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cured by an inftitution which muft be confidered as the fundamental article in the system of their policy. The whole body of the people was divided into four orders or cafts. The members of the firft, deemed the most facred, had it for their province, to study the principles of religion; to perform its functions, and to cultivate the fciences. They were the priests, the instructors, and philofophers of the nation. The members of the fecond order were entrufted with the government and defence of the ftate. In peace they were its rulers and magiftrates, in war they were the foldiers who fought its battles. The third was compofed of hufbandmen and merchants; and the fourth of artisans, labourers, and fervants. None of these can ever quit his own caft, or be admitted into another. The station of every individual is unalterably fixed; his destiny is irrevocable; and the walk of life is marked out, from which he must never deviate. This line of feparation is not only established by civil authority, but confirmed and fanctioned by religion; and each order or caft is faid to have proceeded from the Divinity in fuch a different manner, that to mingle and confound them would be deemed an act of moft daring impiety. Nor is it between the four different tribes alone that fuch infuperable barriers are fixed; the members of each caft adhere invariably to the profeffion of their forefathers. From generation to generation, the fame families have followed, and will always continue to follow, one uniform line of life.

Such arbitrary arrangements of the various members which compofe a community, seem at first view, to be adverfe to improvement either in science or in arts; and by forming around the different orders of men

artificial barriers, which it would be impious to pass, tend to circumfcribe the operations of the human mind within a narrower sphere than nature has allotted to them. When every man is at full liberty to direct his efforts towards thofe objects and that end which the impulse of his own mind prompts him to prefer, he may be expected to attain that high degree of eminence to which the uncontrouled exertions of genius and industry naturally conduct.The regulations of Indian policy, with respect to the different orders of men, muft neceffarily, at fome times, check genius in its career, and confine to the functions of an inferior caft, talents fitted to shine in an higher sphere. But the arrangements of civil government are made, not for what is extraordinary, but for what is common; not for the few, but for the many. The object of the first Indian legiflators was to employ the most effectual means of providing for the fubfiftence, the fecurity, and happinefs of all the members of the community over which they prefided. With this view they fet apart certain races of men for each of the various profeffions and arts neceffary in a well-ordered fociety, and appointed the exercise of them to be tranfmitted from father to fon in fucceffion. This fyftem, though extremely repugnant to the ideas which we, by being placed in a very different ftate of fociety, have formed, will be found, upon attentive infpection, better adapted to attain the end in view, than a careless obferver is, on a firft view, apt to imagine. The human mind bends to the law of neceffity, and is accuftomed not only to accommodate itself to the reftraints which the condition of its nature, or the inftitutions of its country, impofe but to acquiesce in them. From his entrance

into

Ayeen Akbery, iii. 81, &c. Sketches relating to the biftory, &c. of the Hindoos, p. 107, &c.

into life, an Indian knows the ftation allotted to him, and the functions to which he is deftined by his birth. The objects which relate to thefe are the first that prefent themselves to his view. They occupy his thoughts, or employ his hands; and, from his earlieft years, he is trained to the habit of doing with ease and pleasure that which he mult continue through life to do. To this may be afcribed that high degree of perfection confpicuous in many of the Indian manufactures; and though veneration for the practices of their ancestors may check the fpirit of invention, yet, by adhering to thefe, they acquire fuch an expertness and delicacy of hand, that Europeans, with all the advantages of fuperior fcience, and the aid of more complete inftruments, have never been able to equal the exquifite execution of their workmanfhip. While this high improvement of their more curious manufactures excited the admiration, and attracted the commerce, of other nations, the feparation of profeffions in India, and the early diftribution of the people, into claffes, attached to particular kinds of labour, fecured fuch abundance of the more common and useful commodities, as not only fupplied their own wants, but mi-, nistered to thofe of the countries around them.

To this early divifion of the people into cafts, we mult likewife afcribe a ftriking peculiarity in the Itate of India; the permanence of its inftitutions, and the immutability in the manners of its inhabitants. What now is in India, always was there, and is likely ftill to continue; heither the ferocious violence and illiberal fanaticifm of its Mehomedan conquerors, nor the power of its European masters, have effected any confiderable alteration. The fame diftinctions of condition take place, the fame arrangements in civil and VOL. III. No. 2.

domeftic fociety remain, the fame maxims of religion are held in veneration, and the fame sciences and arts are cultivated. Hence, in all ages, the trade with India has been the fame; gold and filver have uniformly been carried thither in order to purchafe the fame commodities with which it now fupplies all nations ; and from the age of Pliny to the prefent times, it has been always confidered and execrated as a gulf which fwallows up the wealth of every other country, that flows inceffantly towards it, and from which it never returns. According to the accounts which I have given of the cargoes anciently imported from India, they appear to have confifted of nearly the fame articles with thofe of the investments in our own times; and whatever difference we may obferve in them feems to have arifen, not fo much from any diverfity in the nature of the commodities which the Indians prepared for fale, as from a variety in the taftes, or in the wants, of the nations which demanded them.

