is read by the classes immediately above the poor, is neither treason nor impiety. With them, the notions in ordinary circulation, about government and religion, though trite, are, in general, useful, just, and respectable. In the ferment of political opinion, through which we have recently passed, the Scotch, and the people of London and Westminster, were not endangered by their education, nor the Irish protected by their ignorance. The English, rank for rank, are governed with greater justice, and live with greater happiness, than any other people in Europe. If this is as true as we believe it to be, why will not such a welcome and important truth be at length diffused by the diffusion of knowledge? What is the dreadful secret the poor are to find out when they have learned to read and write? We have often seen guzzling, semi-inebriated country gentlemen nod and wink with a very pregnant wisdom, when the education of the poor was mentioned. We bear them no malice for their stupid prejudices; but wish, on the contrary, with the utmost sincerity, that the accomplishments of reading, writing, and cyphering, were more generally diffused among these gentlemen; and that they were taught, by enjoying these blessings themselves, to appreciate them more justly for others.

There are now, perhaps, one million more of persons who can read and write, than there were before the revolution. Has this increase of knowledge produced any increase of disaffection? If ignorance is useful to a state, to what degree is it useful? Or where has the argument any limit? The expense of education is not to be mentioned. A boy learns reading, writing, and accounts, for fourteen shillings, who would, in hedge breaking, or picking pockets, cost the county double the money in the same time.

The investigation might be pushed on to a great length. These are a few of the principal advantages which appear to us to result from education; from which we do not expect miracles, or believe that it would put an end to mendicity, and render the executioner's place a sinecure. But we do most firmly believe, that it may be made the means of rescuing thousands of human beings from vice and misery; of teaching the blessings of rational religion; of improving the character, and increasing the happiness of the lower orders of mankind. And for these reasons, the cause of education shall never want our feeble aid, nor the friends of it our good word, from the poor quaker, whose system we have described, to the king, who has conducted himself towards this deserving man with so much goodness and feeling; and for which thousands of ragged children will pray for him and remember him, long after his majesty is forgotten by every lord of the chamber, and by every clerk of the closet.

Thus much for education itself. The manner of introducing it into, and encouraging it in a country, are totally separate questions. How far it may be expedient to provide, nationally, for the education of the poor, against the prejudices of the upper classes, and without any cordial wish to that purpose, on the part of the poor themselves, is doubtful, if it be possible. At all events, we must express our most sincere regret, that the late plan was ever connected with so many doubtful, and so many complicated measures; and that its worthy author appeared to be so moderately informed on the general subject of the poor, and so little aware of the powerful prejudices which exist against their instruction; for ignorant we must conceive him to have been upon this point, if he supposed it possible to force down so extensive a plan of education over the whole community.

In the year 1797, Dr. Bell, a clergyman of the church of England, published an account of an institution for education at Madras, to which Mr. Lancaster is certainly indebted for some very material parts of his

improvements,-as, in the early editions of his book, he very honestly and plainly owned himself to be. To this valuable information, received from Dr. Bell, Mr. Lancaster has made important additions of his own, quite enough to entitle him to a very high character for originality and invention. We sincerely hope Dr. Bell will not attribute to us the most distant intention of depreciating his labours, when we say that he has, by no means, taught Mr. Lancaster all, though he has taught him much. We are so far from wishing to undervalue the labours of Dr. Bell, that it gives us great pleasure to express our warmest admiration at what he has done for education. He is unquestionably the beginner in an art, which we trust will be carried to still greater perfection; and we hope he will reap, from his present patron, those rewards for which he never could have looked, to which he is eminently entitled, and which, if ever they are bestowed, will honour the giver as much as the receiver.

It has pleased the present archbishop of Canterbury to establish a large school, for the instruction of the poor of the established church, under the care of Dr. Bell. If the thing is done at all,—if the education of the poor goes on, we are content. We only interfered in the cause to say, education is a great good; and to shelter from calumny a friendless man, who set himself down (like a drop of healing oil in an ulcer) in the worst parts of the metropolis, to diffuse the word of God, and the rudiments of knowledge among the lowest of mankind. If, in so doing, we have been compelled to treat with severity a lady of real piety and of estimable character, let that lady remember, that had we found her in her own proper department of an instructress of youth, which she has so long and so respectably filled, we could not but have mentioned her with credit, if it had fallen within the plan of our work to mention her at all. But we found her acting the part of a judge and a critick, and, above all, of a religious accuser,—a part never to be taken up but with extreme reluctance, and exposing him, and still more her who assumes it, to the most severe responsibility,-a part which, of late years, has been played so often, and paid so well, that it is not respectable even in the hands of so honest and conscientious a person as Mrs. Trimmer. We have been a little alarmed by observing, that Dr. Bell, after all he has written and done, calls in question the propriety of teaching the poor to write and to cypher. We hope that he will value his deserved reputation above every thing else, and not lose that originality which has brought him into notice. The sanction of the archbishop of Canterbury may be venerable and respectable-but it is not sacred: at least we believe this term is never employed upon such occasions.

