CHAPTER XLII.

IMPORTANT SUBJECT OF THIS CONCLUSION;

RETROSPECTION OF THE ENGLISH EAST INDIA COMPANY'S FIRST SETTLEMENTS IN HINDOSTAN; THEIR PRO

GRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT, AND FLOURISHING

STATE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN

INDIA, IN 1812.

REFLECTIONS ON THE CHARACTER OF THE HINDOOS, AND

THE IMPORTANCE OF CONVERTING THEM TO

CHRISTIANITY.

"From ills, that painted, harrow up the breast,

(What agonies, if real, must they give!)
Preserve thy votaries; be their labours blest!
Oh! bid the patient Hindoo rise and live.
His erring mind, that wizard lore beguiles,
Clouded by priestly wiles,

To senseless nature bows, for nature's GOD.
Now, stretch'd o'er oceans vast, from happier isles,
He sees the wand of empire, not the rod :
Ah! may those beams that Western skies illume,
Disperse th' unholy gloom!

Meanwhile, may laws by myriads long rever'd,
Their strife appease, their gentler claims decide;
So shall their victors, mild with virtuous pride,
To many a cherish'd grateful race endear'd,
With temper'd love be fear'd;
Though mists profane obscure their narrow ken,
They err, yet feel, though pagans, they are men."

SIR WILLIAM JONES.