state of the Hindoo nation in the most remote periods cf antiquity. 4. The civil policy of the Hindoos is another proof of the same fact. At the time of Alexander the Great, India was divided into large and powerful kingdoms, governed by sovereigns whose dominion was not absolute, but controlled by the superior authority of the bramins. A system of feudalism has ever prevailed in India; the rights to lands flow from the sovereign, to whom a certain duty is payable by the class of the husbandmen, who transmit their possessions to their children under the same tenure. Strabo and Diodorus remarked among the Indians three classes of officers; one whose department was the regulation of agriculture, tanks, highways; another which superintend the police of the cities; a third which regulated the military department. The same policy prevails at this day under the Hindoo princes. 5. The jurisprudence of Hindostan is an additional proof of great antiquity and civilization. The AyenAkbery, and still more the compilation of Hindoo laws from the ancient Sanscrit records, made by order of Mr. Hastings, contain the jurisprudence of a refined and commercial people, among whom law itself had been a study and profession. 6. Many monuments exist in India of the advanced state of the useful and elegant arts in the remotest periods of antiquity. The ancient pagodas, of vast extent and magnificence, whether cut in the solid rock, as in Elephanta and Salsette, or in the open air, as at Chillambrum and Seringham, the sumptuous residences of the bramins; and the ancient hill fortresses, constructed with prodigious strength and solidity, evince a great advancement in the arts: as the resort of the most polished nations of antiquity to that country for cotton cloths, fine linen, and works in metal and in ivory, proves the superior state of those manufactures to all known at this time in Europe. 7. The late translations from the Sanscrit, of several ingenious compositions of high antiquity, as the dramatic piece Sacantala, the Hitòpadésa, a series of moral apologues and fables, the Mahabarat, an epic poem, composed above 2000 years before the Christian era, all concur in proof of a similar advancement in literature; and we Ive reason to believe, from such works as are of a philo sophical nature, that there is scarce a tenet of the Greek philosophy that has not been antecedenly the subject of discussion among the bramins of India. 8. The numeral ciphers, first introduced into Europe by the Arabians, were, as confessed by those authors themselves, borrowed from the Indians.* It is above a century since the French philosophers evinced, by the evidence of a Siamese manuscript, containing tables for calculating the places of the heavenly bodies, the astonishing advancement made by this ancient people in the science of astronomy. A set of tables, obtained lately from the bramins by M. Gentel, goes back to an era, termed Calyougham, commencing 3102 years before the birth of Christ. These tables are used by the modern bramins, who are quite ignorant of the principles on which they have been constructed, and which M. Bailly has shown to be the same employed by the moderns, but with which the Greeks and Chaldeans were utterly unacquainted. 9. Lastly, from the religious opinions and worship of the Hindoos, we must draw the same conclusion as from all the preceding facts. One uniform system of superstition pervades every religion of India, which is supported by the most sagacious policy, and every thing that can excite the veneration of its votaries. The bramins, elevated above every other class of men, and exclusively acquainted with the mysteries of that religion, which it is held impious for any other class to attempt to penetrate; the implicit reliance on the authority of these bramins; the ceremonies of their worship, fitted to impress the imagination, and affect the passions; all concurred to fortify this potent superstition, and to give its priests a supreme ascendency over the minds of the people. But those priests themselves, enlightened as they were, rejected that false theology. Their writings demonstrate that they entertained the most rational and elevated conceptions with regard to the Supreme Being, and the support of the universe. 10 On the whole, there is a high probability that India was the great school from which the most early polished nations of Europe derived their knowledge of the arts, of sciences and of literature. * The earliest instance of Arabic numerals being used in England is in the year 1282; they do not appear to have been in common use for the purposes of accounts till the end of the 16th century, and even then not very frequently.-ED. XLVIII.-Of China and Japan. 1. Proceeding eastward in the survey of the Asiatic continent, the great empire of China next solicits our ttention. In the end of the 10th century, China, Persia, and the greatest part of India, were ruled by the Tartar descendants of Gengiskan. The Tartar family of Yven, who conquered China, made no change in its laws and system of government, which had been permanent from time immemorial. Of this family there reigned nine successive monarchs, without any attempt by the Chinese to throw off the Tartar yoke. The odious and contemptible character of the last of these sovereigns at length excited a rebellion, which, in 1357, drove the Tartars from the throne; and the Chinese for 276 years, obeyed their native princes. At that period, a second revolution gave the throne once more to the Tartars. Taking advantage of an insurrection in one of the provinces, they invaded China in 1641, and made an easy conquest. The emperor shut himself up in his palace, and, after putting to death all his family, finished the scene by hanging himself. The same Tartars оссиру the throne of China at this day, and observe the same wise policy of maintaining inviolate the Chinese laws, policy, and manners. Of these we shall give a brief account in the subsequent section. 