FROM THE LITERARY PANORAMA.

A Journey from Madras, through the countries of Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, performed under the order of the Marquis of Wellesley, Governour General of india, &c. By Francis Buchanan, M. D. F. R. S. &c. Published under the patronage of the East India company. With a map and numerous other engravings. 3 vols. 4to. pp. 1530. Price 61. 68. London.

THE oldest Reviewer need feel no shame in confessing his inability to do justice to the work before us within that space which our Journal can spare for his Report. It involves political matters of the highest importance to the interests of the East India Company; remarks extremely well adapted to improve the condition of the newly acquired provinces ; striking views of human nature, several of them distinguished by their

novelty; the characters of sovereigns and of their adherents, drawn from their actions; demonstrations of the evil effects of bigotry and superstition; of the excessive calamities consequent on repeated wars; and of the difficulties of recovering a country from a state of devastation, partly produced by predatory hordes of banditti, and partly prolonged by the prevalence of wild beasts against the dispirited inhabitants.

'We are also obliged to Dr. Buchanan for a variety of information on the manners and resources of the people; on the subjects of their cultivation and labour; with numerous particulars relative to geography, natural history, mineralogy, and other sciences. Neither are the deviations of the human mind forgotten; the opinions of the almost innumerable classes of natives; their opposition to each other; their mutual contempt, and, not seldom, derision; the oppression of their Mahomedan conquerors, and the sufferings arising from differences of religion. This gentleman travelled with the sanction of authority, and he has well availed himself of the advantages which he enjoyed. His work is a compendium of the observations he made during his progress; and often of those official answers to his inquiries, which an ordinary traveller could not have expected. Sir W. Jones has well observed, that there is a kind of infinity in whatever relates to India: and this work may be quoted in proof of the correctness of that observation. Like the Banian tree of the continent to which it relates, it is but one; yet by the numerous branches which depend from it, and communicate with the earth, it offers a thousand different paths, and forms a thousand different mazes.

We recommend these volumes to the detractors of the Company, and especially to those of the noble marquis, by whose command this journey was performed. We recommend them also to naturalists, who will find interspersed many remarks connected with their favourite science; the elephant and the tiger, conspicuous among the wild animals of Indian forests; the growth of Sandal wood, and of teak; the cultivation of pepper; of cardamoms; of the different kinds of grain, especially of the distinctions of rice, cotton. &c. &c. will engage the attention of the man of science as well as of the man of the world. But the merchant who wishes to procure foreign commodities from as near to the first hand as possible, may derive information from these volumes, not to be found elsewhere: and the statesman, especially, may discover in the accounts they contain, the rudiments of future greatness, and the means of communicating to expecting myriads blessings never yet enjoyed. The heart of the benevolent statesman will rejoice at such an opportunity put into his power, such an opportunity of doing extensive good: of conferring benefits on distant provinces, and distant generations: of giving comfortable bread to those who will venerate his name, though they know not how to pronounce it correctly. We recommend these volumes, also, to whoever is desirous of further acquaintance with the human heart. He will here see duplicity, concealment, fraud, employed to counteract usurpation and tyranny, as well by the untutored as by the learned; those who cannot read, to whom, in fact, letters are forbidden, yet practise the same arts to delude their oppressors, as those who have been, in the language of soi disant philosophy, sophisticated by over refinement, misled by the vagaries of priestcraft, and seduced to errour for the benefit of the state.

Customs which simple reason, if there be such a thing in this world as simple reason, would pronounce abhorrent, we here find practised; and that, not in solitary instances, but by whole tribes, distant from each other. Is there in the human heart a more rational or more powerful principle

than parental affection?-Yet, Dr. B. states various societies which forbid a man to love his own children, especially, and command him to interest himself, with most affection, in those which are not his descendants. Even regal power is transmitted-not from father to son, but by the nephews of the family. What could be the origin of that custom which, when a man has married a wife, forbids him to live with her, and consigns to another the enjoyment of her company? If this be wisdom, we resign it to those who can accept it under that character. The institutions of social life, as warranted by that authority which claims our obedience, are better entitled to that appellation, even on the principle of simple reason.

