to the world, and to all its cold and arbitrary formalities; and I was, therefore heedless of the danger of confiding in one, who had the power of abusing my confidence. I knew not then, that in the bustling world, all live by seeming-that love is a sordid and a sensual passion, and friendship nothing but heartless hypocrisy. I told Reginald, therefore, without any reserve, all that had happened to me, "even from my boyish days," and more especially in that memorable night. I did not even conceal from him my love for Catharine Trevor. He heard me with the deepest interest and attention, and exclaimed loudly and indignantly against the infamous and cowardly conduct of Sir William Evans. spoke of Catharine as an angel. He himself, when in the disguise of a pedlar, and fainting with fatigue and hunger, had once experienced the Soothing kindness of this noble girl; and I thought, I saw a tear in his dark eye-lash, as he spoke of her tender attention to the " poor old pedlar." His voice certainly faulterbut it was only for a moment;

ed;

He

and he quickly regained his accustomed stern composure.

After I had finished my story, several incidents of which I found were familiar to my auditor, Reginald addessed me thus: "Young man, you have been rash and headstrong, and will repent it. Look at me, Frederick Anwyl, and at my habitation. It was not always thus with me. The night hawk and the owl might frequent, unseen by me, these hoary ruins; and these features were not always thus clouded with sorrow. But one rash and sudden act-one damnable paroxysm of intemperate passion has driven me from the haunts of civilized men, to herd with those who are worse even than the very brutes; and kindred, and friends, and all that my heart held dear, are lost to me for ever. Listen to me, Frederick, and you shall hear the short tale of one, who has watched, though unseen, carefully over your youth, but who can now only offer you the succour and consolation of a poor, friendless, unhappy, and heart-broken wanderer!"

[To be continued.

THE awful responsibility which is attached to Great Britain in the administration of those extensive territories in the East, which have been so wonderfully and rapidly acquired for her in the brief portion of time embraced by the latter half of the past century, is too self-evident to require illustration, and the manner in which she has acquitted herself of the important duties thus imposed upon her, is also, unfortunately, equally notorious. Since the period of the battle of Plassy, which virtually obtained for England the diadem of India, our Asiatic empire has continued to increase to a bulk "almost too great to keep or to resign." "In the train of conquest more-than-Roman," ob. serves Archdeacon Wrangham, "commenced more-than-Tyrian, has followed; and our oppressions have too closely kept pace with both: but of the gospel, which would at once have reproved and compensated our in

suggestion, forsooth, of that secular prudence, in which the children of this world are stated to excel, we forbore to propose rules of conduct to others, while we ourselves consciously furnished so lamentable a proof of their inefficacy. Like the lepers in the Syrian camp, we ate, and drank, and carried thence silver and gold and raiment; and we held our peace."

To a state of things, of which the foregoing, though a forcible, is not an exaggerated picture, affecting the most vital portion of our empire, it was natural that public attention should be directed; and accordingly we find that since the days of Burke numerous highly talented individuals have devoted their labours to an enquiry into the best means of remedying the evils resulting from it. Among these, the author from whom the preceding extract is borrowed, is not the least distinguished by 'genius and Christian

he has applied himself to the consideration of this momentous question, well merits the approbation of all who feel an interest in the prosperity of England, of which the well being of India forms so essential a portion.. Indebted as we are to her for much. of our commercial grandeur, the comforts and elegancies of life which daily surround us, are equally the produce of her soil and of her industry. More of these than we are allowed to receive does she now actually produce, and this production might probably from the capabilities of the country, be increased ten fold were proper. measures adopted for its improvement. On these there exists little difference of opinion, except among those whose personal interest appears likely to be affected by the change which must necessarily precede them; and these men will constantly be opposed to all reformation, under the avowed impression that the machine will continue to work during their time. With these men the public of England have little to do, since to the advantage of the public they have never abated one iota of their pretensions; and to them the people of India have still less obligation, for to the improvement of that country they have constantly interposed obstacles. The English public must therefore judge for itself, and be no longer implicitly guided by those who claim for themselves exclusive information and wisdom on this point, but which they, have never yet proved themselves to possess, and awakened to a sense of the degraded state of the wretched inhabitants of the most fertile climate of the world, claim for them some portion of the benefits they are entitled to expect from their connection with the most civilized nation in existence.

