The wars which subsisted at that period between 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, until, at this extraordinary period, not a single possession remains to any potentate of Europe, except Goa and some insignificant seaports belong to the Portugueze, and the Spanish settlement at Manilla.

The transactions in India since the termination of Orme's memoirs, open an ample, diversified, and interesting field, for the pen of the historian. That is a subject on which I have not presumed to enter, nor am I competent to discuss the luminous and extensive scale of policy, commerce, literature, and science, which dignified the administration of WARREN HASTINGS, the first governorgeneral of India, who was appointed to that high situation in 1774; it is a theme frequently adverted to with great delight in these volumes; and whatever opinion may be entertained of this great man in England, so long as the name of Britain exists in

India, so long will that of HASTINGS be remembered with admiration, gratitude, and love!

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 energetic language of those who so well know how to appreciate his merits; it forms part of the address signed by upwards of six hundred European inhabitants of Calcutta, on the governor-general's departure for England in August 1805.

“The events of the last seven years have marked the period of your Lordship's government as the most important epoch in the history of European power in India. Your discernment in seeing the exigencies of the country, and of the times in which you were called to act, the promptitude and determination with which you have seized on the opportunities of acting, your just conception and masterly use of our intrinsic strength, have eminently contributed, in conjunction with the zeal, the discipline, and the courage of our armies, to decide upon these great events, and to

establish, from one extremity of this empire to the other, the ascendancy of the British name and dominion.

"We are impressed with a firm persuasion, that you have governed with a direct view to the glory of your country, and to the prosperity of its possessions; and with no other personal feeling than the honourable ambition of obtaining its applause as your reward. To the community at large, no doubt, it belongs to fill up the measure of that reward; but it is a duty incumbent upon those among whom you have lived and acted; whose personal concern, in the course of your government, has enabled them to appreciate its character, to declare before the nation their sense of your public services.

"It is under the impression of this duty that we address you, and with the desire to mark, in the most authentic manner, that you carry with you to our common country the respect, the regard, and the confidence of your fellow-subjects; a confidence which is undiminished at the last hour of your administration; a respect and a regard which are founded on our long experience of your ability, of your unsullied integrity, of your impartial and honourable use of power, and of your high and liberal spirit in the conduct of public affairs."

In addition to this unequivocal testimony of the Marquis Wellesley's excellent administration in India, I must not pass over his institution, and paternal care, of the college at Fort William : which, however it may have been condemned by the Court of Directors, or by individuals, for its magnitude and expense, must be allowed to be one of the wisest, and ultimately, perhaps, one

of the most philanthropic establishments ever adopted, for promulgating knowledge, literature, and science, throughout an extensive empire, especially in promoting a jurisprudence founded on the principles of the Mahomedan and Hindoo codes, improved by the spirit of those laws which form the glorious constitution of Great Britain. Without adulation to any living character, as without invidious reflection on the memory of men long since called to their final audit by an unerring Judge, who thought so very differently of one of these distinguished benefactors, I cannot suppress my own estimation of such inestimable advantages to the British empire in India, nor withhold the conclusion of Marquis Wellesley's address to the students of the college at Fort William in 1805, wherein the noble visitor asserts, that "the due administration of just laws within these flourishing and populous provinces, is not only the foundation of the happiness of millions. of people, but the main pillar of the vast fabric of the British empire in Asia; the main-spring of our empire is situated here; and it is supplied and guarded by the laws and regulations of this government. From the prosperity of these provinces are derived all the sources of our revenue and commerce and public credit; and the origin and stability of that prosperity are to be found in the code of laws which you are now directed to study, and hereafter destined to administer, to expound, and to amend.

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Subject to the common imperfection of every human institution, this system of laws is approved by practical experience, (the surest test of human legislation) and contains an active principle of continued revision, which affords the best security for progressive amendment. It is not the effusion of vain theory, issuing

from speculative principles, and directed to visionary objects of impracticable perfection; but the solid work of plain, deliberate, practicable benevolence; the legitimate offspring of genuine wisdom and pure virtue. The excellence of the genuine spirit of these laws is attested by the noblest proof of a just, wise, and honest government; by the restoration of happiness, tranquillity, and security, to an oppressed, and suffering people, and by the revival of agriculture, commerce, manufacture, and general opulence, in a declining and impoverished country.

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Contemplating these benevolent views, and animated by the prospect of the great and exalted duty to which you are called, I trust that you will derive from this institution the most effectual means of preserving and securing to the inhabitants of these prosperous regions, that primary object of all good government, the greatest blessing attainable by any people, an impartial administration of just laws."

Thus the luminous administration of a Hastings; the wise and virtuous governments of a Teignmouth and Cornwallis; the extensive policy, promptitude, and decision of a Wellesley, united with the military talent and enterprise of a Wellington, have placed those distinguished characters on a glorious eminence. How highly exalted do they appear when opposed to D'Acughna and the unworthy successors of Gama and Albuquerque, the Portuguese conquerors of India! Those monsters of iniquity, by their rapacity, oppression, and cruelty, brought disgrace and ruin on that once celebrated nation; the patriotic and benevolent virtues of the delegated administrators of British sovereignty, will endear their names to the latest posterity!