but the fhade. The chill blaft of winter is unknown; the feafons are only marked by an arbitrary number of nights and days. Property being in fome measure unneceffary, becomes of little value; and men fubmit without refiftance to violations of right, which may hurt but cannot deftroy them. Their religious inftitutions incline them to peace and fubmiffion. The vulgar live with the aufterity of philofophers, as well as with the abstinence of devotees. Averfe themselves to the commiffion of crimes, they refent no injuries from others; and their low diet cools their temper to a degree which paffion cannot inflame.

Notwithstanding the abftinence and indolence of the natives of India, they were in fome degree induftrious, and their own arts and the natural productions of their country, rendered them opulent; wealth accumulated in the progrefs of time upon their hands, and they became objects of depredation to the fierce nations of the northern Afia.

Afia, the feat of the greatest empires, has been always the nurfe of the most abject flaves. The mountains of Perfia have not been able to ftop the progrefs of the tide of defpotifm, neither has it been frozen in its courfe through the northern Tartary by the chill air of the north. The Arabs of the defart alone poffefs liberty on account of the fterility of their foil; but though defpotifm governs Afia, it appears in different countries under various forms. Thefe various forms our Author delineates; after which he fhews how peculiarly the faith of Mahommed is calculated for defpotifm, and that it is one of the greatest causes which must fix for ever the duration of that species of government in the eaft. The particulars here infifted upon by Mr. Dow, are, the unlimited power which Mahommedanifm gives to every man in his own family; the law of compenfation for murder; the frequent bathing inculcated by the Coran; the doctrine of a rigid fate, or abfolute predeftination; the extenfive polygamy permitted by the law of Mahommed; and the concealment of women, together with its effects on the manners.

Thus the feeds of defpotifm, which the nature of the climate and the fertility of the foil had fown in India, were reared to perfect growth by the Mahommedan faith. When a people, fays our Author, have been long fubjected to arbitrary power, their return to liberty is arduous and almoft impoffible. Slavery, by the ftrength of cuftom, is blended with human nature, and that undefined fomething called public virtue exifts no more: the fubject never thinks of reformation, and the prince, who only has it in his power, will introduce no innovations to abridge his own authority. Were even the defpot poffeffed of the enthufiafm of public fpirit, the people would revolt against the in

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troduction of freedom, and revert to that form of government which takes the trouble of regulation from their hands.

The fimplicity of defpotifm recommends it to an indolent and ignorant race of men. Its obvious impartiality, its prompt justice, its immediate feverity against crimes, dazzle the eyes of the fuperficial, and raife in their minds a veneration little fhart of idolatry for their prince. When he is active and determined in his measures, the great machine moves with a velocity which throws vigour into the very extremities of the empire. His violence and even his caprices are virtues, where the waters must be always agitated to preserve their freshness, and indolence and irrefolution can be his only ruinous vice: the first indeed may injure the ftate, but by the latter it must be undone. A fevere prince, by his jealoufy of his own authority, prevents the tyranny of others; and, though fierce and arbitrary in himself, the fubject derives a benefit from his being the fole defpot. His rage falls heavy on the dignified flaves of his prefence, but the people escape his fury in their diftance from his hand.

The defpotic form of government is not, however, fo terrible in its nature, as men born in free countries are apt to imagine. Though no civil regulation can bind the prince, there is one great law, the ideas of mankind with regard to right and wrong, by which he is bound. When he becomes an affaffin, he teaches others to use the dagger against himself; and wanton acts of injuftice, often repeated, deftroy by degrees that opinion which is the fole foundation of his power. In the indifference of his fubjects for his perfon and government, he becomes liable to the confpiracies of courtiers and the ambitious fhemes of his relations: he may have many flaves, but he can have no friends: his perfon is expofed to injury; a certainty of impunity may arm even cowards against him, and thus, by his exceffive ardour for power, he with his authority lofes his life.'

Defpotifm, according to Mr. Dow, appears in its most engaging form under the imperial houfe of Timur. This obfervation he illuftrates, by taking a furvey of the characters of the feveral princes of that houfe; and then he gives an account of the condition of landed property, the titles of honour, the form of justice, and the council of ftate. The differtation is concluded with fome reflections on the communication of power, the rules of fucceffion to the throne, and the mildness of the Hindoo government.

Our Author opens his enquiry into the ftate of Bengal with obferving, that the affairs of India, though long of great importance to this kingdom, have only very lately become objects of public attention. Facts, fays he, coming from afar made little impreffion: their novelty could not rouze, nor their va

riety amuse the mind. With a felf-denial uncommon in a spirited nation, we heard without emotion of the great actions of fome of our countrymen, and if we liftened to any detail of oppreffions committed by others, it was with a phlegmatic indifference, unworthy of our boafted humanity. A general dif tafte for the subject prevailed: an age marked with revolution and change feemed ready to pass away, without being fenfible of events which will render it important in the eyes of pofterity. But as the current of the public opinion has at length taken another direction, and men fhew an inclination to be informed, together with a willingness to correct miftakes and to redrefs grievances, Mr. Dow has been induced to commit his obfervations to the prefs. He has been for years a filent spectator of the tranfactions of the British nation in the eaft, and it is from the means of information which he has poffeffed, that he hopes to give fomething new to the world. With hands guiltlefs of rapine and depredation, he affumes the pen without prejudice, and he will ufe it with all decent freedom without fear.'