In the distant and luxuriant regions of India, the sun sheds his influence on a population four times greater in amount than that of the nation to which fate has assigned the rule and dominion over her, and exceeding in the proportion of two thousand to one the European residents among them. Degraded as the abject condition of these children of the sun, proves them to be at the present day, their ancestors exhibited a very different pic ture, and justly claimed that preeminence in literature and science which has since passed away into the

To pierce the close recesses of the heart; Hold moral beauty to man's raptured sight Guide him from passion's glare to reason's light:

And prompt him, to himself severely true, His high descent to prove, his glorious end pursue."

Centuries have however rolled away, and the scene has changed. To the descendants of the barbarous native of Europe, who then wandered wild in the almost impervious forests which covered its surface, feeding on the fruits which nature sparingly offered to his hand, and on the few animals which his limited invention and means enabled him to procure, ignorant in every science, and blindly subservient to a bigoted and blood-thirsty priesthood: to them has been transferred. that science which formerly distinguished the Hindoo, as a poet, a moralist and an astronomer: and while the progress of knowledge was onwards with the one, in the other it has been retrograde. Satisfied with the acquirements of his ancestors, and clinging with unbounded pertinacity to their institutes and dogmas, to violate which he would have deemed the height of impiety, the Hindoo, yielding to the influence of the climate which he inhabits, has become languid and enervated in soul as in body, Science is coy, and will not unsought be won; and he who shall declare, "thus far will I go and no farther” will seldom advance even to the point at which he aims. Such has been the fate of the Hindoo. To acquire a knowledge of the institutes of his predecessors has been his ultimate aim; beyond these he wished not to advance, and even these has he seldom succeeded in attaining. Revolutions have swept over his country and have diverted his attention; new religions have been introduced to his notice, and beneath their influence he has sunk never to recover his pristine sim

plicity and vigour; and the soulwithering influence of the system in stituted by Brahma has confined to certain castes alone the privilege of treading even the limited range, beyond which none is allowed to ven. ture. Of the superstitious and bloody usages which have mingled with the observances of a religion by no means unalloyed in its origin, Archdeacon Wrangham has furnished a beautiful picture as contrasted with the primitive simplicity of Hindoo worship. "Ab wretched land! to every ill a prey; Thy sons enslav'd, thy cities in decay! But light the chains the abject frame that bind,

To those which bow to earth th' aspiring

mind.

Where once th' Hindoo his simple prayer preferr❜d,

And sweet his caroll'd hymn of praise was heard;

His turf-built altar unembrued with blood,

His gentle heart's religion to do good; There in her gory shrine, with outstretch'd hands,

Her human food stern Calica demands; There his huge car the monster-god impels

O'er prostrate crowds, who court the crushing wheels:

There from her babes by savage Brah

mins borne,

The widow'd mother clasps her consort's urn;

With ill-feigned triumph mounts his blazing lyre,

And sinks proud trembler! in the sacred fire,

There Superstition's execrable train Throng the vex'd soul where Darkness

holds her reign."

With Brahma originated the distinction into castes which form so distinguishing a feature of the present state of India, and presents the most formidable obstacle to the progress of information and religion. To this institution the Hindoo clings with a pertinacity which cannot be exceeded, and which force has in vain attempted to combat. The followers of the religion of Mecca found unavailing against it the keen edge of their Arabian scimitars, that seldom failing engine of conversion to which they have universally had recourse. These military missionaries could extirpate, but they were unable to convert. Dissonant as force is with the principles of christianity, it would not of course be adopted by us, even if ex

perience had not proved its total inadequacy to the end proposed. But 10 what other means must we then resort? So long as the predominancy of the Hindoo priesthood continues, the exertions of our missionaries must continue inefficient. While the Brah-mins continue to be necesary to all the ordinary concerns of civil life; while they are privileged " to direct the dress, prescribe the food, regulate the marriages, and determine the professions, of their followers; and authoritatively hold over the disobedient the terrors of expulsion from their class; a penalty involving in the irretrievable loss of family, friends, and honour, a degree of suffering which Rome in her proudest hour was never able to inflict; their subversion is impossible."

