The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-08-04 00:00:00

lipaciat by sea, is almost to the full es preposterous. A
pretty fleet truly is this Egyptian Viceroy's, so often
beaten by the Greeks, and so damaged by the ignorance of
hit'Own naval service, to venture from the Straits of Babel-
wandel to Calicin !—to cross from the entrance of the Red
:tea tq the shores of southern India, in contempt of the
British power, and in defiance of' its cruisers ; setting
tside too the extreme probabilities of its foundering mid-
Way !
So much for the physical impediments to all or any of
these descents upon our possissions in the East. But
those of a meral nature, while they are much more
evident, and would much more decidedly cause their failure,
may be summed up in very few words indeed. However
large may be the deductions to be made on account of oc-
casional instances of On ;session, or misgovernment, or el--
rots:ono fulicy, on cur own parts, the fact is, that native
interests are too di.erly and extensively involved and inter-
mixed with British interests, and the general system of
our government is much too popular in India (where
there must be some paramount and controlling powcr esta-
hlishrl, di.l we ever withdraw our own), not to render the
great I/1371 of our tributary states, and of our Mttliam.
Medan eson, as well as 'Ludo° suniects, entirely ietlis-
yeseil to our deposition or removal. Nothing can be niece
;less or general than the error which prevails on this head
among our Continental neighbours; and as this has been
Most admirably exposed and refuted by M. Baptiste Say,
in his eelebrated Essoi llistorique sus les Pro-
:fres et lea Ilrsultats probates de la Sou:Train:lr des An leis
a•uxlodes, I cannot do better than quote, in conclusion,
a few remarkable passages from that work. M.Say's essay
commences thus :—" On me parait assez gencralenteut dans
Possess stir le continent," &c.
"It seems to inc that the inhabitants of the Continent of
Europe entertain very generally the most erroneous notions
respecting the sovereignty of the English in India." . .
" it appears to be firmly believed that this dominion is the
principal itturc:y fromwhich the English nation derives its
upulenee. Even those Governments, which must be so
much interested to entertain none but accurate notions upon
narrations of pelnical economy, participate, on this subject,
:n the opinions of the vulgar. They really persuade them-
selves that the people of India groan beneath the yoke of
Great Britain ; and that, in order to overturn so odious and
precarious a power, it were sufficient for some other State
to show itself" in force "in that country. Bonaparte
wanted to deliver her by marching to her rescue by way
EgYpt,* and the Cabinet of St. Pe tershurgli has twenty
trines entertained the project of reaching Rengal from the
shores of the Caspian. I should esteem myself happy
could I destroy these illusions." . . . " Tim British
administration of those vast countries seems to have at-
nuired a new character. It has begun to pro.ect property :
_ins:ice is equitably administered in all those provinces im-
mediately under the British rule; and appeals to the supe-
:tor Courts having been renders 1 easier, the Rajahs and
tributary Princes have been co:npelled to observe some-
thing like equity in their proceedings. An European
peliae, repression of crimes, and trial by jury, have gra-
daally been introduced. The English have absolutely
renounced all pretensions to meddle with the preju.
dices of the Hindoos," &c " The
Ilindoos still remain what they were sunder Aurung-
zebe, and probably are more numerous and industrious.
might, therefore, be masters of their own country,
did they choose to he so. That are forty-five thousand
r teen,absorbed bra population of (more than) ;0,000,000 ?"
" Should setae foreign prince or usurper cause himself to
be followed, through force or persuasion, by a certain num-
ber of partisans, those partisans would hall fewer means
of resisting the British forces and intrigues than those
princes who governed the country before the English, and
who, nevertheless, were constrained to give way 'before the
superiority of European tactics and English policy. E yen
an Ear ()mud arum would appear under great disadvantages
in India. it would Nor, as has bees pretended, find a people
enraged against its rulers to second that army's liforts.
The enemies the English had to contend with were rather
the princes than the people of India; and there arc no
longer any independent princes. An European army could
my be sent there by land ; and let the slowness, expenses,
and loss, which must necessarily attend the march of an
army for such a distance, be reckoned! Without counting
up the nations it would have to combat on the way, what
men, hones, and artillery, would there not be lost in burn.
:rig sands, impassable marshes, bridgeless rivers, to attack,
on its arrival, a well-established power, defended by an
limy of 100,000 men, armed in the European manner, and
in a condition to receive by sea all such reinforcements and
ammunition as it might stand in need of !"
BnITA S NICUS.
• Wnh great submission to N.
u Say, it seems quite incredible
t so clever a man.—whatever he might have given out to deceive
the infatusted French Direnory,--sbould really have ever con-
tain/Algid die invasion of India!