restored, was maintained for the future by regulations of extreme severity, and no slave was thenceforth allowed ever to carry any weapon.'

Could the philosophical descendant of the great Timur, who ruled at Delhi in the latter half of the 17th century, have occupied but a few months since a post of observation on that fabled throne of Mahadeo, which surmounts the Mundar hill, he might have been witness to a recurrence of scenes, which on more than one occasion chequered the annals of his power. Could Aurungzebe have marched but last July across the fine old Mahomedan bridge, which, spousing an ancient affluent of the Ganges, conducts the traveller from the westward to Rajmahal, and sought in vain for the comfortable privacy of his once splendid Sangidalan', he might have been startled with the singular spectacle of a small band of British gentlemen, those "unskilful antagonists" of his times, ensconced in a single small building, perhaps on the very ruins or site of his former edifice; there keeping at bay an army of masterless savages within the bosom of the Great British Empire, and at little farther distance from its capital, than was Nárul from Delhi.

Or could the wealthy citizen of Rome or Latium whose broad acres in the days of the old Republic plenished his coffers with riches, and his table with Falernian, while his slaves famished on the plains of Sicily, have camped with his conscripts at the rear of our Indian consul against the Euna of the Sonthals, he might have taken the scene before him as a not inapt representation of the events which of old robbed him of his denarii, and spoiled his repose.

Society in an advanced state, like that of the present day, is probably not the quickest to comprehend such displays of popular ferment, or rather the excitement of a section of the people as that which the Indian public have recently been compelled to contemplate. The members of less civilized communities, who know and feel their own prevalent tempers and ideas, are more or less prepared for sudden ebullitions of the untrained, turbulent, and heterogeneous spirits around them, prompt to conclude on slight premises, and to execute their judgment without hesitation. These things are not to them matter of such surprise, as to matter of fact men in these busy days, who tread the even tenor of their daily routine, intent from day to day upon the passing present of real life, and indisposed to allow their thoughts an excursive range into abstract questions of political science. Men accustomed to the order and the quiet of a complete civil organization, and probably unaccustomed to trace, or to consider the in

finite variety of circumstances that act upon nations, even the living masses of their own social body, for weal and woe, are apt to be amazed at some sudden revolution of the political fabric, or unexpected counterbuff of the political wheel. Perhaps, for example, we do not reflect often enough, how in other parts of the world, are races of the human progeny just borne into existence, and nations on their first, their incipient rise to importance, and bodies, or classes of society, even in this late century of the universe, whose figure in the general history is destined for a yet future day. Yet are such often close to our own doors, when we either are not aware of the fact, or care not to regard it, or to suffer it in our remembrance. In near propinquity to the fashion and adornment of Belgravia in the mighty heart of London, may be discovered some wretched collection of squalid mortality, some RagFair, or Paradise-Row, all unknown to fame. In like manner throughout the length and breadth of India are scattered numerous untaught or even barbarous tribes, of whom some are not remote from the oldest and principal seats of our British government. Those whose duties carry them to the interior of our provinces, the jungles and prairies of the native population, may know and hear something more of such than dwellers in Calcutta, or sojourners in Lahore. The public generally are hardly cognizant of their existence, and less of their names. In the process of time the most savage will progress; within the limits of a British Empire especially, and surrounded by races more enlightened than themselves, they must needs make some advance; but, though the means are not always the same which bring out a people to general notice, or spread their renown, the process is necessarily long.

While sudden outbreaks like the late revolt of the Sonthals may possibly confound such as have never made mankind their study, the thoughtful observer of the world's history, or any one indeed that has schooled his mind to reflect upon the beginnings and progress of the various races of men, feels no violence of surprise at the fantastic, or it may be just, exhibitions of the anger of an ignorant and undisciplined multitude. We learn little of men, while enjoying in their native solitudes unrestrained the pleasures of what is called natural liberty, and the occupations of the chase, dependent on the products of a soil too abundant and fertile to task their limited labour. It is but very gradually that in the lapse of time amid increasing population, property, diverse avocations and employments, and enlarged industry expend the understanding, and soften and imbue the moral disposition. By still slower degrees is the frame of a civil government formed or conceived, superstitious error ba

nished or modified, the genius of trade welcomed, the moral character of society regenerated. The progression from one stage to another of civilization occupies a far greater space of time, and is effected by many more concurrent influences than the undigested study of a people's history impresses upon the mind. The forest, if not checked, will speedily advance upon the plain; but in the moral wilderness of man's nature, the meliorating process is more difficult; to clear away the brush tangle, and underwood, and uproot rank weeds is a more certain and less tedious operation than to annihilate false principles, vice, and superstition. To cut down the bad, the useless, the cumbrous trees, leaving the good only to remain, and to prune the irregular or too widely spreading branches, is easier than to divest the mind of prejudice, of exaggerated notions. To sow a healthy seed may be an easy task in the physical world. It is in the moral world the most difficult of all.