To remove this impediment must however be the first step towards the introduction into Hindoostan of civilization and religion. Direct argument has hitherto proved equally unavailing with force; and it therefore remains to endeavour at accomplishing by more circuitous means what reason has been unable to achieve. The principal of these, as recommended by Archdeacon Wrangham, consist in the pointing out the greater simplicity and pertinency of our ceremonies compared with those of the Hindoo, and the auspicious effects of our civil institutions which may enhance his estimation of those that are religious. The absence from genuine christianity of the sanguinary intolerance of the mosque and the gross imposition of the pagod, will also tend to engage his attention to the evidences of the gospel; and if to these oblique influences be added, "what of all the indirect means of conversion is perhaps the most efficacious, the visible rhetoric' of a good life; if we solicit the confidence of the lower and more popular castes by our kindness, their respect by our proficiency in sciences and arts, and their gratitude by communication of these benefits; we may then, in our struggles with their spiritual leaders, advance to more avowed and more active hostility."

This object can be alone effected by a substantive, and important change in the present system of residents in India, by the alteration in fact of residents into settlers, and the thus

forming as it were a permanent and increasing Christian caste, in the bosom of which converts might find a refuge when disowned as outcasts by the tribe which they had quitted. To the present condition of India, Mr. Burke's description is as applicable as it was in 1783. “Young men, (boys almost) govern there, without society and without sympathy with the natives. They have no more social habits with the people, than if they still resided in England; nor indeed any species of intercourse, but that which is necessary to making a sudden fortune with a view to a remote settlement. Animated with all the avarice of age, and all the impetuosity of youth, they roll in, one after another, wave after wave; and there is nothing before the eyes of the natives, but an endless hopeless prospect of new flights of birds of prey and passage, with appetites continually renewing for a food that is continually wasting. Their prey is lodged in England; and the cries of India are given to seas and winds to be blown about, in every breaking up of the Monsoon, over a remote and unhearing ocean." From such men, the beneficial results we have just anticipated cannot be expected; it must in fact be looked for from those whose connection with the country shall be of a more settled and permanent character. The gradual and guarded colonization from Europe which has been strongly recommended as the most judicious measure to be adopted, would contribute essentially to this desirable end. But to produce any consequential result, this important measure must not be too limited in its extent; limited it will of necessity be, when the vast surface of the country is regarded; and to be extensively beneficial it must not be cramped. By this alone, can an enlarged and kindly intercourse be opened with the natives of India; to share the rites of hospitality, to contract affinities, and to blend ourselves by a common interest of mutual good will and benefit in all the endearing relations of private life, will form a broad and firm basis on which to raise the glorious superstructure to which every friend of mankind looks forward with anxious anticipation. The improvements in science, in arts, and especially in agriculture, which a body thus constituted would present E. M. January, 1825.

to the more opulent and respectable of their neighbours, and the employment and support which it would furnish to the poorer among them, must imperceptibly exert a beneficial influence over their habits and manners, and gradually induce them, as soon as its value could be properly appreciated, to embrace as brethren and reverence as saviours those whom they might previously have regarded with suspicion or rejected with cold

ness.

Among the other beneficial results to which a liberal system of colonization would lead, the improvement and restoration of public works deserve also particular mention. To the present governors of India, residing at a distance from the spot whence their profits are derived, and frequently ignorant on almost every subject connected with it, the ample interest which they can derive from the capital they have employed appears of primary and paramount consideration; and to gratify this avaricious lust, the revenues are collected with rigour to be exported into Europe. Money expended in India for its advantage seems to minds thus distorted by interest, to differ little from being wasted, and instances have occurred, in which a more than usually public-spirited Governor General has been checked in his schemes of vast importance to those over whom he ruled, by those who bore rule over him. To settlers in India, these plans would be equally important as to the natives; roads and canals would be cut; the ruined reservoirs, many of them works of royal grandeur, intended to preserve the precious deposit of the periodical rains, would be repaired, and new ones constructed; embankments would be formed to guard against the present ruinous effects of inundations; and in lieu of their actual dreariness, the vallies of India, "now literally vales of tears," will stand so thick with corn that they shall laugh and sing.

