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realms which now form a part of the British empire, is not for me 

 to discuss. What immense good was done by the wise policy of 

 the Bombay government alone, during a late famine, we learn 

 from the address of Sir James Mackintosh to the Grand 

 Jury of that island, in 1804; no other language than his own 

 can be adopted on this interesting subject; it indirectly points 

 out the object I have often mentioned; the amelioration of 

 the natives of India by the introduction of religion, laws, art, 

 science, and civilization, in their best and most comprehensive 

 sense. 



This upright and able magistrate, after descanting upon famine 

 in general, enters into the particulars of that in the Concan, occa- 

 sioned by a partial failure of the periodical rains in J 802, and 

 from a more complete failure in 1803, from whence, he says, " a 

 famine has arisen in the adjoining provinces of India, especially in 

 the Mahratta territories, which I shall not attempt to describe; 

 and which, I believe, no man can truly represent to the European 

 public without the hazard of being charged with extravagant and 

 incredible fiction. Some of you have seen its ravages; all of you 

 have heard accounts of them from accurate observers. I have 

 only seen the fugitives who have fled before it, and have found an 

 asylum in this island. But even I have seen enough to be con- 

 vinced that it is difficult to overcharge a picture of Indian deso- 

 lation. 



" I shall now stale, from authentic documents, what has been 

 done to save these territories from the miserable condition of the 

 neighbouring country. From the 1st of September 1803, to the 

 present time, there have been imported, or purchased by govern- 



