ENGLISH ADVENTURE AND ORIENTAL CONQUESTS.

THE student who wishes to explore thoroughly the whole character of our Hindoo dominions; the merchant who desires to invest capital and embark in eastern enterprise; or the colonist who seeks for a new and most promising field for his industry and perseverance; will find Montgomery Martin's "British Colonies" a source of invaluable information, and deserving to be consulted as a vade The politician, who inquires not for the name or evanescent triumphs of the conqueror; he

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who longs not for the strife of nations or the commotions of civil war, but who exerts himself to promote the interests of universal peace, of national prosperity, and of remunerative industry, will trace here a field for philosophical legislation, for benevolent and wise government; which will furnish matter for deliberate and lengthened discussion. These excellences, however, may render it less attractive for the more discursive reader; for whom passages of spirited description and impassioned narrative, scenes and sketches beautifully picturesque, sublime, and impressive, would be esteemed more seasonable and pleasing. He shows that the oriental dominions which are held by our insular kingdom, offer to the agriculturist measureless fields for pasture and tillage; to the manufacturer, an incalculable extension of the home market for the disposal of his wares; to the merchant and mariner, vast marts for profitable traffic in every product with which nature has bounteously enriched the earth; to the capitalist, an almost interminable site for the profitable investment of his funds; and to the industrious, skilful, and intelligent emigrant, an area of many thousand square miles, where every species of mental ingenuity and manual labour may be developed and nurtured into action with advantage to the whole family of man. The ulterior events which may befal this extended empire through the counsels and operations of British citizens are concealed from our anticipations; this much, however, is evident, that the intrinsic worth of these colonies

is neither appreciated nor understood by the mass of the people. We shall now trace, as briefly as our limits require, the conquest of these wide domains, and the progress of British acquisition.

It is questionable whether greater misery has been inflicted on Asiatic provinces by the misrule and imbecility of native despots, tyrants who usurped a short-lived dominion, or the royal descendants of reigning princes, who, by virtue of hereditary right, have pillaged and devoured the miserable and defenceless multitude; or whether invasion and conquest, with their attendant plundering, conflagration, and massacres, have been a greater source of wretchedness and woe. The successful adventurers Cuttub and Altumsh, Balin and Alla, Tuglick and Nizam-ul-Dien, were succeeded by their children, or their kindred, as transitory dynasties, the Ferozes and Byrams, the Kei Kobads, Mubaricks, and Jonahs, the Mahomeds and Mahmoods,-who ravaged the country as locusts and caterpillars, and proved even as hostile to the permanent interests of their people as the Genghis Khans, the Timurs, Babers, Akbers, and Shah Jehans. Yet indeed it is only a choice of evils, and desolating was the mildest scourge. The record is but too well authenticated, which details rebellion, massacres, and barbarous conquests, as the history of India from the remotest annals. In it we read of thousands, twenty, seventy, a hundred thousand, yea, hundreds of thousands of persons being slaughtered in one day, without the slightest

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compunctions; of unbounded perfidy and treason, of never-ending assassination for personal revenge, or of public confiscation; the noses and ears of thousands cut off at one time, the compulsory circumcision or mutilation of thousands at another; judicial decisions openly sold; the work of war and blood made perpetual; living beings hewed or torn to pieces; hillocks of bodies and pyramids of human heads piled up for public show; the inhabitants of whole provinces hunted like wild beasts for royal amusement; the march of a monarch tracked by gore, desolation, famine, and pestilence; women devouring their own children in excess of agony; and myriads upon myriads, even during the eighteenth century, wantonly slaughtered in cold blood. The earliest and most inveterate foes whom the British traders first encountered on the shores of India were not the natives, but those for whom the native tribes had long been for a prey, and among whom their lands had been divided as the parcels of conquering freebooters. The Moslem invaders of India invested and captured the Company's factory of Fort William. By their armed thousands, millions, of the most timid and passive nations, were kept in abject submission; their oppression was maintained by murder, torture, and robbery, to an extent never witnessed in the western world, which, having been protracted through centuries, would, under a less genial clime, or with a less enduring people, have terminated in the total extinction of the Hindoo race. The cessation of

the Mohammedan power in Hindostan can never be regretted by the benevolent mind, to whom are familiar the records of that beautiful but ill-fated land. The historic scroll of this people had for ages been stained with human gore, either from internal insurrections, or the irruptions of the fresh locusthordes, who sought to share in the spoils of their more wealthy, but not more fortunate brethren.

The character of these events will appear more distinctly in the reputation sustained by a few of the oriental chieftains. Timur plundered and massacred without distinction of religion or sex; his track was marked by blood, desolation, famine, and pestilence so justly has he been denominated the fire-brand of the universe, and the greatest wholesale butcher of our species ever heard of by mankind. The Mogul Aurungzebe, and the Mahratta Sevagee, were as ruthless destroyers of the Hindoo race-extensive and sanguinary marauders whereever obstacles were presented to their mad and plundering ambition. Nadir Shah, a shepherd's son, and the usurper of the Persian throne, encountered the Hindostanee army four days' march from Delhi. The valour of his hardy and experienced bands prevailed, the timid and mismanaged crowds of Mahomed's army were soon confused, and their leaders slain or made captive. Nadir and Mahomed met in the camp of Nadir, and the Shah consented to evacuate Hindostan upon receipt of two crores of rupees, or two million pounds sterling. An ambitious satrap defeated Mahomed's