. 1829.) Affairs in General. 79 
But this has been but the sowing of the field, the harvest is yet to be 
reaped; and, unless we choose to defeat our own purposes, and throw 
away the benefit of all that we have done, never nation gathered such a 
Bence as is rising to our hand, at this hour, in the mighty extent of the 
British Indian Empire. 
_ It is by our commerce that this harvest is to be gathered. The limited 
nature of our early trade with the peninsula, perhaps, rendered neces- 
sary by that commercial childhood of nations, which must be led, step- 
by-step, in the nursing of monopolies, has given way to a comparative 
freedom, which a few years more will probably enlarge into complete 
liberty. Even at present, the trade from the outports is of high import- 
ance, is hourly extending, and by those miracles of industry, which ean 
be wrought only in a free country, Englandis sending back to India the pro- 
duce of her own soil, manufactured by us into the finest fabrics of human 
skill. But neither the power of the manufacturer, nor the extent of his 
market, can be yet limited. While the loom in our western world is 
speeding its progress in dexterity and beauty, the sword and the sceptre 
in our eastern, are securing the peace of the land; the spirit of law is 
spreading through the most barbarous regions, the artisan is protected, 
the agriculturist is safe in the fruit of his labours, and the merchant 
returns with his traffic, sure of enjoying it untouched by the extortion of 
his ancient plundering chieftains. The invasions which every year 
threatened every province; the perpetual robbery which made wealth 
only a mark for its owner’s pillage or death; the constant irritating 
tyranny which breaks down the strength of industry and the heart of 
man, are heard of nomore. The native under the British dominion, is 
as free as his lord; under the rajahs he is almost secure from violence, 
by the easy power of escape to our lenient government, or by the general 
amelioration of manners; and the whole productive vigour of man is m 
progress, to be expended fearlessly upon the most productive expanse of 
territory ever offered to his intelligence and activity. The conquest of 
the Burmese border has given security to our empire on a hazardous and 
ill-defended quarter. The Russian exploits against the Turkish for-. 
tresses will, probably, cure that very beasting and invading government 
of its eagerness for marching Cossacks towards India ; and the experi- 
ment of crossing the Balkan, will, we presume, be a very sufficient cure. 
for the ambition of assaulting the Himmalch. Persia is weak, wearied 
with war, and taught the value of British alliance. The Mahrattas, Pin- 
darees, and the whole race of habitual plunderers and robbers of India, 
are crushed, and kept in stern subordination by the British power. 
For what ultimate purpose, in the councils of Providence, this un- 
paralleled extent of dominion, supported by such unparalleled insignifi- 
cance of means, has been given into the possession of a people, at the 
distance of half the globe, and whose whole European dominion would 
be but an appendage to the superb expanse of Hindostan, is a question to 
be answered only by the future. But it is not inconsistent with the ana- 
logy of great Providential trusts to believe, that India has been given to 
England for the purpose of increasing the light, the happiness, and the 
purity of the governed ; and that every attempt to introduce the arts of 
peace, to civilize by literature, to ameliorate by a strict administration 
of law, and to purify by that most essential and humanizing of all know- 
ledge, the knowledge of Christianity, is not less an act of national good 
