fentiments of mind, and promoting the good of others. Wherever this humour prevails, there is commonly a great defect of zeal for more important things. It weakens a due regard to the greatest matters of import ance, by dividing it among a great many little ones, as the cutting a river into many channels, weakens its force, and makes it run fhallow. It is unphilofophical; for it fhuts our eyes against further light, and confines as to prefent attainments. It is a ft ong prejudice in our minds against new discoveries, or impartial enquiry, and cramps all improvements and pro grefs in any kind of knowledge; be fide that it endangers men's running into the contrary extreme; for when onte men come to fee themfelves in an error, and find they were blinded and deceived in a favourite opinion, and which they were taught to think important, they will be very likely to run to the other extreme, or distrust every thing for the future. Such are the peculiar features and confequences of bigotry. Whether a cure be practicable, may perhaps be the fubject of another letter. P. O. Further Extracts from Mifs HAMILTON'S LETTERS from a HINDOO RAJAH. WE have already obferved, (fee defcendant of a thousand rajabs ? Im page 40) that the rajah Maandaara objects strongly to the defign, which his friend Zaarmilla had formed, of vifiting England, in confequence of the favourable account he had received of our customs and manners from captain Percy. I perceive, fays Maandaara, in a letter to his friend, that thou art under the influence of enchantment, and that that falfe ftranger hath used fome charm to deceive thy understanding. What would the fpirit of thy father, what would the learned Pundit, to whofe inftructions we are equally indebted, what would they pronounce, could they hear that Zaarmilla thought it neceffary to fojourn among infidels, and impious eaters of blood, in order to acquire knowledge? Can a race who fprung from the duft that was fhaken from the feet of Brahma, and who are on that account beneath the meaneft Sooder, who honoured in being permitted to touch thy fandals, a race who though lefs favage than that of the Müffülmans with regard to thofe that bear the human form, exceed them in cruelty to all the other animated inhabitants of the earth. Can any of this race be capable of inftructing the 2A learned Bramin. poffible. From the ant thou mayeft learn induftry. From the dog thou mayeft be instructed in faithfulness. The horfe may teach thee diligence, and the elephant inftruct thee in patience, magnanimity, and wisdom; but expect not from Europeans to attain the knowledge of any virtue. I am not, however, furprised that you thould be the dupe of their enchantments. I know how far the evil genii have affifted them in that art: of their proficiency in it I had myself a very convincing proof. When the English Saib †, to whom Rurfha Bedwan was Mounthi, abode at Agra, he took pleasure in aftonishing those who went to vifit him, with a difplay of his magical skill. Among feveral other tricks, he made the whole company, confifting of more than twenty perfons, lay hold of each other's hands, and form a circle, and then by turning the handle of a little inftrument, compofed only of metal, and glass, (but which, I fuppofe, muft have contained the evil fpirits obedient to his command) he, all at once, caufed fuch a fenfation to pafs through the arms of the company, as if a fudden ftroke had broken the bone, which + A gentleman; a person of estimation. found to be in the leaft injured. As all felt it precifely at the fame moment, it was impoffible that he could have touched' each of us, and therefore it is evident that it could be nothing but magic that could produce fo extraordinary an effect. At another time, he fhut out the piercing light of day, which has always been unfavourable to fuch practices, and -made us behold armies of men, and elephants, and horfes, pafs before us on the wall. When they difappeared, they were fucceeded by a raging fea, vomiting fire, and foaming with all the appearance of a tremendous ftorm. Ships rolled upon the bofom of the deep; and men who appeared wild with diftrefs, and panting in the agony of terror, were exerting themselves to fave their lives, and preferve their fhips from the pointed rocks which environed them. This fight of horror drew tears from our eyes; and we burit into exclamations of forrow. When lo! in a moment, the fun being admitted into the apartment, the scene vanished, and we faw nothing but the hangings which formerly adorned the wall. was not, however, on examination, whofe conduct had been fo favourable to our nation. The order and regularity