might be necessary to promote the Company's interest and permanency as a civil government. This order was entirely in accordance with their own conviction of the necessity of the course it directed them to pursue. Without entering into the question of national aggrandizement; they could not but feel that, surrounded as they were by such powerful and jealous enemies, it would be impossible long to maintain their ground as merchants, without every where strengthening their position to the utmost possible extent, and being prepared to act efficiently and promptly on the defensive whenever attacked. Accordingly, they lost no time in obeying such welcome instructions, resolving, in the first place, to obtain a strong position South of Pondicherry. For this purpose, in 1691, they purchased the town of Tegnapatam, sixteen miles South of the French station, with a territory more extensive than that of Madras. Here they built a strong fortress, which they named, Fort St. David. The station was well chosen, having a good harbour, and being near enough to Pondicherry to watch any suspicious movement of the French.

A. D. 1689.

A. D.

1691.

ther possessions in

Calcutta

14. From this period the British, after the Obtain furexample of the Portuguese and the Dutch, assumed the rank and jurisdiction of sovereigns Bengal within their own territories: and, profiting by William. the experience of their past calamities, on re- constituted a suming their factories in Bengal, they conducted presidency. themselves with a moderation and prudence that conciliated the native authorities and in 1698 this discretion obtained for them, from the Great Mogul, the villages of Chuttanuttee, Govindpore, and Calcutta, with all the rights and authority of native Zemindars. Here they soon commenced the erection of a fortress, which

A. D. 1698.

CHAP.
III.

A. D. 1707.

Self-defence

called for the exten

power.

they called Fort William, in honour of William III., by whom the Company's charter was this year renewed, in terms favourable to their growing prosperity. Acting, however, in Calcutta under the eye of the powerful Nabob of Bengal, and warned by painful recollection of the consequences of their former presumption, they continued to proceed with great caution lest they should awaken the Nabob's suspicions. In the year 1707, Fort William was elevated to the rank of a presidency; and the three British presidencies being now well established, they acted for some years with powers independent of each other.

4

15. By these means were laid the foundations of the British empire in the East, which became sion of their within the eighteenth century more extensive than that of the Great Mogul himself. The different stages of its progress to its present magnitude; the constitution of its government; its operations, civil and military; and its mercantile transactions, we leave to secular historians; merely offering a passing remark in vindication of the motive which generally urged the English forward to the acquisition of this vast empire. The ambition of power does not appear to have been their object and seldom did they seek it beyond what was found indispensable to their personal safety and their commercial interests. We do not remember an instance of their wantonly attacking a native sovereign who had given them no provocation: and on several occasions, when a hostile prince

4 The best histories of British India for the general reader's information are, Orme's History of the Military Transactions in Hindostan.-Colonel Mark Wilks' History of the South of India. Sir John Malcolm's Political History of India.Mills' History of British India.

has been subdued by their arms, they have
restored him to his throne; taking the precau-
tion, indeed, of placing a British resident at his
court, to counteract the influence of their Euro-
pean rivals, by whom the natives were often,
we may say, generally, instigated to declare
war against them. Such is the deliberate judg-
ment of one who, from long experience, both
in a military and diplomatic capacity, was com-
petent to speak confidently on the subject. He
says, "We have been reluctantly compelled,
by events far beyond our power to controul, to
assume the duties of lord-paramount of that
great continent." "Increase of territory will,
in spite of all our efforts, come too rapidly.
The cause which has compelled, and will con-
tinue, beyond all others, to compel us to in-
crease our dominion, lies deep in the character
of our power.
We have seen enough in this
brief review of their history to confirm this as-
sertion. The British acquired their original
possessions in India, either by purchase of petty
princes, or by grant from the Great Mogul.
The efforts made by their restless and inveterate
enemies to dislodge them, were all ultimately
defeated; and they led unavoidably to the ex-
tension of their dominions and the consolidation
of their power. It cannot be denied, that in-
stances of perfidy and cruelty have occurred in
individuals employed by the English but
these form exceptions to the general character
of the service, and, when exposed, they have
always been reprobated by the nation. In the

5 Sir John Malcolm's Memoir of Central India, vol. ii. pp. 264-268. At the close of the last Mahratta war, the late Marquis of Hastings, then Governor General of India, made a similar avowal in reference to that sweeping campaign. See the author's Reply to the Abbé Dubois, pp. 250, 251.

A. D.

1707.

III.

CHAP. policy and operations of the British government in India, it would be difficult to find any thing that was not justified by the principle of selfdefence and in their commercial transactions, their honourable dealing was the subject of general admiration.

16. It is important, however, to inquire for what purpose Divine Providence has made the English masters of this extensive and magnificent empire? Who can be so vain as to imagine, that the Almighty has made their merchants princes, for their own deserts and glory; or so selfish as to conclude, that He has opened to them these sources of wealth and luxury for their own aggrandizement and indulgence? It is natural to man to flatter himself that he deserves the favours he receives, and that he is at liberty to expend them upon himself. But this were wholly to misinterpret the gracious dispensations of God, and to provoke Him to recall the gifts of which such conduct would prove us to be unworthy. He, therefore, warned His ancient people against this temptation to vanity and self-indulgence, lest the very blessings which He was about to confer on them should prove their ruin. They were not to say in their hearts, that their own power and the might of their hand had gotten them that wealth; nor that the Lord brought them in to possess the land of promise because they were more righteous than other people. No,-but

He commanded them to remember the Lord their God, that it was He that had given them power to destroy their enemies and to get wealth, that He might establish His covenant which He sware unto their fathers.6 This covenant was made with Abraham, and it in6 Deut. viii. and ix.

sured, first, to his immediate posterity possession of the promised land; and, ultimately, the everlasting blessing of the Gospel to all the nations of the earth.7 This blessing was to come through Abraham's "seed," the incarnate Redeemer of the world. Who then that believes in His Redeemer can doubt, that all the ways of God with men are so ordered as, in the fulness of time, to bring to pass this universal blessedness? When a Christian nation is exalted in the earth, what ought they to conclude the Divine purpose in their elevation to be, but that they may spread abroad the knowledge of that Name which is above every name, and at which every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth? It is written, that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father: 8 and Christians are expected to carry the knowledge of Him as far as their power or their influence may extend.

Vast, tremendous indeed, then, is the responsibility attached to the British government in India! And how have they discharged it? As far as this History has advanced, they seem to have paid little attention to the subject. Of the efforts of the British, whether individuals or the government, at home or abroad, to impart a knowledge of their religion to the benighted natives swarming around them, we blush to own that there is little yet to record. Other nations, both Romanists and Protestants, no sooner gained a footing in the country, than they attended to the conversion of the natives. The Portuguese, the Hollander, the Dane," and, we may add, the French, "all seem to

a Isaiah xlv. 23.

7 Genesis xxii. 18.

Rom, xiv. 11.

Phil. ii. 9-11.

A. D. 1707.