:

by the Lady's anxiety to possess the magic book, and by the knight's exertions in procuring it, were more apparent to the reader, and had a more evident effect on the progress and termination of the poem. While the book is in the grave of the enchanter, and while it is in the clutches of the goblin, it raises our expectations beyond what it afterward gratifies and yet it might easily have been employed to great advantage, on behalf of the embarrassed lovers. The goblin, too, might, with better management, have been less ambiguously characteristic of the imp of discord; for though his malignant machinations may be traced as the cause of kindling the torch of war, yet the reader does not discover it without investigation.

We think also, that some of the liberties taken by the author, with the versification and phraseology, though evidently de signed, were scarcely desireable: they may be minstrelsy, but they are not poetry; they might pass when accompanied by the harp; but the deliberate critic detects them. We hardly know how to excuse such lines as these, even sanctioned as they are by classical example and modern usage;

And when the priest his death prayer had pray'd.'

'How could I name love's very name?'

He sighed a sigh, and prayed a prayer.'

It is true that Mr. Scott has qualified his minstrel with abilities and disabilities so extremely a propos, that nothing can justly be imputed to him as a failure: and, indeed, we like the old harper so well, that we should be very glad to find, that he has left behind him in the family sundry MSS., from which we may be favoured with "more last words" of the last Minstrel of the Border.

There are two or three episodes introduced, mostly at the beginnings of the Cantos: such as, the Minstrel's recollection of his son, slain in war; and of his aged preceptor in the art of minstrelsy. At the end of the second Canto, the old man, seasonably for himself, and for the reader too, is cheered by the duchess' page with a goblet of wine; of which he takes a draught, so" long," so "deep," so "zealously."

The volume concludes with about 150 pages of Notes, illustrative of Border manners, and of family history, which are very useful and entertaining. That our readers will be highly gratified and interested in the perusal of this work, we cannot entertain a doubt; we feel pleasure in introducing them to a delightful repast, which frequently combines with the minor charm of novelty, those of exquisite measure, sentiment, imagery, and diction.

Art.

Art. VI. History of all the Events and Transactions which have taken place in India; containing the Negociations of the British Government relative to the glorious Success of the late War. By His Excellency the Most Noble Marquis of Wellesley, Governor General of India, &c. &c. 4to. pp. 263. price 10s. 6d. Stockdale. London. 1805.

FROM the manner in which this extraordinary production is

announced, the unsuspecting reader might imagine, that it is expressly sanctioned by the Noble Marquis, who so lately filled the high and important office of Governor General of India. Nothing, however, can be farther from the truth. The fact is, that his dispatches to the Court of Directors, having fallen into the hands of the French, by the capture of the ship that was bringing them to Great Britain, were thought to present so strong a counterpart to that ambition and intrigue, with which the Government of France is charged in Europe, that it was resolved to publish them in the Moniteur. From thence, after being, no doubt, pretty well garbled, and some think perverted to answer the political purposes of the Gallic publisher, they are brought before the British public. The motives which induced the publication in France are visible in every page;-an op portunity was not to be lost of exposing the inordinate ambition of Great Britain in India, as a counterpart, perhaps, to French rapacity in Europe.

The Mahratta empire, is not more remarkable for its sudden rise among the nations of Hindostan, within the last 150 years, favoured by the bloody contentions for power between the sons and successors of Aurengzebe, than for the extraordinary nature of its constitution. In this, it resembles nothing modern; but rather the feudal institutions of our forefathers, or the military tenures introduced by the Norman Conqueror. The government of this great military aristocracy, comprising the western branch of the Mahratta empire, resides at Poonah; about 100 miles inland, S. E. of Bombay. It consists of about twentyfive great chiefs, or members, who acknowledge for their head, or representative, THE PEISHWA; a Brahmin descended from a family of the sacred cast, which, during a century, under the name of minister, has exercised the rights, and enjoyed the prerogatives of Royalty. Among these chiefs, four or five, including the Peishwa, possess great power, extensive territories, ample revenues, and large armies. Their soldiery, indeed, generally suffered from insufficiency of pay, but the lands of their neighbours usually compensated that inconvenience. As the Mahometan power in the family of the Mogul declined, the encroachments of the Mahrattas, and their acquisition of territory increased, and there can be no doubt, that, unrestrained by British arms, all India would, ere this, have felt the grasp of their rapa

03

city.

city. Of the ruinous effects of a Mahratta war, it is hard to form an adequate idea in Europe. Their countless armies of horse, render the destruction as rapid and complete as the ravages of invading locusts. Properly to describe the desolation, we must borrow the striking language of Eastern poetry: "The land before them is as the garden of Eden; and behind them as the wilderness."