which prevailed among them, impreffed me at firft with the highest idea of their virtue and wifdom. I had as yet feen no appearance of any religious ceremony among them, when, on the third day after my ar rival, my attention was attracted by a proceffion, which I immediately fuppofed to be in honour of their Dewtah *. Curious to behold the nature of their ceremonies upon this occafion, I followed the proceffion, at which part of the camp affifted. When lo! to my equal furprise and horror, I beheld one poor foldier fripped, tied up, and almost lacerated to death; a thousand lashes being inflicted upon his naked fhoulders. That one of their priests should have undergone all this in voluntary penance, would not have furprifed me. We every day fee inftances of greater fufferings than this, inflicted by our Fakeers upon their own bodies. But I could not forbear astonishment, when informed, that this cruel ceremony was performed as a punishment upon a foldier, for the trifling crime of purloining a few rupees from one of his officers. Doubtless, thought I, the morals of the people mult be very pure, in whofe eyes fo fmall an of fence can feem worthy of fo great a punishment. Would the fon of Coafhhind forfake the land of his fathers, and wander to regions which the glorious luminary of heaven fcarcely deigns to irradiate with his golden beams, to learn tricks like thefe? Surely there are jugglers enough in Hindooftan who would, for a small reward, inftruct him in the mysteries of the magic art; and as the devi's they employ are of our own country, they must be of a lefs pernicious nature than those of ftrangers. So far from being guided by wifdom, the laws by which thefe people are governed, are abominable and abfurd which I fhall demonstrate to you, by the following facts, of which I was myself an eye-witnefs, during my y fhort abode at their camp. Like you, I had fuffered my mind to be prejudiced in favour of a people "While I yet ruminated upon the fcene which I had witneffed, I was called to the tent of an officer, who had, ever fince my arrival at the camp, treated me with great kindness. I had not long converfed with him (for he spoke very good Mhors) when feveral of his brother officers came to vifit him. They converfe in their own language, and appeared, from the frequent bursts of laughter which escaped them, to have entered upon a very pleafant topic. I was unwilling to lofe the knowledge of a difcourfe, which feemed to produce fo much mirth; and applied to my interpreter for information. He told me the fub * The divinity to whom worship is offered. ject of their merriment, was the dif bonour of one of their own countrymen, a chief of rank and eminence, whofe wife had fuffered the torch of her virtue to be extinguished, by the vile breath of a feducer. How great, cried I, must be the torture awaiting the wretch who could be guilty of fo great a crime? If the poor pilferer of a few rupees was doomed to fuffer fo feverely, what must the man undergo, who could bafely contaminate the bed of his friend, rob him of his honour, and destroy his peace? If the weight of the punishment keep pace with the gradation in atrocity, imagination can hardly paint to itself any thing fo dreadful as the fufferings to which this wretch must be condemned. This obfervation, repeated by my Mounshi, redoubled the mirth of the company; and I heard, with aftonishment, that the difhonour of one of thefe illuftrious Europeans was to be compensated, not by the punishment of the aggreffor, not by the facrifice of his life, and the degradation of his family, but by a fum of money Can virtue fubfift among a people, who fet a greater value upon a few pieces of filver, than upon their honour? This circumstance did not fail to destroy the impreffion I had received in favour of thefe people. But I fhould, perhaps, have remained some longer time among them, had I not beheld a deed fo horrible, as filled my foul with indignation and difguft. Yes, my mifguided friend, I faw thefe heroes, whom you falfely imagine fo pure, fo harmless, fo full of piety and benevolence, I faw them (my heart fhudders, and my hand trembles while I relate it) I faw them devour, with looks that betokened the most favage fatisfaction, the facred offspring of a fpotted cow. Yes, Zaarmilla, this unhappy calf, for whom a thoufand holy Fakeers would have risked their lives, was flain at the command of these inhuman Europeans, and de youred by them, without one pang of remorse. After fome further obfervations of the fame kind, we find the letter in which the bramin Sheermael gives his obfervations on what he had obferved, during his vifit to