1830.] Affairs of British India. jg 



tice of peace in England."* " Perfas aut nefas, the revenue is accord- 

 ingly collected ; and when defaulters cannot pay, it is taken from those 

 who can."t These are but specimens : Mr. Rickards' Essays teem with 

 passages conceived and published in the same spirit ; charges to which, 

 as we have said, nothing but respect for our own character prevents us 

 from replying in the most indignant and contemptuous terms which our 

 language affords. 



It is a most melancholy spectacle for those who really 'wish well to 

 their kind, whatever their nativity or colour, to contemplate the mischief 

 which mere partisans or wrong-headed enthusiasts have done to the best 

 and holiest principles and interests which tongue or pen ever advocated* 

 Paley says, and most truly, of pious frauds, that " Christianity has 

 suffered more injury from this cause than from all other causes put to- 

 gether." It is quite as certain that the march of improvement and the 

 triumph of truth, in secular matters, have been more retarded by the ill- 

 judged exertions of those who have professed themselves the most zealous 

 philanthropists, by their intemperate language, their reckless employ- 

 ment of sophistry and misrepresentation, their hyperbolical descriptions 

 of grievances and abuses, and their equally absurd anticipations of 

 benefits and blessings, than by any direct opposition which interest or 

 prejudice has arrayed against them. At least half of the professed " friends 

 of humanity" have been fighting against the cause which they have pre- 

 tended to buckler. They have done their utmost to render the most 

 sacred principles ludicrous or contemptible, by the free and flippant use 

 of the most unworthy auxiliaries. They have disgusted and alienated 

 those who would go any lengths, in a direct and manly course, for the 

 attainment of the objects which they profess to make their goal ; but 

 who cannot condescend to contaminate themselves by throwing filth at 

 their opponents, by exaggerating or misstating facts, or by making 

 common cause witl\ those who resort to such measures. Thus the wise 

 and good draw baclf from the front of the battle, where their very presence 

 would, like the bugle-blast of Roderick Dhu, " be worth a thousand 

 men," and leave the conduct of the controversy in sickness of heart and 

 contempt, to three or four Thersiteses, with whom no temptation could 

 prevail on them " to march through Coventry." Under such circum- 

 stances, it is not wonderful that little or nothing of good should be 

 effected. The public hear a loud clatter of abuse and vehement asser- 

 tions, and see a great dust which the worthies in question have stirred 

 up with their own feet, and mistake for the result of their efforts against 

 their adversaries, but in the mean time they advance not a jot. The 

 detection and exposure of one of their fallacies or misrepresentations gives 

 more strength to their opponents than all their puny hostility can coun- 

 tervail; and half, at least, of the ridicule which they have so justly 

 merited, unhappily attaches itself to the cause which nothing but their 

 advocacy could have contrived to defeat. 



With the exception of Wilkes, no person, we believe, at all answering 

 to our description, has ever conferred even an accidental benefit upon 

 society, and verily his fame is now not the most eminent or enviable. 



We leave the Indian reformers to take their station by his side, and 

 shall close our article with a choice moral selected from a speech delivered 

 at the Crown and Anchor at a late meeting convened to give the finishing 



* Ibid. p. 210. f P. 138. referring to Zemindary form of settlement. 



M. M. New Scries. VOL. X. No. 55. K 