II. Another proof of the early and high civilization of the people of India, may be deduced from confideri ing their political conftitution and form of government. The Indians trace back the history of their own country through an immenfe fucceffion of ages, and affert, that all Afia, from the mouth of the Indus on the weft, to the confines of China on the eaft, and from the mountains of Thi bet on the north, to Cape Comorin on the fouth, formed a vast empire, fubject to one mighty fovereign, under whom ruled feveral hereditary Princes and Rajahs. But their chronology, which measures the life of man in ancient times by thousands of years, and computes the length of the feveral periods, during which it fuppofes the world to have exifted, by millions, is fo wildly extravagant, as not to merit any ferious difcuffion. G

We

We must rest fatisfied, then, until fome more certain information is obtained with respect to the ancient hiftory of India, with taking the first accounts of that country, which can be deemed authentic, from the Greeks, who served under Alexander the Great. They found kingdoms of confiderable magnitude eftablished in that country. The territories of Porus and Taxiles comprehended a great part of the Panjab, one of the molt fertile and belt cultivated countries in India. The kingdom of the Prafij, or Gandarida, ftretched to a great extent on both fides of the Ganges. All the three, as appears from the ancient Greek writers, were powerful and populous.

This defcription of the partition of India into itates of fuch magnitude, is alone a convincing proof of its having advanced far in civilization. In whatever region of the earth there has been an opportunity of obferving the progrefs of men in focial life, they appear at firft in fmall independent tribes or communities. Their common wants prompt them to unite; and their mutual jealoufies, as well as the neceffity of fecuring fubfiftence, compel them to drive to a diftance every rival who might encroach on thofe domains which they confider as their own. Many ages elapfe before they coalefce, or acquire fufficient forefight to provide for the wants, or fufficient wisdom to conduct the affairs, of a numerous fociety. Even under the genial climate, and in the rich foil of India, more favourable perhaps to the union and increafe of the human fpecies than any other part of the globe, the formation of fuch extenfive ftates, as were established in that country when firft vifited by Europeans, muft have been a work of long time; and the members of them must have been

*Orme's Differt. vol. i. p. 4.
+ Code of Gentoo Laws, ch. xxi.

long accustomed to exertions of useful induftry.

Though monarchical government was established in all the countries of India to which the knowledge of the ancients extended, the fovereigns were far from poffefling uncontrouled or defpotic power. No trace, indeed, is difcovered there of any affembly or public body, the members of which, either in their own right, or as reprefentatives of their fellow-citizens, could interpofe in enacting laws, or in fuperintending the execution of them. Inftitutions deftined to affert and guard the rights belonging to men in a focial ftate, how familiar foever the idea may be to the people of Europe, never formed a part of the political conftitution in any great Afiatic kingdom. It was to different principles that the natives of India were indebted for reftrictions which limited the exercise of regal power. The rank of individuals was unalterably fixed, and the privileges of the different cafts were deemed inviolable. The monarchs of India, who are all taken from the fecond of the four claffes formerly defcribed, which is entrusted with the functions of government and exercife of war, behold among their fubjects an order of men far fuperior to themfelves in dignity, and fo confcious of their own preeminence, both in rank and in fanctity, that they would deem it degradation and pollution, if they were to eat of the fame food with their fovereign. Their perfons are facred, and even for the most heinous crimes they cannot be capitally punished; their blood must never be fhed. To men in this exalted station monarchs must look up with refpect, and reverence them as the minifters of religion, and the teachers of wifdom. On important occafions, it is the

*

Sketches, &c. p. 113. § 10. p. 275, 283, &c.

duty

duty of fovereigns to confult them, and to be directed by their advice. Their admonitions, and even their cenfures, must be received with fubmiffive refpect. This right of the Brahmins to offer their opinion with respect to the adminiftration of public affairs was not unknown to the ancients; and in fome accounts preferved in India of the events which happened in their own country, princes are mentioned, who having violated the privileges of the cafts, and difregarded the remonftrances of the Brahmins, were depofed by their authority, and put to death.f

While the facred rights of the Brahmins oppofed a barrier against the encroachments of regal power on one hand, it was circumfcribed on the other by the ideas which those who occupied the highest stations in fociety entertained of their own dignity and privileges. As none but the members of the caft next in rank to that which religion has rendered facred, could be employed in any function of the late, the fovereigns of the extenfive kingdoms anciently established in India, found it necef. fary to entrust them with the fuperintendence of the cities and provinces too remote to be under their own immediate inspection. In these ftations they often acquired fuch wealth and influence, that offices conferred during pleasure, continued in their families, and they came gradually to form an intermediate order between the fovereign and his subjects; and by the vigilant jealoufy with which they maintained their own dignity

Strabo, lib. xv. p. 1029. C.

and privileges, they constrained their rulers to refpect them, and to govern with equity.

