536 
agree with Capt. S.in another of his con- 
clusions (into whieh, ‘however, he appears, 
to us, to have sprung, rather, from the as- 
sumed grounds of a favourite hypothesis, 
than to have climbed by the gradations of a 
substantial logic), namely, that the conse- 
quences: of such an overthrow of the exist- 
ing system of government in India; as he 
supposes’ a free press must inevitably 
produce, would be the ultimate restoration 
of Mohamedan ‘ascendance and tyranny, 
with all) its» blood-thirsty and  into- 
lerant» barbarities, we should be ready to 
grant him all that he desires, and say, as 
the ‘less hideous alternative, “ Perish the 
press of India, and let humanity (even in 
its’ present ignorance) live |’? for human 
happiness (the happiness of all that is hu- 
man !) is, after all, the end ; and even the 
press (the precursor and the protector of 
liberty) is but the mean of a mean, through 
which that end is sought. But it should 
seem that, according to Capt. 'S., the sacri- 
fice of the press’ alone will not suffice for 
that'security of our Indian Government so 
‘devoutly to be wished.” Christianity 
must be sacrificed also. See p. 63-4. 
“Tt is with poignant regret that 1 am 
compelled, by my love of truth, to say that 
the same observation” (thata free press in 
India would be the cause of civil war, revo- 
lution, and our final expulsion from the 
continent of Asia) “ strictly applies to the 
establishment of the Christian faith in 
India.” 
The author has, indeed, cautiously so in- 
woven this sentence with his apprehen- 
sions. “ of the country again reverting to 
the hands ot the Mussulmans,”’ that, at first 
blush, it appears to have prospective re- 
ference to their intolerance alone. But 
the context will shew that the argument is 
general, not particular, and is meant to 
convey, to the initiate ear, the dangers of 
Christian conversion. For in the very next 
ragraph— 
** Break down (says he) the great bar- 
rier of caste among the people of India, 
(that radical principle, be ti remembered, of 
Brahmin superstition, which Christian con- 
version, most assuredly, would break down! ) 
and give the people political knowledge, 
and.the freedom of using it, and I would 
not give a shilling in the pound for all the 
India stock, home or foreign |” 
What will the Missionary and Bible So- 
cieties—the advocates for the diffusion of 
that breaker-down of castes — Christian 
knowledge, say to this? A fig, they per- 
haps might say, for your India stock, 
your pagodas, and your rupees: our object 
is the salvation of souls, and the meliora- 
tion of the state of man. But, then, says 
Capt. S., when knowledge and Christianity 
have overthrown all the protecting bless- 
ings of our ‘arbitrary government of In- 
dia ;” then the country inevitably reverts 
again “to the hands of the Mussulmans, 
and their former blood-thirsty and’ barba- 
Literary and Critical Proémium. 
(Janel, 
rous rule.”” They will “ never ‘tolerate in 
their Hindoo: subjects ‘the’ freedom of dis- 
cussion and writing ;” they? will never 
permit them to profess a néw religion which 
they hold in profound contempt, ‘arid ‘treat 
with inéffablé abhorrence,” &e., “so that 
the Hindoo, in’ losing ‘his “old ‘masters, 
would have reason’ to curse the day that 
he became enlightened,” ‘&c. © “As' if ‘the 
same lights that converted and informed the 
93 million Hindoo inhabitarits’ of’ British 
India would not reach the eyes of 7 mil- 
lion Mohamedans also; or the Clristian- 
ized and _ politically-informed ' population, 
who had broken to pieces the’ well “com- 
pacted power of European sovereignty, and 
driven us out of India, would not,’ by’ the 
very energies of science and ‘intellect, thus 
brought into organized ‘action, havé some 
chance, at least, of making “an effective 
stand against those former Mohamedan 
masters, from whose blood-thirsty and bar- 
barous rule our disinterested humanity had, 
heretofore, so benignantly redéemed them. 
We suspect, however, that Capt. S. may 
very reasonably put to rest all his appre- 
hensions, political and humane} upon this 
part of the subject. We do not believe 
that there is much reason’ either to' fear or 
to hope, that either Christian missionaries, or 
a free press, will, in our time, ‘at least, or 
that of our children, make ‘any very alarm- 
ing progress in breaking’ down that great 
barrier of castes, which Hindoo supersti- 
tion has erected, alike, against the doctrines 
of the rights of man and’ of the gospel. 
His solicitude and his arguments against 
both may, therefore, with good reason, and 
with equal policy, be exclusively directed to 
the preservation of the rupees, pagodas, and 
“© India Stock, home and foreign,” which 
the wisdom of the present arbitrary go- 
yernment of India so benignantly secures 
to a small portion of that 45,000 Euro- 
peans, by whom the 100,000,000 of natives 
are at this time, overawed and governed. 
So far as they are confined to this object, we 
are by no means confident that either his 
premises can be disputed or his ‘conclusions 
successfully resisted. With the present 
system of government in India, we are much 
disposed to admit, that a free press is ut- 
terly incompatible. Whether the elements 
exist there for a better and more liberal 
system we are not at present called upon 
to discuss ; but we may venture to pro- 
phesy, that, under the auspices of our pre- 
sent home system, a much better will not be 
adopted. At the same time, we'make our 
acknowledgments for. the interesting infor- 
mation, of a more general description, which 
may be gleaned from this, well-written little 
volume :. thinly seattered,: it-is-true, -and 
incidentally interspersed, with"an attention 
obviously to the selection of such alone as 
may serve the ‘purposes of the argument. 
But though his pages, if as much as histo- 
rical considerations are concerned,® fall-in. 
some degree under the censure sof one’ 
the 