England, and which Maandaara fends to Zaarmilla, in or der to diffuade him from his defign: Let not your friend, the noble rajah, be deceived. Let him not vainly imagine the Chriftians to be in poffeffion of fuch an invaluable treasure as the Shafter* he defcripes; a Shafter promulgating the glorious hopes of immortality; calculated to produce the univerfal reign of peace and justice, the exercise of the pureft benevolence, and the moft perfect virtue. Let not the rajah think that the knowledge of fuch a book as this exifts among Chriftians. If it did, is it poffible, that in the ten years in which I have intimately converfed with Chriftians of all ranks and orders; military commanders, chiefs invefted with the powers of civil authority, and men who made the study of literature their employment and delight, is it poffi ble, I fay, that I fhould never once have heard of fuch a book? Let the noble rajah be the judge. That a book of ancient origin) vulgarly called the bible, was once known to the English, I have had certain information: but, far from containing doctrines of fuch a nature as the rajah has announced, the first proof of genius which a young man gives to the world, upon his iffuing from the fchools, is to speak of it with a becoming degree of contempt. Indeed, to extirpate from fociety allregard for the pernicious doctrines it contains, has long been the primary object of attention to the enlightened philofophers of Europe. How much the book is detefted by these fage philofophers, may easily be inferred, when I declare, that of the many phi lofophers I have met with, who had moft vehemently spoken and written Literally a book. The fcripture of the Hindoos, is, by way of preeminence, called the Shafter. However alluring the doctrine of -polygamy, and the view of the Mahommedan Paradife may be to men of tafte and fentiment, there are fome robftacles which, I apprchend, would, in the opinion of the people, be infurmountable. The chief of these I take to be the prohibition of wine, the ftrict faft of Ramozin, and, above all, the injunctions + concerning the treatment of flaves, which are fo mild and generous, that the Chriftians of England, who are concerned in the traffic of their fellow-creatures (and who form a large and refpectable part of the community) would never be brought to fubmit to its authority. my against it, not one had contaminated obeyed with the quickness of the himfelf by deigning to examine its lightning's glance, and the frown of contents. One of these great men, a whofe difpleafure was followed by the profound writer of hiftory, has given feverity of punishment. We had made to the world a work more voluminous two thirds of our voyage to the coast than the Mahabbarat*, more brilliant of Britain, when a fhip appeared at a than the odes of Sancha, undertaken, distance, which our skilful mariners and accomplished, as I was well af- foon perceived to be in diftrefs. I had fured, with the benevolent purpose of fo often witneffed what I thought to -convincing his countrymen of the fu- be the exercife of cruelty during my periority of the Mahommedan to the abode in this fea-borne fortress, that Chriftian faith. Whether thefe en- I did not expect the diftreffes of peolightened men will ever really fucceed ple, hom they had never feen, would in their intention of establishing the re- excite much of their compaffion. In ligion of Mahomet in England, is, how this, however, I was mistaken. To ever, in my opinion, rather doubtful. aftonishment, every effort was inftantly made to afford relief to thefe ftrangers; and I beheld the toilftrengthened nerves of thefe lions of the ocean, ftrained by the most vigorous exertions, to fave the almost sinking veffel. At length, the object of their labours was effected; and they, who had been fo zealous to fave, now appeared perfectly indifferent to the expreffions of gratitude and admiration which were poured out by the people, whom they had fo gallantly delivered from the jaws of destruction. Our carpenter was employed to repair the breaches in the unfortunate vessel. And, as the weather was now calm, curiofity led the principal people of our company to vifit the fhip of the ftrangers. I was among the number. But oh! that I could obliterate from my mind the memory of a scene, the horrors of which no pen can defcribe, no tongue can utter, no imagination conceive. It was an English veffel, which had been on a voyage to the coaft of Africa, whence it was now proceeding to the British fettlements in the Weft Indies, with a cargo, not of filver and gold, not of coftly fpices and rich perfumes, but of fome hundreds of the moft wretched