Setting out with these advantages, our Author, after giving a brief account of the various revolutions of Bengal, confiders the policy of the Moguls with regard to the different tenures of lands, the modes of impofing and collecting taxes, and the civil officers and courts of juftice. Under the laft head we are informed that the defpotifm of Hindoftan was never a government of mere caprice and whim. The Mahommedans carried into their conquefts a code of laws, which circumfcribed the will of the Prince. The principles and precepts of the Coran, with the commentaries upon that book, form an ample body of laws, which the house of Timur always obferved; and the practice of ages had rendered fome antient ufages and edicts fo facred in the eyes of the people, that no prudent monarch would chufe to violate either by a wanton act of power. It was, befides, the policy of the Prince to protect the people from the oppreffiveness of his fervants. Rebellion fprang always from the great, and it was neceffary for him to fecure a party against their ambition among the low.

From the confideration of the civil officers and courts of justice, Mr. Dow proceeds to explain the revenue and commerce of Bengal and Behår, under the imperial houfe of Timur; and here we learn, that though defpotism is not the most favourable government for commerce, it nevertheless flourished greatly under the ftrict juftice of that houfe. Senfible of the advantages which they themfelyes would derive from a free commercial intercourse between their subjects, they were invariably the protectors of merchants. The military ideas which they brought from Tartary, prevented the principal fervants of the crown' from engaging in trade, and therefore monopolies of every kind

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were difcouraged and almoft unknown. No government in Europe was ever more fevere against forestalling and regrating, than was that of the Moguls in India, with regard to all the branches of commerce. A fmall duty was raised by the crown; but this was amply repaid, by the never violated fecurity given to the merchant...

Our Author next comes to the state of Bengal under the revolted Nabobs; and though the change was, in fome respects, unfavourable to the inhabitants, it was not inconfiftent with their being upon the whole in a very profperous condition. An intimate knowledge of the country, fays Mr. Dow, enabled the Nabobs to prevent their government om degenerat ing into abfolute oppreflion. They had fenfe enough to fee, that their own power depended upon the profperity of their fubjects; and their refidence in the province gave them an opportunity of doing juftice with more expedition and precision than it was done in the times of the empire. The complaints of the injured, from a poffeffion of the means of information, were better understood. The Nabobs were lefs restricted than formerly, in inflicting neceflary punishments; and, as they were accountable to no-fuperior for the revenue, they had it in their power to remit unjust debts and taxes, which could not be borne. The miferies of Bengal, in fhort, were reserved for other times. Commerce, manufactures, and agriculture, were encouraged; for it was not then the maxim to take the honey by deftroying the fwarm.

The folly of the Prince had no deftructive effect on the profperity of the people. The Nabobs, carrying down, through their own independent government, the idea of the mild defpotifm of the houfe of Timur, feemed to mark out to the people certain lines, which they themfelyes did not chufe either to overleap or deftroy. Many now in Britain were eye-witneffes of the truth of this affertion. We appeal to the testimony of thofe who marched through Bengal after the death of Surageul Dowla, that, at that time, it was one of the richest, most populous, and beft cultivated kingdoms in the world. The great men and merchants were wallowing in wealth and luxury; the inferior tenants and the manufacturers were bleffed with plenty, content, and cafe: but the cloud which has fince obfcured this funfhine was near.'

The ftate of Bengal under the Eaft-India Company is largely difcuffed by our Author, and the fubjects particularly confidered by him are, the treaty for the Dewanny; the decline of commerce; the monopolies of falt, beetle-nut, and tobacco; the mode of collecting the revenues; and the adminiftration of juftice. Under cach of these heads we meet with a number of facts, which difplay, in the most friking light, the wretched

and

and cruel policy that hath lately taken place in Bengal, and the perufal of which would be very interefting to our Readers; but we must content ourselves with giving Mr. Dow's concluding obfervations upon this part of his enquiry.

• The idea of the prefent ftate and government of Bengal, conveyed in the preceding fections, juftifies the following conclufion, That the Company, in the management of that great kingdom, have hitherto mistaken their own intereft. To increase the revenues was the point to which their fervants invariably directed their attention; but the means employed defeated their views, and became ruinous to a people whom their arms had fubdued. Though they exported the fpecie, though they checked commerce by monopoly, they heaped oppreffion upon additional taxes, as if rigour were neceffary to power.

Much penetration was not neceffary to difcover, that it was not by the revenues of Bengal alone that either the British nation or the Company were to be enriched. A country deftitute of mines, deprived of foreign commerce, muft, however opulent from better times, in the end be exhausted. The tranfitory acquifition, upon the opinion that all the fpecie of Bengal had centered in Great Britain, would have no defirable effect the fugitive wealth would glide through our hands; and we would have only our folly to regret, when the fources would happen to become dry. Bengal, without ruin to itfelf, could fpare none of its fpecie; and the objects to which our aim fhould have been directed, are as obvious as they are falutary. We ought to have encouraged agriculture, the trade with the reft of Afia, and internal manufacture.

'Agriculture conftitutes the wealth of every state, not merely commercial. Bengal, a kingdom fix hundred miles in length, and three hundred in breadth, is compofed of one vast plain of the most fertile foil in the world. Watered by many navigable rivers, inhabited by fifteen millions of induftrious people, capable of producing provifions for double the number, as appears from the defarts which oppreffion has made; it feems marked out, by the hand of Nature, as the most advantageous region of the earth for agriculture. Where taxes are moderate, where fecurity of property is joined to a rich foil, cultivation will encreafe, the neceflaries of life will become cheap, as well as the grofs materials which manufacturers require. Manufactures, by these means, would not only fall in' their price, but they would be produced in a greater quantity; larger investments might be made by the Company, the confumption would encreafe, and the profits rife. Bengal can, in fhort, be only useful in the profperity and industry of its inhabitants. Deprive it of the laft remains of its wealth, and you ruin an unfortunate people, without enriching yourfelves.