Nor were the benefits of thefe reftraints upon the power of the fovereign confined wholly to the two fuperior orders in the state; they extended, in fome degree, to the third clafs employed in agriculture. The labours of that numerous and ufeful body of men are fo effential to the prefervation and happinefs of fociety, that the greatest attention was paid to render their condition fecure and comfortable. According to the ideas which prevailed among the natives of India (as we are informed by the first Europeans who vifited their country,) the fovereign is confidered as the fole univerfal proprietor of all the land in his dominions, and from him is derived every fpecies of tenure by which his fubjects can hold it. Thefe lands were let out to the farmers who cultivated them, at a ftipulated rent, amounting ufually to a fourth part of their annual produce paid in kind.‡ In a country where the price of work is extremely low, and where the labour of cultivation is very inconfi-, derable, the earth yielding its productions almoft fpontaneously, where fubfiftence is amazingly cheap, where few clothes are needed, and houfes are built and furnished at little expence, this rate cannot be deemed exorbitant or oppreffive. As long as the husbandman continued to pay the established rent, he retained poffeffion of the farm, which defcended, like property, from father to fon. (To be continued.)

To...

+ Account of the Qualities requifite in a Magiflrate, prefixed by the Pundits to the Code of Gentoo Laws, p. 102 and 116.

Strabo, lib. xv. p. 1030. A. Diod. Sic. lib. ii. p. 53

To the EDITORS of the NEW-YORK MAGAZINE,
GENTLEMEN,

The following has appeared in print before, though I believe not in this city; and if you think it worthy a place in your entertaining miscellany, please to infert it, and very much oblige your humble fervant, W-C

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FRAGMENT.

Quis defiderio fit pudor, aut modus –
Tam chari capitis?

OOR Cleora! I knew her when fhe was poffeffed of jewels, equipages, and all the pomp, magnificence and fplendor, which affluence could produce: But fhe is now no more, I faw her breathe her laft: I heard her fhrieks of mifery, wretchedness, and woeful lamentations!

Cleora was young and beautiful; her converse was fenfible, prudent, and endearing. In Cleora centered all the foftnefs of a fummer's morn, and the ferenity of a mild day, when the sportive zephyrs play in each avenue and vale.

Cleora's husband was young, gay, airy, manly, and fond of gaming. Impatient of contradiction, he was, the first to refent ideal injuries.Florio loft his All at dice.-A friend fuppofed himself injured by him, and a challenge was the confequence. They fought, Florio fell, but was carried home juft time enough to expiate his crimes by true repentance, and to receive the last fervent embrace of conjugal faith and honour.

What a fight for Cleora! What agonizing pangs for a heart well fraught with every fentiment of affection and conftancy!-Her hufband mortally wounded, and scarcely a moment to live!

Florio expired in Cleora's arms, and his death was the commencement of her deeper forrow. She fainted with her husband's corpfe in her arms, and was bereft of her fenfes two

HOR.

hours, only awaking to a new and more poignant fenfe of her mifery.

The officers of justice had taken poffeffion of Florio's houfe, and were entering the dining-room when Cleora lay a fenfelefs, melancholy object, almoft as pale and lifeless as her murdered husband, with an intention to take an inventory of the goods. They were ftruck with horror at the fight, and not without painful emotions could they execute their duty. Cleora faintly opened her eyes, and gazing wildly round her, faw them marking a picture hanging near the wainscot,

"Villains! villains!" exclaimed the poor Cleora, " 'tis my hufband's picture!-you have killed him; and will you not leave me his fhadow!See where he comes! look how he fmiles!-Stand off, and let me clafp him in my arms! Oh! he is my life, my joy, my comfort! He is my Florio!-My husband! Come, come to my arms, and hide your forrows in my bofom!-Alas! he is vanished!-Vanifhed! Oh! no, there he lies, a dead and mangled corpfe!Oh! my poor heart!"She fainted, and never more came to herself. ⚫ Reafon grows dull, and philosophy cold, when we behold a woman of the fairest fame, and lovelieft form, fall a facrifice to grief and defpair. "Tis more than humanity can fupport.

I faw Cleora's remains enshrined with her husband's, and wept a tear of fenfibility over their bier.

The

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