On this page

• Text (1)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    but they will be enlightened , they will be strengthened , and they will finally obtain what they have once required . India , thanks to the management of the Company , does not enrich the

    English . This fact is the result of observation , established by M . Say and by all who have studied the affairs of the Company . This will sooner or later cause the dissolution of the

    Company , and the complete reunion of the country it governs to the British empire . But this consideration is quite secondary , when compared with the duty of governors . The government of " a state is not a

    commercial undertaking , of which the profits can be calculated by pounds , shillings and pence : it is an august task , a sacred duty to be fulfilled . In what * ever manner this power may have fallen into a person ' s hands , his duties are still the same : he ought to

    employ his power solely for the good of the people he governs ; for its good , not only physically , but morally ; for its improvement , as . well as its tranquillity or opulence . The Company 13 accountable to England , and England to the rest of mankind , for

    from seventy to eighty millions of human beings , of which they can , and therefore ought , to make men . The duties of England towards India will not be accomplished till these men are as virtuous , as happy , as free , as those whom she glories in having made

    so at home . To raise subjects thus high from a state of profound degradation , must undoubtedly require from the English nation time , and a great ~ length of time . She will not be

    reproached on this ground , if she employs the time well ; but it is necessary for her to advance , and to wish to advance , whilst the Company wishes to remain stationary . And most commonly the Government wishes it too ,

    though there have been glorious exceptions , particularly during the late administration of the Marquis of Hastings , It belongs to the English nation to wish more fervently than either , for the welfare and advancement of humanity .

    The subjects of Britain in India are of two religions : the great mass of the ancient inhabitants worship Brama ; the descendants of the Mogul conquerors are Mahometans . Other religions are professed only by foreign-

    Untitled Article

    ers . Experience has sufficiently shewn that both the religions professed by the natives are hostile to the development of moral sentiments , to the progress of intellect , to the love of country , and to that of liberty . But for experience , better hopes might have been entertained of

    Islamism ; a religion founded upon the worship of one God , a pure Spirit , all-powerful , all-good ; which makes charity the first duty of the faithful . But despotism and priestcraft have dreadfully changed the religion of

    Mahomet . Wherever it is professed , a savage fanaticism is found ; a hatred of all intellectual and moral improvement ; and external observances pnt in the place of moral duties . The religion of Brama is still more fatal to the human species . It has so

    constantly substituted ritual observances for virtues , that its professors do not think of seeking any tie between religion and morality . A great number of its customs are atrocious ; others

    are obscene ; and its most constant effect is to efface humane feelings from the heart . But , especially , it is founded upon the division of the people into castes ; upon the invincible aversion that it establishes between

    them ; upon the repugnance which it inspires between one man and another of a different caste ; upon that idea of offending the Divinity which it attaches to the progress of each individual towards a superior state . The religion of Brama enchains human nature ; it rivets the irons which fix each to his

    place , and which must for ever impede civilization . The English really bear to their Indian subjects the relation which the absolute governments of Europe pretend to bear to theirs , when they arrogate to themselves the right of judging what is fit for man and what

    is not ; when they speak of the people as if they themselves , instead or being a part of the people , were angels . The English are a superior race to the Indians ; they know better than the inferior race what is proper for them ; they may properly aspire to be the tutors , the instructors of their

    subjects ; whilst our gov £ rn (* rs , chosen from among ourselves , ought to consider themselves only as our representatives . However , the English hiave thought that the sovereign ^ ower With

    Untitled Article

    66 Political , Moral and Religious State of British India :

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1825, page 66, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2533/page/2/