of the human race; a cargo of flaves. These miferable beings were here huddled together in the fqualid cells of a moving dungeon. Their uncouth fereams, their difinal groans, From the delufive opinion enter tained in the fublime mind of the rajah, of the religion of the Chriftians, he will, no doubt, be inclined to imagine, that their philanthropy embraces the wide circle of the human race. How far the rule of "doing to others, as they would be done by, in the like cafe," actuates the Chriftians of England, may be learned from the following history of my voyage. As I attended the family of a great man, I had the advantage of Being accommodated on board one of their hips of war, a huge edifice, whofe fides were clothed with thunder. This mighty fabric contained near feven hundred people, governed by a few chiefs, whofe commands were *An epic poem in the Shanferit language. A a their countenances, on which were alternately depicted the images of fury, terror, and defpair, the clanking of their chains, and the favage looks of the white barbarians, who commanded them, exhibited fuch a fcene, as mocks defcription. Surely, the magnanimous rajah will not imagine, that the perpetrators of this cruelty could be the profeffors of a religion of mercy. No. Had a ray of knowledge enlightened their understandings, through the awny hue of the unlettered favage, they would have recognised the emanation of the creating fpirit; they would have perceived the kindred mind, which, in its progreffive courfe through the ftages of varied being, might one day inhabit the bodies of their own offspring. For my part, when I contemplated the fcene before me, I anticipated, in imagination, the few fwiftly rolling years, which might change the abode of the fouls of thefe .tyrant whites into the frames of woe defined negroes; while the prefent victims of their cruelty, would, in their turns, become the mafters, and, feizing the fcorpion whip of oppreffion, retaliate their prefent fufferings with all the bitterness of revenge. But, alas! the divine doctrine of retribution is unknown to these Chrif tians. No dread of after punishment reftrains the remçrfelefs hand of cruel ty. No apprehenfion of the vengeance of an offended Deity diverts them from the greedy purfuits of avarice, or disturbs the enjoyments of luxury. For let it not fagger your faith in my veracity, when I inform you, that all this aggregate of human mifery is incurred, in order to procure a luxurious repaft to the pampered appetites of these voluptuaries, and that the unhappy negroes are torn from their country, their friends and families, for no other purpofe, but to cultivate the fugar-cane; a work of which the lazy Europeans are themselves incapable. The Hindoo God of Love When I mention the flayes of Chriftians, let not your imagination turn to the bondsmen of Afia, as if their fatuations were parallel. No. By the mild laws of our Shafter, and even by the lefs benevolent inftitutions of Mahommed, flaves are confidered as people who, having bartered their liberty for protection, are entitled to the ftricteft juftice, lenity, and indul gence. They are always treated with kindness, and are most frequently the friends and confidants of their masters. But with thefe white favages, thefe merciless Christians, they are doomed to fuffer all that cruelty, infligated by avarice, and intoxicated by power, can inflict. Ah! beloved Hindoo ftan! happy country! paradife of regions! the plant which in the tranfAtlantic islands is fattened with the blood of the wretched, with thee raifes its blooming head, a voluntary offering to thy pure and innocent children. That lufcious cane, which the inhabitants of Europe purchase by the enormous mafs of mifery, is on the banks of the Ganga, the exclufive property of the laughing Deity, the heart-piercing Cama; with it the fon of Maya forms the bow, from which his flowery fhafts are thrown at the fons of men: with it the blamelefs hermit approaches the altars of the rural Gods; and from it the fimple repafts of the favoured of Veefhnú † receive their highest relish. • But my obfervations on the religion of the people of England, ftop not here. To obtain complete information upon this fubject, was the object I kept perpetually in my view. And I hope it is known to the rajah, that a bramin of my character is not eafily to be deceived. The custom of dedicating the feventh day to acts of piety and devotion, is mentioned by the rajah as an inftitution, admirably calculated for keeping up the fpirit of a religion, which was intended for the purification of the heart, and of which the duties of penitence and The Preferving Power |