But while slow progress is the law of these races, while left to themselves, it is of course obvious, that an important difference must be discernible, when they are brought, either by design, or fortuitous circumstances, into contact with races more advanced. The fierce tiger may be tamed, and its savage nature softened, if educated from its early infancy; it is less easy to be subdued and regenerated in mature age. A wild barbarian suddenly admitted into the social intercourse of his superior in the grades of the human family, nearly resembles the adult tiger withdrawn from his lair and his haunts in the jungle; but, placed higher in the scale of creation, and possessing the advantage of a reason, however dormant and unexercised, his mental culture, if indeed it has been already commenced, must at once progress with a favorable celerity; and his moral growth would assuredly be speedier and more certain than that of his old companions, left to their original sources of improvement.

How slow is the dawn and spread of civilization among the best constituted and most renowned of nations is amply illustrated in the history of the world. In ancient Rome, the bond of union based at first upon the simplest form, the primitive occupations of agriculture, and equal partition of lands, by degrees was complicated by the rise of religious institutions and ceremonies of superstition. Soon lands were extended, and handicrafts and a few public works of the simplest kind commenced; conquered tribes formed the first groundwork of the Plebeians, soon to be recognised as a 'distinctive appellation; the property of one portion of the community exceeded that enjoyed by the rest; and divided classes unequally sustained their several shares in the policy of the constitution; but 244 years had passed away before this extent of

progress had been achieved, and the kingly authority gave way to the Republic. Upwards of half a century more elapsed ere one written law was known. Considerably more passed before the first money-tax was paid for the purposes of the State. Meanwhile had commmenced the long quarrel of 300 years' duration between Patrician and Plebeian, initiated by the evils of poverty and consequent debt at large interest, revived by the vigor and patriotism of the elder Gracchus, and terminated when the prerogatives of the two orders, legislative and executive, were at length, made co-ordinate. During this time a standing army was raised and maintained, mercenary troops hired, leaving a large proportion of the native population to the fruits of their own earning, and a few military roads prepared. Not till after the close of this period had the first silver money been coined, nor had education yet advanced a step. It took two hundred and thirty-six years to consolidate the conquests and prepare the way for the Empire. Another instance, among the innumerable which the world affords, may be found in the case of the Franks, and of our own AngloSaxon forefathers. Very new and distinct. influences, as compared with those which operated in the ancient world, began to bear upon mankind after the introduction of the doctrines and principles of Christianity. In Gaul and in Britain, as elsewhere, they had not their rightful share of influence amid the tremendous corruptions of the dark ages; but their indirect consequences were still almost imperceptibly operative. The feudal principles likewise, arising from the commixture of the customs of the ancient foresters of Germany with the remnants of the Roman civil law, formed another novel ascendant power, action upon the institutions, the manners, and morals of society. Slow still was the progress of the social body through a long succession of centuries. It was two hundred and sixty years after Clovis before the Frank Empire was consolidated by Charlemagne. Five centuries and a half more elapsed before the feudal elements coalesced into a monarchy, before the communes arose, and civilization commenced under Philip Augustus. In this age, the beginning of the 14th century, are first visible any manifest signs of a growing intelligence, among the people, and a happier social condition; the fair prospects, however, which the country now had of an increasing civilization were once more blighted by the long English wars, necessitating heavy taxations and nursing by their long continuance an intense spirit of vengeful brutality; until at the expiry of 108 years from the date of Philip the Fair, the English were expelled; peace once more established; and Charles VII. was enabled by the vigorous and

wise policy of his administration to restore order out of a scene of blood, robbing and desolation. The nobles were left few in number after the wars were ended. The state assembly was now more than ever national. A standing army began to protect the country; and the feudal system was swept away. The people then began to feel a greater security of their private rights, and the benefits of industrious competency. As wealth and prosperity began to increase, trade and commerce sought their spheres of action, and maritime discovery progressed. Knowledge and literature were greatly advanced, and the papal thraldoms repudiated. New inventions displayed wonders hitherto unknown. The lower orders were elevated, the police more efficiently regulated,-manners, domestic and social, and the moral sentiments of the nation improved. Before the first decisive and continued impulse to this state of things had been given, 936 years had fulfilled their revolutions.

If we turn to England, a brighter picture perhaps meets us, but it likewise supports our statement. There was something excellent, solid, and enduring in the early Anglo-Saxon institutions, much of the strength of which was no doubt due to their early acquaintance with Christianity. By and bye the comparatively fair scene which England presented, blighted by the destroying hand of the Dane and the Norman, gave place to tyranny, devastation, and bloodshed. The feudal system, notwithstanding the few doubtful advantages it was calculated to produce was erected, rendered but a little less arbitrary than in Gaul, by the small extent of the island, the much smaller power for evil as well as good possessed by the barons in their fiefs, and the greater and closer power of the king over the nobles. The same causes placed an unduly despotic power in the monarch's hands, which was not unfrequently unduly exercised, and ultimately arrayed against him the hostility of the nobility, backed by the needful and efficient aid of the commons. From the date of the last Saxon king, 237 years passed by, before Magna Charta shed a ray of hope upon the crushed and ignorant people. Another half century introduced the principle of representative government of the commons. About the same time law and justice became based on a fixed, and permanent, and more secure footing, than before; civil liberty was no longer a mere name; foreign commerce and internal trade found encouragement; literature slowly and doubtfully raised its head; and religious questions commenced to be discussed For the first time from a period backward of 319 years did real progress and civilization begin a new career; which, interrupted by occasional misgovernment, and for a time by the greater unhappiness of the civil