From this desolating plague, the provinces belonging to Great Britain, and its immediate allies, were alone exempted, Frequent wars and contentions embroiled the chiefs among themselves, all being equally stung by the two incompatible passious, that of establishing immense armies, and that of amassing prodigious wealth. In India, every native prince, even one whose abstemious principles may deny him the expenditure, on his own person, of a sum equal to the maintenance of a day labourer, is anxious to accumulate riches. Hence the Mahratta chiefs, when in peace, felt the miseries attached to poverty, far more severely than in war; because, while war was most congenial to their dispositions, it enabled them to gratify their love of money, by plunder. The two most powerful chiefs, Scindeah and Holkar, possessed armies and revenues equal to those of great kingdoms. Aware of their danger, from the vicinity and daily increasing power of the British Empire, they endeavoured to strengthen themselves by means of European officers and tactics, (though indeed with the Company's acquiescence) as the fall of Tippoo Sultaun, and the Peace of Amiens, had left the Company's Government in security, and without a rival. But the great armies constantly maintained by Scindeah and Holkar, were viewed by the British Government with jealousy; and events soon brought that jealousy into action. Holkar advanced toward Poonah, with a view to extort money from the Peishwa, under some pretence, though what it was does not very plainly appear. The English Resident there was directed to press upon the latter the necessity of his forming an alliance with the English Government, taking a body of their troops into his pay, and assigning for their maintenance part of his territory. Aware of the danger to be apprehended from admitting such powerful auxiliaries into the heart of the Mahratta empire, and it is probable, also, foreseeing the unpopularity of such a proceeding, he repeatedly refused his concurrence. Holkar continued advancing; and, with an army of twenty-eight battalions, of which fourteen were commanded by Europeans, and with a most formidable artillery, he beat the united forces of Scindeah and the Peishwa. The latter, fearing to fall into the hands of his enemy, fled toward the sea coast; the government of Bombay received him under its protection, and the treaty being again vehemently urged upon him in the moments of his distress, his forced ac

quiescence

quiescence sanctioned the interference of the Company's Government; and hence all the late events that have occurred in the Mahratta empire followed, as matters of course. The restoration of the Peishwa to the musnud was the effect of this treaty. The political horizon in Europe now became clouded, and Scindeah, though the friend and ally of the Peishwa, was requested to form a similar treaty with that entered into by the head of his own government. Sufficiently powerful already, he could not comprehend the necessity of taking British troops into his pay, and thereby adding to the strength of a state already sufficiently strong to overwhelm the native powers of India. His refusal was considered as ground of offence. The treaty was offered and urged repeatedly, and immediate war was threatened in case of refusal. The Rajah of Berar, who is head of the eastern branch of the Mahratta empire, saw the destructive torrent approaching; and, fully assured that himself was within the reach of its ravages, he endeavoured to guard against its effects by forming an alliance with Scindeah, the basis of which was a determination to guard their respective rights and possessions against all invaders. No treaty ever produced worse effects to its framers. The Supreme Council at Calcutta, endeavoured to disorganize the army of Scindeah, by a proclamation addressed to all the Europeans in his service; and by dint of intrigue, detached among others, the French General Perron, who was Chief in Command. This officer, nevertheless, did not reap all the fruits of his treachery; twenty-two lacks of rupees, about 260,0001. left by him in Agra, and claimed as private property, being declared public treasure, and, as such, given to the British army. In vain did the hill forts of Scindeah, rising to the clouds, and the dark recesses of the forests of Berar, hitherto unexplored by the eye of an European, oppose the armies of Britain. Defeat and ruin followed in rapid succession, and a few short months saw the two confederated chiefs deserted by their friends, destitute of arms and treasure, stripped of the largest part of their dominions, and reduced to unconditional submission.

Hitherto Holkar had avoided the storm. The obnoxious proposal of taking British troops into his pay, does not appear by the Noble Governor General's dispatches to have been made to him. Such a step if taken earlier, might have induced this powerful chieftain to unite with Scindeali, and the Berar Rajah. But divide et impera, a maxim well understood on this occasion, forbad precipitation, and not till after the two former chiefs were subdued, was Holkar called upon to form a treaty with the Company, and take part of their troops into his pay. Here we would observe, that had the dispatches which form the substance of this publication, appeared through any other medium than that of the Moniteur, we should have looked for

strong proofs that the Mahratta Chiefs corresponded with the French Government, and were forming combinations against the British interest in India, before measures of violence and bloodshed had been adopted. Such proofs may exist; their non-appearance in this work, is not decisive to the contrary; their publication could hardly be expected from the French Government, as it would be betraying their own friends. But if this sanguinary war was really undertaken without such proofs, then, we think, that however its authors may look forward with confidence, as mere politicians, to an acquittal before an earthly tribunal, there is another which cannot err, where the authors of all wars will be weighed in the balance of eternal justice, and receive a sentence of far greater importance than the opinions of men. We see but little indeed, from what is before us, to evince that this war was either just or necessary. The morality and policy of the Mahratta war, will probably engage the attention of parliament; and as a measure of precaution and foresight, it will, no doubt, find abettors, and its advisers may even demand applause. We envy not the man who can boast, that he found only twenty-five millions of British subjects in India, and that he doubled the number. To have disarmed her enemies by acts of steady magnanimity and benevolence, to have doubled the number of her friends and allies, by moderation and gentleness, would have been far more substantial praise. But we do not wish to pre-judge the question, especially when the difficulty of exercising such awfully responsible duties as those of a Governor-General of India is considered.

We have already observed, that Holkar was the last to be attacked; and his ruin was only protracted for a while, by the bravery and attachment of his troops, and his own resources and valour. All proved in vain. His fate was still more disastrous than that of Scindeah, and in his overthrow, though attended with the loss of nearly half the Company's army, Great Britain saw at her feet the last enemy which had dared to contend with her for independence on the plains of Hindostan. The Great Mogul, SHAH ALUM, poor, aged, and deprived of sight, had long extended his feeble arms toward Bengal, and implored assistance for the fallen house of Timour; but in vain. The Mahrattas held his dominions and family as their own. To restore him even to a nominal sovereignty was an act highly meritorious in the eyes of every good Mussulman, and while this deed of kindness became useful in weakening the enemies of his house, it had all the appearance, and actually partook of the nature, of substantial justice.

While the whirlwind and the storm have thus agitated the political world in Asia, and we lament the fall of many thousands of brave men on each side, we hope these dreadful bursts

of