Preserve and improve their proper character as Britons.

or almost all, think only of adding to their own gains, or wallowing in the voluptuousness of eastern luxury, schemes of civilisation the most judicious, prospects of success the most flattering, cannot be realised, will end only in the bitterness of disappointment.

Nor is this apprehension altogether imaginary. It is unfortunate, and somewhat surprising, that, while the hardy texture of the British character has powerfully resisted the influence of all other climates, and, like our native oak, endured the fiercest extremes without bending, it should yet have yielded, almost uniformly, to the insinuating blandishments of Hindostan. In those who return from other countries, you commonly see the original traits conspicuously retained, though perhaps not a little modified; but in the eastern Nabob they are often effaced. He, not unfrequently, brings back with him a certain squeamishness of taste, and sickly sensibility of feeling; a certain love of perpetual gaiety without enjoyment, of travelling without curiosity; a dislike of home, and ennui of life, which are essentially different from the great lines of British temper, and render him, among his countrymen at home, at once an object of surprise and of pity. This fact shews, that there is danger lest the bold and somewhat rugged elements of our national

spirit, should, instead of assimilating the Hindoo character to itself, be melted down into the softness of the country: lest the voluptuousness of Hindostan should prove more fatal than its wisdom or its valour; and, like the luxurious ease of Capua, prepare the victors for being at length subdued by those whom they had vanquished. Frequent emigration from the mother country, and the rapid succession of the servants of the Company, have hitherto contributed to avert this event. But, in proportion to the stability of the government, to its prosperity, and to the inducements which are held out to a permanent settlement in India, must be the strength of this assimilating influence, and the reasonableness of our fears. To counteract this fatal tendency, some new measures, it would seem, must be adopted. Let government watch, with anxious jealousy, over the operation of those causes which tend to enervate the vigour of the British mind, and so threaten to undermine the very basis upon which the fabric of our power in that quarter rests. Let promotion be the premium of maintaining its energies unimpaired. Sumptuary laws have been resorted to by legislators, to restrain the influence of luxury, and they may have some effect when enforced by the vigilance and

M

System of go

vernment as it relates to the subject.

remuneration of the public authorities. But such regulations, like those which have been adopted in some other cases, will soon become obsolete and useless, will serve only to encumber the statute book, or at most to turn the current of voluptuousness into other channels, unless, by the example of the rulers, and the good sense of our countrymen in general, the aid of fashion be brought to support the authority of law; and unless the British, urged by every consideration the most important, be persuaded, as a point at once of honour and of duty, to guard assiduously against the overpowering influence of those indulgences, which, creeping insensibly upon them like a chilling frost, may benumb their vital energies, and at last induce such a constitutional lethargy, as will prove the "Sleep of death."

2. Let every Briton remember that he is charged with the high duty of supporting the honour and interests of his country, and that it should be his aim, not to bring down his character to the Hindoo level, but to raise the national spirit and institutions of that unfortunate people among whom he dwells, to the high rank of those of his own country. And let the constituted authorities recollect, that a British government, which shall surrender itself to the effe

minacy of the country over which it presides, and be studious only to enrich itself with the spoils of the provinces. it has subdued, will deserve all those opprobrious epithets, with which our nation has been sometimes so illiberally stigmatised; will disinherit itself of its true honour; and, in the language of Hindostan, lose its high cast among the governments of the earth.

With much wisdom was it resolved, that the inhabitants

of India should be permitted to live under their own laws: for, to change the laws of a country is a perilous attempt; those of Hindostan are characterised by a humanity superior in some respects even to those of Britain; and it may be presumed, that a constitution which has stood the test of ages, is, upon the whole, best adapted to the genius and circumstances of that people among whom it has so long subsisted. Notwithstanding, this resolution cannot be reasonably supposed to preclude such partial changes as an enlightened consideration of their polity may suggest, and a due regard to their improvement may require.

This seems to have been contemplated by Sir William Jones; for he anticipates the introduction of a code, which might remedy the many natural defects in the old jurisprudence of India, and, without deviating from its original cha

Changes not

contrary to

the spirit of

any former concession of

the British

legislature.

Union of

states.

racter, accommodate its details to an enlightened and commercial age *.

Disconnected states, or kingdoms which are but nominally associated under the same government, especially when a certain feebleness of character marks the whole, are most liable to internal dissention, and violent disruption. Of this remark the Mogul empire might be adduced as a striking illustration. With this beacon before our eyes, we should be warned of impending evil, and admonished, that, besides their accidental combination under the ruling power, a political union of the detached native governments will be an eligible measure. To give the plan of such a constitution, or to delineate its ramifications, would lead us into too minute a consideration of this part of our subject. These arrangements must be determined by local circumstances, and by other peculiarities, with which those who reside at a distance have not the means of being fully acquainted. But a general convention of states, consisting of persons of distinguished authority and influence in each, (suppose the chiefs of the hereditary rulers,) assembled, from time to time, with the sanction, and under the eye, of

*Pref. to Laws of Menu.