones noticed, * - - 193 
 
 Errors committed in the conduct of the war, - 32 
 
 Enlargement of the British dominions, their boundaries 
 
 in India, _ . - _ 31 
 
 ^European troops j their loss In the storm of Bhurtpore, 31 
 
 ■ ■ Intercourse courted by the natives— causes of this, 47 
 
 F 
 
 Famine, frequent In the East j Its dreadful effects, li3 
 Favourable circumstances of Bengal for raising an extra 
 
 supply of grain, - - - 114 
 
 — — — — for diffusing knowledge in the £ast, - 251 
 
 Fawcit, Lleut.-Colonel, his success in Bundelcund, - 2T 
 
 Fear of losing the British trade, real, - - 92 
 
 — — regarding the extension of territory, groundless, ibid 
 
 Frazer, General, wounded in the battle of Deag ; dies, 2S 
 
 Frontier lessoned by the late war, - - 3S 
 
 Funeral rites, sometimes ill performed, - - 156 
 
 G 
 
 Germany, great improvement effected there by public 
 schools, - - - - 244 
 
 Golara Hossein Khan, his account of the wretchedness 
 and insecurity of the people, - - 79 
 
 Great .Britain ; causes assigned by foreigners for its unex- 
 ampled prosperity, - - - . 245 
 
 H 
 
 Half-cast children j theif want of employment, aptitude 
 for teaching, - - - 18S 
 
 Harcourt, Colonel, his conquest of Balasore and Cuttack j 
 effects of it, - - - 23 
 
INDEX. 287 
 
 Page 
 
 Happiness j the British subjects, compared with those of 
 
 the other powers, _ _ _ 107 
 
 Hindoo mode of living ; poor in a degree beyond the 
 
 injunctions of their religion, - - 109 
 
 Hindostannee language, a medely j of universal use j the 
 
 means of acquiring it, - - 61 
 
 Holkar renews the war ; his character, and glorious defence, 25 
 Hostages given by the Rajah of Bhurtpore, - 31 
 
 Hottentots, 600 reclaimed at Bavian's Kloof, - 213 
 
 Ignorance of the people ; instruction not provided for by 
 
 the Hindoo system, - - - 15S 
 Impartiality of the Marquis Wellesley j his general or- 
 ders to the army, - - - 21 
 Improvement of the natives in European tactics, 25 
 ■ - in agriculture ; many bars to it, - 108 
 i i made in Great Britain by the Romans, 138 
 Intercourse of nations, a source of their improvement, 59 
 ■ — its effects, - - 59 
 Institution for educating the servants of the East India 
 
 Company In Britain, - - - 63 
 Invectives of party ; one cause of our ignorance of the 
 
 affairs of India, - - - 79 
 Irregular armies, the necessity of their reduction to pre- 
 vent the frequency of war, - - 108 
 Infanticide practised by two tribes — attempted to be stop- 
 ped by our government, - - 154 
 Internal structure of society, how effected by paganism, 199 
 Jesuits, their great efforts for ths conversion of Asia, 208 
 Jones, Sir William, his opinion regarding the conversion 
 
 of the natives, - - 176 
 
 .■ his partiality to the native character corrected, 54 
 Justice, pagan idea of this virtue, contrasted with the 
 
 Christian, ... 198 
 
288 INDEX. 
 
 K 
 
 Page 
 
 Kircherer ; his labours in Southern Africa, - 207 
 
 Kloof, Bavian's, Christians of, - - 216 
 
 Knowledge of the Hindoos, magnified, their condition, 
 
 poverty and ignorance, - - 72 
 
 Knowledge of Indian manners, necessary to good govern- 
 ment — effects of ignorance, - = 190 
 Koox j nature of this horrid ceremony, i50 
 
 Labours of the missionaries commendable ; they are fa- 
 voured by the extent of the Empire, - 20,2 
 
 Lake, Lord, his commendation merited, on the atchieve- 
 ment at Delhi, - - 21 
 
 Leather, high importance of it as an article of commerce, 133- 
 
 Learning of the Jesuits ; their zeal, and the effects of 
 their book entitled the " Mirror of Truth," 225 
 