In the moral cultivation of the population itself, yet more would be effected. In addition to those sources of improvement which have been enumerated above, schools, which now, from the paucity of European inhabitants can scarcely be maintained, except in those few points in which they are congregated, would be multi

K

plied over the surface of the country; and from them, by judicious management, by abstaining from irritating or needlessly opposing the doctrines and prejudices of the Hindoo, incalculable benefit must result. The establishment of a few colleges or literary institutions, however adapted they may be to bring together the more learned of the natives, and those few Europeans whose leisure enables them to attend to such pursuits, must be trifling in its effects compared with those which would be produced by schools, in which such impressions might be infixed upon the young and susceptible mind, as no after scenes would suffice to eradicate.

In so distant a country as India from that by which her destinies are swayed, and with her immediate government submitted to the power of a few individuals alone, personal security and property require to be guarded with the most jealous and vigilant care. Unless this be exercised, and the strongest bulwarks erected in their defence, none among the more respectable classes of British society, to whom the value of liberty is so well known and so deeply endeared, would be induced to avail himself of the permission, which we have assumed to be granted, (as it is essential that it should) of settling as a colonist on the fertile plains of Hindoostan, and of transferring to his children in perpetuity their natal spot. Outcasts of society, schemers, and needy adventurers, might doubtless be ready to flock into this new land of promise, even were their liberty put in jeopardy by the enterprise, but of them India has no need ; the worthy and the respectable alone would benefit her, and such would cherish too dearly the independence of their ancestors tamely to resign it. To encourage these to become settled proprietors of estates in so remote a region, their liberty must be secured to them by the safeguard of the law; and to effect this it is essential that that Anti-British enactment which subjects every Englishman to transportation from India at the mere will of the Governor in council, without accusation and without trial, should be immediately repealed. Petty oppressions will of course be met with, too trifling to be cognisable in a court of justice, and for these also there

must be provided a remedy. This remedy has once existed in India; but it has now unfortunately been torn from her. The freedom of the press can alone countervail the every day injuries of the petty man in office, and cause him to tremble and shrink into himself before its impartial and strict scrutiny. It is equally powerful to protect from the oppressions of the highest, and even he who lords it over all, must bend before its energies while advocating the cause of truth and justice. Before its effulgence darkness and error will disappear; and by its assistance, right will always ultimately prevail.

For the press of India, however, we claim not, more than for that of England, an unbounded and irresponsible license. To the laws it must always be subject; but let those laws be clearly defined, let every individual interested therein have full cognizance of them; then let him act as to him shall seem fit, and give to a jury of his countrymen, and to that tribunal alone, the power of judging whether he has exceeded the fair bounds of candid discussion, and wilfully wielded to a bad purpose the powerful engine he has set in motion. If an impartial tribunal thus composed shall declare that he has so offended, let him then suffer for his crime the full penalty which he has incurred; and if it be urged that a still heavier punishment be necessary in India than in England, let that penalty be increased even tenfold. To all this let him be subjected, but not before conviction.

In the preceding observations, the attention has been directed rather to the grand and preliminary steps towards the civilization of India, than to its minuter and more remote details. That this important and vital object cannot be regarded as complete and perfect until christianity shall have chased away the errors of superstition from the benighted minds of its inhabitants cannot for a moment be doubted; but into the means by which this should be effected it is impossible at present to enter at sufficient length. Of these, the Rev. Archdeacon Wrangham has given very extensive details in his "Dissertation on the best Means of Civilizing the Subjects of the British Empire in India," (to which we are indebted for many of the previous suggestions,)