'I know not,' said he, a more mortifying proof of human weakness than that power which situation and habit acquire over principle and feeling, even in men of the best natural dispositions. "The gentleman who has just left us has derived from Nature a more than ordinary degree of good sense. Nor does she seem to have been less liberal to him in the affections of the heart than in the powers of the understanding. 'Since his return to this country, Colonel Plum has acted the part of an affectionate and generous relation, of an attentive and useful friend: he has been an indulgent landlord, a patron of the industrious, and a support to the indigent. In a word, he has proved a worthy and useful member of society, on whom fortune seems not to have misplaced her favours. 'Yet, with all the excellent dispositions of which these are proofs,-placed as a soldier of fortune in India; inflamed with the ambition of amassing wealth; corrupted by the contagious example of others, governed by the same passion, and engaged in the same pursuit, Colonel Plum appears to have been little under the influence either of justice or humanity; he seems to have viewed the unhappy people of that country merely as the instruments, which, in one way or other, were to furnish himself and his countrymen with that wealth they had gone so far in quest of. 'If these circumstances could operate so strongly on such a man as Colonel Plum, we have little reason to wonder that they should have carried others of our countrymen to still more lamentable excesses; that they should have filled that unhappy country with scenes of misery and oppression, of which the recital fills us with equal shame and indignation. Yet such examples as that of the colonel should perhaps dispose us, in place of violently declaiming against the conduct of individuals, to investigate the causes by which it is produced. The conquests of a commercial people have always, I believe, proved uncommonly destructive; and this might naturally have been expected of those made by our countrymen in India, under the direction of a mercantile society conducted by its members in a distant country, in a climate fatal to European constitutions, which they visit only for the purpose of suddenly amassing riches, and from which they are anxious to return as soon as that purpose is accomplished. 'How far such a company, whose original connexion with India was merely the prosecution of their private commerce, should have ever been allowed to assume, and should still continue to possess, the unnatural character of sovereigns and conquerors, and to conduct the government of a great empire, is a point which may, perhaps, merit the attention of the legislature, as much as many of the more minute inquiries in which they have of late been engaged. I have often thought how much our superior knowledge in the art of government might enable us to change the condition of that unfortunate country for the better. I have pleased myself with fondly picturing out the progress of such a plan; with fancying I saw the followers of Mahomet lay aside their ferocity and ambition; the peaceful disciples of Brahma happy in the security of a good government, and in the enjoyment of those innocent and simple manners which mark the influence of a fruitful climate and a beneficent religion.-But, alas!' continued Mr. Umphraville, with a sigh, such reformations are more easily effected by me in my elbow-chair than by those who conduct the great and complicated machine of government. 'I wish,' added he, 'it may be only the contracted view of things natural to a retired old man which leads me to fear that, in this country, the period of such reformations is nearly past; when I observe that almost all men regulate their conduct, and form the minds of the rising generation, by this maxim, "Quærenda pecunia primum est, I cannot but apprehend, from the prevalence of so mean and so corrupt a principle, the same national corruption which the Roman poet ascribes to it. In the lower ranks, the desire of gain, as it is the source of industry, may be held equally conducive to private happiness and public prosperity; but those who, by birth or education, are destined for nobler pursuits, should be actuated by more generous passions. If from luxury, and the love of vain expense, they shall also give way to this desire of wealth; if it shall extinguish the sentiments of public virtue, and the passion for true glory, natural to that order of the state; the spring of private and of national honour must have lost its force, and there will remain nothing to withstand the general corruption of manners, and the public disorder and debility which are its inseparable attendants. If our country has not already reached this point of degeneracy, she seems, at least, as far as a spectator of her manners can judge, to be too fast approaching it.' Somewhat in this manner did Mr. Umphraville express himself. Living retired in the country, conversing with few, and ignorant of the opinions of the many; attached to ideas of family, and not very fond of the mercantile interest; disposed to give praise to former times, and not to think highly of the present; in his apprehension of facts he is often mistaken, and the conclusions he draws from those facts are often erroneous. In the present instance, the view which I have presented of his opinions may throw further light upon his character; it gives a striking picture both of the candour of his mind and of the generosity of his sentiments. His opinions, though erroneous, may be useful; they may remind those who, though endued, like Colonel Plum, with good dispositions, are in danger of being seduced by circumstances and situation, that our own interest or ambition is never to be pursued but in consistency with the sacred obligations of justice, humanity, and benevolence; and they may afford a very pleasing source of reflection to others, who, in trying situations, have maintained their virtue and their character untainted. O. No. 29. TUESDAY, MAY 4, 1779. Conciliat animos comitas affabilitasque sermonis. POLITENESS, or the exernal show of humanity, has been strongly recommended by some, and has been treated with excessive ridicule by others. It has sometimes been represented, very improperly, as constituting the sum of merit: and thus affectation and grimace have been substituted in place of virtue. There are, on the other hand, persons who cover their own rudeness, and justify gross rusticity, by calling their conduct honest bluntness, and by de faming complacent manners as fawning or hypocritical. Shakspeare, in his King Lear, sketches this character with his usual ability: "This is some fellow Who, having been prais'd for bluntness, doth affect To extol polished external manners as constituting the whole duty of man, or to declaim against them as utterly inconsistent with truth, and the respect we owe to ourselves, are extrémes equally to be avoided. Let no one believe that the show of humanity is equal to the reality; nor let any one, from the desire of pleasing, depart from the line of truth, or stoop to mean condescension. But to presume favourably of all men ; to consider them as worthy of our regard, till we have evidence of the contrary; to be inclined to render them services; and to entertain confidence in their inclinations to follow a similar conduct; constitute a temper, which every man, for his own peace, and for the peace of society, ought to improve and exhibit. Now, this is the temper essential to polished manners; and the external show of civilities is a banner held forth, announcing to all men that we hold them in due respect, and are disposed to oblige them. Besides, it will often occur, that we may have the strongest conviction of worth in another person; that we may be disposed, from gratitude or esteem, to render him suitable services; and yet may have no opportunity of testifying, by those actions which are their genuine expressions, either that conviction, or that disposition. Hence exernal courtesies and civilities are substituted, with 1 |