 Lost labour of the missionaries, how occasioned, 204 
 
 M 
 
 Macintosh, Sir James, his ideas concerning the causes of 
 
 famine, - - - 115 
 
 Mahomedan and Hindoo Governments, period when their 
 
 controul over India ceased, - - 4 
 
 Mahratta Empire, its extent and population, - 5 
 
 Maxims of Indian warfare, - - 35 
 
 Mahomedan Empire, not dissolved by the conquests of 
 
 any European power, falls by its own coruption, 45 
 
 Monson, Colonel, is surprised by Holkar, his disastrous 
 
 retreat towards Agra, - - 27 
 
 Motives to improve India arising from the state of Europe 40 
 Mildness of the Hindoo manners ; many exceptions to 
 
 this character, ' - - - 151 
 
INDEX. 289 
 
 Page 
 
 Moral and Religious knowledge confined to the higher 
 classes alone ; effects of this, - - 159 
 
 Musselmans, their laxity, and dissipation, - 164! 
 
 Moravians, their method of reclaiming the Hottentots, 
 inferences drawn from It, - - 216 
 
 N 
 
 Nagpore, the Rajah of, loses Cuttack, - 20 
 
 Naval establishment of the East India Company, 39 
 
 Natives, their dreadful mortality by famine : humane hos- 
 pital saves the lives of 100,000, - - 120 
 New branches of husbandry, created by Europeans— cul- 
 ture of potatoes — of sugar and indigo, - 129 
 North Britain — effects of education there— opinion of 
 Faujas St Fonde, - _ _ 247 
 
 o 
 
 Obstacles to the conversion of the Hindoo, - 17S 
 Officers of revenue, their tyranny, - - 106 
 Ordeal, trial by, still prevalent in India, - 14T 
 Oriental and Roman paganism compared, difference be- 
 tween them great, - - - 179 
 Oppression, whether a necessary consequence of provincial 
 
 government, - - 70 
 Oppression of native armies, hurtful to agriculture, 78 
 Opinion of the natives concerning the nature of the Bri- 
 tish government in Asia, - - 79 
 Orientals, attached to custom— danger of Innovating 
 
 among them, - - 82 
 
 Orme, his account of the native manners and character, 157 
 
 Opposition of the Hindoos to the missionaries not violent, 181 
 
 T 
 
290 INDEX, 
 
 Page 
 
 Oriental converts, defects of their character, 219 
 
 Otaheite and Owhyhee — opposite effects produced in 
 these islands by the missionaries, - 234 
 
 Paganism hostile to improvement, injurious to the very 
 
 structure of society, - - 143 
 
 Parsimony frequent among the Company's servants— their 
 
 great merits, - - 88 
 
 Patience of the natives not to be tried too severely, 83 
 
 Peace with Scindia and the Berar Raja, - 25 
 
 Parochial schools recommended, - - 231. 
 
 m causes of their omission, - - 239 
 
 ■■ ' effects produced by them in Europe and Africa, 241 
 
 Peshwa, the nature of his ofhce, - - 14 
 
 ■ his restitution by the British government, and the 
 
 joy manifested by his subjects, - - 16 
 
 Perron, General, his success in disciplining the natives j 
 
 strength of his army, . _ 6 
 
 Plan of attack against the Mahratta states, - 20 
 
 Police of India, interesting to every European in that 
 
 country, - - 55 
 
 Portuguese and Dutch, their efforts to instruct the natives, 172 
 Poor laws their bad consequences, - 246 
 
 Prejudices, a salutary one destroyed, - 34 
 
 . regarding food, how far hurtful to the service, 83 
 
 Press, its effects in diffusing knowledge, limited in the East, 192 
 Possibility of instructing savages j conduct of Mr Cleve- 
 land in Bengal, - - 220 
 Protection afforded by the Imperial government, incom- 
 plete, - - - 35 
 Public instruction greatly wanted among the Orientals, 168 
 
INDEX. 291 
 
 Q 
 
 Page 
 
 (Qualifications necessary for the agents of government, 125 
 Question proposed by Dr Buchannan, its importance j 
 
 discussion of it useful, - - 65 
 
 Qu^tness, the duty of, neglected, by the missionaries, 
 
 fa-.al consequences of this neglect, s 235 
 
 R 
 
 Rajekunses and Rajekoomers, accoi^nt of these tribes, 153 
 
 Rankand power of the British government, - 98 
 
 ■ its prospects in Asia, - - 99 
 
 Regilitions of Lord Melville ; their wisdom, - 127 
 
 Restictions of the question, concerning the means of civl- 
 
 lizng India, - - 69 
 
 Retrat in India always dangerous, - 35 
 
 Re/eaues from land steadily improving under the Com- 
 
 lany's government, - - 43 
 
 Rh(e, Sir Thomas, his remarks on the ferocious police of 
 
 th Mogul government, - - - *j5 
 
 Rise md progress of an Asiatic nation, - 89 
 
 Roxbirgh's account of the sugar culture, vast extent of 
 
 I-Jni fit for this purpose, - - 132 
 
 Safetyof the British settlers, a powerful motive for cor- 
 rectig the government, - - 53 
 
