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the earth, it has been justly remarked, was an empire of such magnitude acquired with so small an effusion of blood. The whole conquest of India by Great Britain, cost fewer lives than were destroyed by the Spaniards in South America in a single year. The rapidity as well as the extent of the conquest is unparalleled. After many centuries had elapsed, the Mogul power was imperfectly established throughout the territories nominally subjugated to the Emperor of Delhi, which did not include the whole of the peninsula; and it was in the most prosperous years of Aurungzebe's reign, that Sivajee laid the foundations of the Mahratta empire. Nor will the first conquests of Mohammedism bear a comparison with the British conquests in India. In the course of a century, the Khalifs had extended the faith of Islam over Syria, Asia Minor, Persia, and Egypt; but those countries scarcely contained fifty millions of inhabitants; and it is a remarkable fact, that, in the present day, the nations subject to Mohammedan rulers, do not form an aggregate population equal to that which now acknowledges the British sceptre. When to this it is added, that, contrary to the spirit in which all former conquests have been achieved, the Indian empire of Great Britain has been acquired in despite of herself,-in opposition to the policy which denounced all extension of territory as not only undesirable but hurtful,—in spite of acts of parliament and perpetual remonstrances from the body of British Merchants whose interests were at stake,-the phenomenon is still more striking. "For princes and nations to pant for territorial aggrandizement,” to cite the words of an intelligent writer," has in it nothing strange and new; but it is strange for a nation continually to discountenance this spirit in the strongest manner; and still

more strange, that, in the very face of all these prohí bitions, a mighty empire should have grown up amidst the anxieties and the habits of commercial speculation. It is not that the British nation has conquered India; rather, unavoidable circumstances have, at length, almost subdued the national aversion to this con-quest."* What is more, the very enactments that were intended to arrest the growth of our power, have, as Sir John Malcolm remarks, caused it to be more rapid than it otherwise would have been. Every retrograde step, every attempt to return to a neutral and pacific system, has been followed, and unavoidably, by an accelerated movement in the extension of our dominion.+

But, above all, the conquest of India by Britain is distinguished by its unquestionably beneficent character. To the natives themselves, the destruction of the Mussulman power, a foreign and despotic yoke,— was a national emancipation from the most degrading oppression. But had it given way only to the Mahratta empire, which, at the commencement of our relations with the native powers, threatened to swallow up the whole country, the change would have been only to a more complete disorganization of society. Notwithstanding all the crimes committed by the British in the first stages of their great mercantile adventure, the acquisition of Bengal cost fewer lives than were lost in a single expedition of the Mogul princes, or in the protection of that province from the Mahrattas during the vigorous reign of the brave Aliverdi. But, in the destruction of the predatory system which was converting the finest provinces into a wilderness, the

* Friend of India, No. V. (1822) p. 46. See also an interesting article in No. xiii. of the same Miscellany.

Malcolm, P. H., vol. ii. p. 61-3.

British Government has performed a splendid act of justice, policy, and humanity, which fairly entitles it to be regarded as a conservative and beneficent power, whose supremacy has been the deliverance of the people. That system was the baleful dregs of the exhausted military establishments of the Mohammedan dynasties; and it succeeded to the wars of Aurungzebe, like pestilence after famine, rioting in the exhaustion of the country. The Mahratta states, which identified themselves with this system, fell, as they deserved to fall, in consequence of their abetting a conspiracy subversive of all government and social order. Nothing could more plainly indicate the real spirit and character of those native powers, than their alliance with the Pindarry chieftains; and it may be regarded as a fortunate circumstance for India, that the infatuation and weakness of the Peishwa and his confederates, compelled the Governor-General to treat them as enemies and political criminals, towards whom any further forbearance would have entailed both disgrace and danger.

Lord Hastings returned to England in 1823, having filled the station of Governor-General during nine years. At the close of his administration, the gross revenues of the country had been increased four crore ; "and although the charges had been increased in a similar amount, these had reached their limit, and were in the course of diminution, while the revenue was further on the increase, so as to afford the certainty of an annual surplus more than sufficient to meet the interest of the additional debt."* But the t * Prinsep, vol. ii. p. 452. The political measures of his Lordship's administration added five crore to the debt; but this writer contends, that the financial condition of the country, considered merely with reference to the debt, was much the same in 1821, as it was in 1814,

most illustrious feature of his Lordship's civil administration was, its beneficent aspect on the melioration of the intellectual and moral condition of the people of India. Almost every institution that has been formed in that country for the mental improvement of the natives, commenced under his auspices. "For the first time, the cause of Christian benevolence in India received a sanction from an authority which all revered, and which every one felt it safe to follow."* In all respects, the administration of the Marquis of Hastings may be regarded as the commencement of a new and happy era to the millions of British India.

TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION.

OUR historical sketch, which, owing to the copious and interesting materials, has extended much beyond the limits originally assigned to it, comprises, to a considerable extent, a topographical description of the country. India is, in fact, better known to us from the campaigns of British armies, than from the accounts of peaceful travellers. "Though India,” remarked Mrs. Graham, in 1813, "has certainly been visited by a greater number of Englishmen than any foreign country, and has been the subject of innumerable publications, it is remarkable, that there is no work in our language containing such a popular and comprehensive view of its scenery and monuments, and of the manners and habits of its natives and resident colonists, as we are commonly furnished with by travellers in countries incomparably less deserving of notice. The chief reason of this probably is, that few

* Friend of India, vol. ii. p. 425

people go to this remote region as mere idle or philosophical observers; and that, of the multitude of well-educated individuals who pass the best of their days in it, the greater part are too constantly occupied with the cares and duties of their respective vocations, as statesmen, soldiers, or traders, to pay much attention to what is merely curious or interesting to a contemplative spectator. Having, for the most part, too, the prospect of a long residence, they rarely think, on their first arrival, of recording or digesting the impressions which they receive from the spectacle that is spread before them; and wait so long to mature and extend their information, that the interest of novelty is lost, and the scene becomes too familiar to seem any longer worth the trouble of a careful delineation. The fact accordingly is, that almost all our modern publications on the subject of India, are entirely occupied with its political and military history,-details and suggestions upon its trade and commercial resources-and occasionally with discussions upon the more recondite parts of its literary or mythological antiquities." Fifteen years have elapsed since these remarks were made; and yet, previously to the recent publication of Bishop Heber's Journal, no work of any consequence had appeared to supply the desideratum.

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Of the older travellers, Bernier is the most intelligent and trustworthy: Major Rennell styles him the most instructive of all East Indian travellers. He spent twelve years in the country, during eight of

* Graham's Journal, 4to. pref. Speaking of an English traveller whom he met with at Lucknow, Bishop Heber says: "Mr. Hyde is a great traveller, and the only Englishman whom I have heard of, except Lord Valentia, who has visited India from motives exclusively of science and curiosity, since the country has been in our possession.... This gentleman is merely making a tour."

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