2. The empire of Japan was discovered by the Portuguese about the middle of the 16th century. The open and unsuspicious character of this industrious and polished people, led them to encourage the resort of foreigners to their ports; and the Spaniards, after they had obtained the sovereignty of Portugal, carried on a most beneficial trade to the coasts of Japan. The emperor zealously promoted this intercourse, till the insatiable ambition of the Spaniards gave him alarming conviction of its danger. Under the pretence of converting the Japanese from idolatry, a vast number of priests were sent into the country, and one half of the people were speedily set at mortal variance with the other. It now became necessary to prohibit this work of conversion by an imperial edict. Still, however a free trade was allowed, till 1637, when a conspiracy of the Spaniards was discovered for dethroning the emperor, and seizing the government. An edict was issued for the expulsion of all the Spaniards and Portguese, who were mad enough to resist. till overpowered by force of arms. Since that period, however, a great change has taken place in Japanese policy. The advantages of European civilization are now fully recognized, and steps have of late been taken to place the country on a more equal footing with the most highly-civilized western nations. XLIX. Of the Antiquity of the Empire of China.— State of the Arts and Sciences, Manners, Government, Laws. 1. The antiquity of this vast empire, and the state of its government, laws, manners, and attainment in the arts and sciences, have furnished a most ample field of controversy. Voltaire, Raynal, and other writers of similar principles, have, for the purpose of discrediting the scriptural account of the origin of mankind, and the received notions of the age of the universe, given to the Chinese empire an immense antiquity, and a character of such high civilization and knowledge of the sciences and arts at that remote period, as to be utterly irreconcilable with the state and progress of man, as described in the books of Moses. On the other hand, it is probable that the desire of invalidating those opinions has induced other writers of ability to go to an opposite extreme; to undervalue this singular people, and to give too little weight to any accounts which we have, either of the duration of their empire, the economy of their government and police, or of their attainments in the arts and sciences. Amidst this contrariety of sentiments, we shall endeavour to form such an opinion as appears most consonant to the truth. 2. The panegyrists of the Chinese assert that their empire has subsisted above 4,000 years, without any material alteration in its laws, manners, language, or even fashion of dress; in evidence of which they appeal to a series of eclipses, marking contemporary events, all accurately calculated, for 2155 years before the birth of Christ. As it is easy to calculate eclipses backwards from the present day to any given period of time, it is thus possible to give to a history, fictitious from beginning to end, its chronology of real eclipses. This proof, therefore, amounts to Bothing, unless it were likewise proved that all those eclipses were actually recorded at the time when they hap pened; but this neither Las been nor can be done; for it is an allowed fact that there are no regular historical re cords beyond the third century before the Christian ere. The present Chinese are utterly ignorant of the motions of the celestial bodies, and cannot calculate eclipses. The series mentioned has therefore in all probability been calculated by some of the Jesuits, to ingratiate themselves with the emperors, and flatter the national vanity. The Jesuits have presided in the tribunal of mathematics for above 200 years. 3. But if the authentic annals of this empire go back even to the third century before Christ, and record at that time a high state of civilization, we must allow that the Chinese are an ancient and early polished people, and that they have possessed a singular constancy in their government, laws, and manners. Sir William Jones, no bigotted encomiast of this people, allows their great antiquity and early civilization, and, with much apparent probability, traces their origin from the Hindoos. He appeals to the ancient Sanscrit records, which mention a migration from India of certain of the military class termed Chinas to the countries east from Bengal. The stationary condition of the arts and sciences in China proves that these have not originated with that people; and many peculiarities of the manners, institutions, and popular religion of the Chinese have a near affinity with those of the Hindoos. 4. The government of China is that of an absolute monarchy. The patriarchal system pervades the whole, and binds all the members of this vast empire in the strictest subordination. Every father is absolute in his family, and may inflict any punishment short of death upon his children. The mandarin of the district is absolute, with the power of life and death over all its members; but a capital sentence cannot be inflicted without the emperor's approbation. The emperor's power is absolute over all the mandarins, and every subject of the empire. To reconcile the people to this despotic authority, the sovereign alone is entitled to relieve the wants of the poor, and to compensate public calamities, as well as the misfortunes of individuals. He is therefore regarded as the father of his people, and even adored as a benevolent divinity. 5. Another circumstance which conciliates the people to their government is, that all honours in China are conferred according to merit, and that chiefly literary. The civil mandarins, who are the magistrates and judges, are appointed to office according to their measure of knowledge |