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soon restored to their embraces; and at their respective rural residences enjoyed the most ineffable sensations of love and friendship in the bosom of tranquillity, in the sweetest season of the year; with nothing to diminish the joy of returning to our native country but a regret for the absence of those left behind in the torrid zone.

"O quid solutis est beatius curis !

Quum mens onus reponit, ac peregrino
Labore fessi, venimus larem ad nostrum

Desideratoque, acquiescimus lecto."-CATULLUS.

"Ah what so happy as a mind at rest,

When cares no more lie heavy on the breast;

When, tir'd of foreign travel, we return

To our own country, and at length discern

The place which first we knew, which most we love,
And in the bed which nurs'd us, sleep!"—

"OMNIA DEO!"

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Purport of the concluding Chapter-Reflections on the Conversion of the Hindoos-Sentiments of Dr. Johnson-Sir William Jones, Lord Teignmouth, Holwell, and Sir John MackintoshBlessings of Christianity in Time and Eternity-Its Benevolence contrasted with the cruel Policy of the Hindoo Religion in various instances Necessary Moderation in all attempts to Proselyte-The Hindoos compared with the Greeks and Romans when Christianity was preached among them - Religious Sentiments of Socrates, Plato, Seneca, and other eminent Heathens -Appeal for Hindoo Conversion from various motives-Happiness of Christians compared with Unbelievers-Conclusion.

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HAVING, by the Divine blessing, been favoured with health and leisure to pursue my allotted task, and finish the selection from my manuscripts and drawings, I now take leave of my readers, in a concluding chapter; which I hope will not be deemed obtrusive, or irrelevant to the general tenor of these volumes. It treats of a subject in which I am warmly interested, and on which my mind is so deeply impressed with the necessity of avowing my sentiments (feeble as may be my endeavours) that I cannot remain in a state of neutrality.

I shall avail myself in its discussion of assistance from the various sources of information which have been lately opened, and now flow in copious streams

494

ENGLISH POSSESSIONS IN INDIA.

through this highly favoured island: which seems to be selected by Infinite Wisdom and Goodness for the preservation of liberty in Europe, and the diffusion of truth and knowledge through the dark regions of the earth; and should I be deemed the humblest instrument in promoting this great design, by any thing which may be offered in the ensuing pages, it will afford me a heartfelt satisfaction, which language could ill

express.

It has not been my object, neither have I talents, to discuss the political, commercial, and military systems in British India; the aggrandisement of that part of the empire has of late years been rapid and wonderful. Reverting to the middle of the seventeenth century, we find the English possessions in India consisted of two factories, situated on the banks of the Hughly river; with an ensign's guard of thirty men, stationed there for the protection of property; they were limited to this number by the jealous policy of the emperor Aurungzebe and his predecessors, who would not allow the factors to build even the slightest garden wall, from a fear of its being converted into a fortification. Such was the commencement of the British establishment in Bengal.

In the year 1638, Mr. Langhorne, agent for the English East India Company, purchased the village of Madras-patana, with a small district on the sea-coast of Coromandel, from the Hindoo rajah, for the East India Company. This village was soon after surrounded by a wall, and a castle called Fort St. George was erected there in 1640. This being a purchase, noobjection was made to the circumvallation. And from this small beginning arose the extensive dominions now

INCREASE OF POWER,

495

belonging to the East India Company, under the Presidency of Madras, or Fort St. George.

In less than thirty years after these petty establishments in Bengal and Coromandel, the island of Bombay was ceded to the English, on the marriage of Charles the Second with the princess Catherine of Portugal: this was the foundation of the Bombay government, and all its subsequent appendages on the western side of the Indian peninsula. The whole of these settlements, and every other British factory in India (including those retained in the eastern islands after the cruel massacre of the Company's servants at Amboyna, by the Dutch) were subordinate to the Governor and Council at Surat; established there, with a supreme authority, by the East India Company in England.

It would be foreign to these Memoirs to enter on a detail of the history of the English East India Company, or the aggrandisement of the British nation, in the remote regions of Hindostan. This history became generally interesting about the middle of the eighteenth century, in consequence of the unparalleled cruelty of the nabob of Bengal, and the sufferings of the English in the Black Hole at Calcutta, an event which was soon followed by the memorable battle of Plassey, and other gallant exploits in Bengal, by Robert, Lord Clive, the first of that title; which not only amply revenged the perfidious cruelty of the Mahomedan despot, but gave the Company power, wealth, and territory, in the finest provinces of India, where from a set of licensed foreign merchants they became sovereigns of the country.

The wars which subsisted at that period between

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the native princes of India, on the coast of Coromandel, aided by English and French troops, opposed to each other as auxiliaries, under experienced commanders of both nations, and the consequences of such interference to the British nation, are admirably related by Orme, justly styled "the elegant historian of India." The subsequent conquests by other generals, and the more recent victories in which the name of Wellesley is so conspicuous, have added an immense domain to the British empire. These invaluable territories, acquired by British valour, are maintained by sound policy, moderation, and justice; the extent of our territorial power and influence excites the wonder of Asia; and the effects are sensibly felt by all the maritime nations of Europe, whose consequence in India declined as the British empire triumphed.

My pen can add no lustre to the exalted character of Marquis Cornwallis; the necessary wars in which he engaged, and the vigorous and comprehensive system which he pursued, brought new acquisitions of wealth and power to his native country. His mild and equitable government was peculiarly adapted to gain the confidence and friendship of the Indian sovereigns; his amiable manners conciliated the respect and affection of the Company's servants in every department; and his benevolent heart dispensed general happiness among all classes of natives in those remote regions.

The high sense entertained of Marquis Wellesley's administration in India, is best expressed in the ener

* Duke of Wellington.

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