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flecting, that we have not only discharged those duties which preserve the order of civil society but that by a firm, though moderate execution of just laws, we may have contributed in some slight degree, within the narrow sphere of our influence, to revive those moral sentiments which every where naturally spring up in the human heart, but which seem so long to have languished in the breasts of the inhabitants of India."

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Dr. Francis Buchanan, who was selected by Marquis Wellesley, governor-general of India, to ascertain the state of arts, agriculture, religion, &c. in different parts of Hindostan, at the commencement of the nineteenth century, says, "The Smartal brahmins allow of no pardon for eating in company with persons of another caste, or of food dressed by their impure hands. In a religious quarrel, the victorious party caused the other brahmins, on account of their obstinacy, to be ground to death in oil-mills. To those who refuse to acknowledge the doctrines peculiar to their own sect, no men can be more intolerant nor violent than the brahmins.” This benevolent writer confirms all that has been said of the humiliating and cruel treatment of the Sudra caste by the brahmins; and I fear this assertion of Dr. Claudius Buchanan is but too justly founded: "The Hindoos are destitute of those principles of honesty, truth, and justice, which respond to the spirit of British administration, and have not a disposition which is accordant with the tenor of Christian principles."

I shall close this unpleasant part of the subject with an extract from the Hindoo Pantheon, by Major Moor, a most valuable acquisition to oriental literature. "However difficult it may be for an English reader to believe the hitherto unrecorded story of

the flesh-abhorring Hindoos, not only do other castes of the Hindoos, but even the brahmins themselves, cat flesh; and one sect, at least, cat human flesh. They do not kill human subjects to eat, but they eat such as they find about the Ganges and other rivers; and near Benares, they are not unusually seen floating down the river on a corpse, and feeding upon its flesh; and the human brain is judged by these epicurean cannibals to be the most delicious morsel of their unsocial banquet. They are called Paramahansa, and are by no means a low despicable tribe; but, on the contrary, are esteemed, at any rate by themselves, a very high one. Whether the exaltation be legitimate, or assumed by individuals, in consequence of penance, or holy and sanctified acts, I am not prepared to state, but I believe the latter; as I have known other instances where individuals of differing sects, by persevering in extraordinary piety, or penance, have been deemed incapable of

sin."

The same humane writer fully proves the prodigality of the Hindoos in human destruction. Besides the self-immolation of widows, those of all ranks in religion and life, are in the habit of carrying their aged and diseased parents and friends to the Ganges, or some other holy stream, to perish by hunger, weather, or alligators. "Mothers, incredible as it may seem, revolt not, as the reader must do when he first hears it, at throwing their infants into the sea, or river, to be eaten alive by alligators and sharks. Whole tribes were in the habit of destroying, with but few exceptions, all their female children, until they were reclaimed and reformed by the personal influence and persuasion of Mr. Duncan, governor of Bombay. Human victims were formerly immolated

at the shrine of offended or avenging deities; and well-authenticated anecdotes might easily be collected to a considerable extent, of the sanguinary propensity of this people, such as would startle those who have imbibed certain opinions from the relations of travellers, on the character and habits of the "abstinent and blood-abhorring Hindoos; and of the brahmins, with souls unspotted as the robes they wear."

I will add no more on the subject of Hindoo depravity; nor, in contrasting it with Christianity, shall I speak of that blessed Catholicon on a limited scale, but place it on the broad basis of divine and human love; its grand objects being to reconcile fallen man to his offended Creator, through the mediation of a Redeemer; and by ennobling his views, enable him to sustain the glorious character of a candidate for eternity; that while passing through the probationary period of time, he may make a proper estimate between the transitory nature of earthly enjoyments, and the delights which await the virtuous in regions of bliss, without satiety, and without end. In such an estimate, engrafted on the principle of faith, hope, and charity, how is the soul raised above sublunary pursuits! how degraded is vice, however gilded by wealth, or sanctioned by fashion; how triumphant is virtue, however forsaken or obscure! Animated by such a prospect, how trifling are the vanities of time, compared with the Christian's everlasting inheritance! To the young and thoughtless, in the morning of life, when the roses of health bloom, and pleasure presents her enticing cup, these may appear unimportant observations; but when the shadows lengthen, the flowers fade, and the mellifluous beverage is

exhausted; we see the value of religion, and estimate the wisdom of those who purchase that pearl of price; whose merchandize is better than silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold! Then shall we, like the noble youth who beheld the closing scene of Addison, see in what peace a Christian can die!"

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At that solemn hour, when the fascinations of pleasure, wealth, and power cease, when the drama of life draws to a close, and all its phantoms retire, then shall we experience the excellence of religion, and enjoy that heavenly peace, that divine consolation, which no power on earth can give, nor take away; proceeding from HIM who has promised never to leave us nor forsake us; from HIM who loved us unto death; and, before he drank his own bitter cup, promised to send a Comforter to his disciples, not only then, but in all future periods of the world.

This is neither an imaginary representation nor the language of enthusiasm these divine consolations have been experienced amid the arduous trials of life, and enjoyed at the awful hour of death by Bacon, Locke, Newton, Boerhaave, Pascal, Hale, Boyle, Lyttelton, and many of the most dignified characters in history; nor have they shone less conspicuous in female life. They supported Jane, queen of Navarre, the second Mary of England, the ladies Grey and Russell, in their trying dispensations; and all the eminently pious women in British biography, have felt their benign influence, from the imperial throne to the peasant's cottage! Shall not such characters be opposed to those Hindoo females, who from educational tenets and custom of caste, have been taught that no sacrifice is allowed to women, apart from their husbands; no religious rite, no fasting; as far only as a wife honours her hus

band, so far is she exalted in heaven: and that no other effectual duty is known for virtuous women, after the death of their lords, than to cast themselves into the fire. This is enjoined to the higher tribes; among the lower castes the women are included in all the indignities offered to the men, respecting whom the Institutes of Menu declare, that no Chandala nor Swampaca shall live in a town, nor have any wealth besides dogs and asses; that their transactions are to be confined to themselves, and their marriages only between equals; that no man who regards his duty, religious and civil, is to hold any intercourse with them; and that whoever is born a Sopaca is a sinful wretch, who lives by punishing criminals, and is ever despised by the virtuous.-Shall a law-giver who issues such cruel edicts, or his priests and ministers who enforce them, be compared with the Founder of that religion which says, Thou shalt love the LORD thy GOD with all thy heart, and with all thy soul; thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; and whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to

them?

Such being the laws and established usages of the Hindoos, of what signification are the absorptions, reveries, and mystical intercourse which the religious brahmins and twice-born men, are supposed to hold with the Deity? Admitting that some of those devotees, soaring beyond idol-worship, and even above the adoration of the Hindoo Triad, Brahma, Visnoo, and Seeva, (in the attributes of creator, preserver, and destroyer) are by solemn meditation permitted to hold communion with the great mysterious spirit Oм, or AUM; that name, which, according to those best versed in the Hindoo theology, is declared to be so sacred, that to hear it ut

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