 Savingiof pay annually remitted to Europe 5 their great 
 amout, - - - 58 
 
 Schools,-.lieir establishment recommended, - i83 
 
 " ' Jindoos desirous of them ; their eagerness to 
 
 learn witing and accounts, - - 186 
 
2P5 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Scriptures, the Hindoo, hostile to Improvement, 166 
 
 Seringapatam, battle of, death of Tippoo, - 10 
 
 Shah Allwn, his great age and misfortunes, - 1 
 
 Sick persons, their dreadful treatment, - 156 
 
 Ship-building, vast Improvements made in this branch of 
 
 business, - - 334( 
 
 Silesia, great change effected there by the establishment 
 
 of public schools, - - 243 
 
 Speculations on government j their danger when Incau- 
 tiously applied, - - 80 
 Subsidiary treaty with Holkar Scindia and Berar Raja, 
 
 much wanted, - ' - 33 
 
 Success of the British arms j its extent and uncxaraplec 
 rapidity, - - 24 
 
 Tactics European, the success of the French In teaching 
 
 them among the natives, - - 6 
 
 Tartar government. Imperfect in India, Its ch3.racter, 13 
 
 Teaching, mode of conducting it among the natives, 186 
 
 Teignmouth, Lord, address to him, - } iv. 
 
 Temples and ceremonies of the Hindoos ; their effects or 
 
 morals injurious, - - 153 
 
 Terry, chaplain, his Ideas of the character of the Asiatic 
 
 converts, - - ^28 
 
 Tippoo Sultan, his new designation In the democratic 
 
 club of the French, . . 6 
 
 ■ I Incongruous with Eastern habits, ibid 
 
 u 
 
 Universities, how £ar qualified to judge of polical 
 questions, - - ^7 
 
INDEX. Q93 
 
 Page 
 
 Unjust charge against Marquis Wellesly, - 69 
 
 Usurpations, their frequency in Asia, - - 89 
 
 w 
 
 War, its unhappy frequency in Hindostan, • 90 
 
 Wellesley, dangerous crisis, on his appointment, 7 
 
 ■ promptitude and energy of his character in 
 
 quelling the French faction in Hydrabad, - S 
 
 Wellesley, Sir A. his memorable battles at Assye and 
 
 Argaum, effects of these, - - 23 
 
 Wealth, the remitting from India in goods, not injurious 
 
 to that country, - - 193 
 
 Willot, Colonel, his defeat and death, - 2J 
 
 Witchcraft, sorcery, necromancy, marks of barbarity in 
 
 the Hindoo jurisprudence, - - 141 
 
 Women, their ambition in India j sometimes aspire to go- 
 vernment, - - 90 
 
 Vagrants, religious, their number, character, and in- 
 fluence, - - 144 
 i often reduced by military force, - 146 
 ■ ■ Acbcr's management of them, - 147 
 Valuable crops, but little cultivated, from want of suffi- 
 cient capital, - - 111 
 Vellore, the garrisou of, mutiny, from offending the pre- 
 judices of the seapoys, - - 85 
 
 Youth, the neglect of instructing, a great cause of the 
 failure of the missionaries, - - 171 
 
294 INDEX. 
 
 X 
 
 Page 
 
 Xavier, St Francis de, his labours in India, « 172 
 
 I ' number of his proselytes, - - 250 
 
 Zeal of the missionaries, their indiscretion, ■» 229 
 
 Zemindars, dreadful treatment of, by the native troops, 94 
 ■ ■ .. leases given by them too uncertain to admit 
 
 of agricultural improvement, - - 104 
 
 Zin, Alabedin, his book in reply to the Jesuit, 225 
 
 Zonder-End river, the labours of the missionaries success- 
 ful there, - - 210 
 
9 
 
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