The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1807-12-10

FROM RUSSIA AND PERSIA.
What may be the final close Of our greatness in
India, and the termination Of an empire springir,r
from honorable motives of commerce, but which
IN its progress, has been tatnl5hed by every vice
that ambition and dcspOtism ever knew will al
ways be a subject of serious contcmpaton.-Iikc
Aureng2ebe, the famous oppressor and cOnqncror
ofthe continent of HDdOstan, the He-slan;ilc So
yereigns of British India. arc in possession Of An
empire, which they have had better fortune in &C
quiring, than they likely to- have wisdom OF
luck in retaining--likc HIM too, they have allies
vino arc rot friends, and friends who are not al
lies, dependent enemies, and Independent ned
trails, and some that are neither one thing nor the
other.
The present maxim, however, pursued in the
government of British India, was not wholly
Unknown to the iliusriouS predecessor of the Bri
fish merchants. To invite the weaker states of
that vast continent to exchange sovereignty for
pyotcctiOn-in other words liberty for property,
was 4 mystery Of politics not discovered till with
IN these few years and, and il is not be doubt.
cd that, had AurenF2cbc been acquainted with
this maxim IN thc renitude Of his power he
would have employed ii towards the security and
firm establishment of that mighty empire, which
so suddenly slipt through the fingers of his sue
cessors, and slpt, within a few years, into so
many different and Independent governments.
There is certainly in modern history nothing
more astonishing or whimsical than the means by
which our empire has been acquired, and IS nav
maintained in this distant quarter of the globe.
We have provinces and kingdoms daily annexed
to the British sccptre, which we scarcely know
where to look for in our maps, and have reduced
the chiefs TO be " drawers of water and hcwcrs OF
wood" in tlcir own country a race If men who
lived in popuious towns aud cities, whilst our AN.
cestors cat aco7ns in their woods
The inaSim lcft by the celebrated HASTINGS rs
legacy 10 the future governors of india was.
" Avoid 4 war with the Naturalization cannot
make them friends, and it is dan f.rous 10 make
them enemies" Lord Cornwallis left the com
pany maxim Of equal value ,'' Nothing but is
debt (ssid bc) cen ever ruin Indis--tf wc caa sub
due this formidable enemy, which is every mo.
1Dent growing upon us, we shall assuredly be Sc.
cure the company win cease TO bo safe when
il shall become insclvent"
Our late goyernor-general marquis Wellesley.
seems 70 have had other ideas upon thc subject
lie was neither averse from war nor from extra.
vagance he neither dreaded debt nor tina Nah.
Tottas. The policy Ofthis nocman was einp1IlarJv
absurd lie judged il prudent TO fight for empire
IN India whilst we were struggling for existence
~ home. He is an able man, however, though a
little too vigorous for time and circumstances and
one maSim Ee has left US, in his own notes on the
war in India, which applies with great force TO
the circumstances of The present time.
III IS not improbable, lac observes, Jut that The
British empire in India may experience fte
somewhat similar TO that which pFecipitatsd The
grestiess Of Tire Romsn power,