204 THE INDIAN POLICY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



likely of all methods for inducing the conquered races 

 to embrace a new religion, that can well be imagined. 

 The policy of " Bibles and Bullets " is one of doubtful 

 success everywhere. The subjugated people naturally 

 regard the proud invader with fearsome and distrustful 

 eyes, and are not at all likely at his dictation to cast 

 away the prejudices and superstitions of their race, in 

 favour of the new learning; it is only as time goes on, 

 when the bitterness of defeat and the social hatreds of 

 the past are forgotten, and when the natives realize 

 that they can live in greater peace and quietness under 

 the new regime than under the old, and can enjoy 

 their acquired property in security, that a foundation 

 is laid for that great universal missionary " the school- 

 master " to commence operations. 



That is the policy of the British government in 

 India: first to ensure order and respect for the rights 

 of property, and leave opinions afterwards to settle 

 themselves, with liberty of conscience to all. 



We shall not weary our readers with long descrip- 

 tions of American Indian life and history: these sub- 

 jects have already been made the object of many portly 

 volumes; we shall therefore confine our remarks upon 

 this subject to a sketch of the red man as a dweller 

 in the forest and the wilderness, in his capacity as a 

 hunter and a warrior. 



In the days of our childhood we can well remember 

 the picturesque appearance of a band of these plumed 

 and painted warriors who were brought over to London 

 from the neighbourhood of the great lakes of Canada, 

 to exhibit before a European audience their war 

 dances, and songs of victory over the fallen enemy, 

 whose scalps were exhibited hanging in a dried state 