Lastly, we recommend these volumes to the attention of those who have undertaken the benevolent office of establishing the Christian religion in India. They will here perceive the numerous difficulties which surround their attempt. The differences of language may be surmounted: the differences of cast are stronger than the differences of language: there are other principles stronger even than the differences of cast. Those who hold that the offering of blood to the Deity is inconsistent with the purity of his nature, will, with great reluctance, accept a religion founded on the Old Testament, and so far, on rites in which blood was constantly shed. Those who affirm that to live by begging is living immediately on God; is the highest exaltation of the human character; and by this a man may become a partial incarnation of Deity, will hardly become zealous in that religion which lays it down as a principle: "If any man will not work, neither let him eat." And if there be any so profoundly ignorant of the state of things, as to wish to establish by coercion a religion which abhors any compulsion, and stops at benevolent invitation, to these we recommend the pictures incidentally drawn by Dr. B. in various parts of his work, of the bigotry and intolerance of Tippoo Saib; a mussulman, whose zeal for "the right way" induced him to blow up Hindoo temples, wherever his arms prevailed, though the towns in which they stood were destroyed at the same time; who surrounded whole towns, and circumcised, by force, every inhabitant who was not so fortunate as to escape to the woods, to avoid violation, though in the face of death by hunger; who forbad his subjects from commerce with the infidel nations on his borders, and thereby deprived them of that intercourse on which their subsistence depended; and who meditated no less than the substitution of Mahomedism for the Brahminical religion throughout the vast empire in which that pre ails.

To show this potentate in his true.character, when withdrawn from publick observation, we avail ourselves of Dr. B's description of Tippoo's private apartment in his palace at Seringapatam.

From the principal front of the palace, which served as a revenue office, and as a place from whence the Sultan occasionally showed himself to the populace, the chief entry into the private square was through a strong narrow passage, wherein were chained four tigers, which, although somewhat tame, would, in case of any disturbance become unruly. Within these was the hall in which Tippoo wrote, and into which very few persons, except Meer Saduc, were ever admitted. Immediately behind this was the bed chamber, which communicated with the hall by a door and two windows, and was shut up on every other side. The door was strongly secured on the inside, and a close iron grating defended the windows. The Sultan, lest any person should fire upon him while in bed, slept in a hammock, which was suspended from the roof by chains, in such a situation as to be invisible_through the windows. In the hammock were found a sword and a pair of loaded pistols. Vol. I. p. 72.

The only other passage from the private square was into the zenana, or women's apartments. These, Dr. B. informs us, remained perfectly ins

violate, under the usual guard of eunuchs. The expenses were defrayed by an allowance.

Dr. B. however, does justice to Tippoo's talents for war, which he describes as considerable; and expresses his conviction that he conceived himself to be acting for the good of his subjects, in his regulations, and means of enforcing them. "He certainly believed himself endowed with great qualities for the management of civil affairs; and he was at the pains of writing a book on the subject, for the instruction of all succeeding princes." He would have manifested much superiour policy, had he followed the steps of his father Hyder, who respected the prejudices of his Hindoo subjects, while he turned their abilities to his own account; who encouraged trade by protection and kindness, and never oppressed his people, though he occasionally treated his officers, who superintended them, with harshness. In short, under Hyder, many provinces contained their thousands of inhabitants, which under Tippoo could barely enumerate their hundreds. The Brahmans too, being tolerated, and even supported, by Hyder, were always ready to promote his interest; while Tippoo, by depriving them of their incomes, rendered them bitter enemies, without raising friends whose services he might substitute; for his own officers shared the spoils of the provinces so effectually among them, that, in some instances, not more than one seventh of the tribute, exacted from the famished labourer, reached the coffers of the Sultan.

We remember the period, when the power and policy of Hyder filled the British East India Company with incessant disquiet, and more than once with terrour and dread His death was viewed in the light of a deliverance; and time has shown the justness of this opinion. Had Tippoo been equal to his father in policy, or perhaps, had he seen so much of the world and of mankind, Dr. B. in all probability, would never have traversed these regions on behalf of the governour general, or under his protection.

We had occasion, some time ago, to consider the East India Company as sustaining the different characters of merchants and of sovereigns. Dr. B. speaking of the Company's pepper trade in Malabar, affords an instance in support of our remarks.

It has, he says, undergone three great changes; and by these the conduct of their servants ought to have been more regulated than in some instances would seem to have been the case. First, previous to the province having been ceded to the Company, their interest was merely mercantile. It was the duty of their servants to procure the commodity as cheap as possible, and I have no doubt that in this respect the affairs of the company were well enough managed. While the French trade was under the control of an exclusive company, this was easily conducted, it being the mutual interest of the two companies to join in reducing the price. Secondly, a great change took place in the nature of the Company's pepper trade, by their acquiring the sovereignty of the province, in 1792. Their interest as sovereigns required a total change in the principle by which they purchased pepper; and the higher the price paid by foreigners, who were the principal purchasers, the better for the Company. Mr. Brown, who then traded at Mahé as Danish resident, very judiciously recommended, that the Company should confine their trade in pepper within as small a compass as possible; and in place of endeavouring to get it at a lower rate than the market price at Mahé, that they should always give a little more for what they took; and by that means they would not only enrich the province, but increase their revenues. Measures, however, were taken directly in opposition to this sound advice; and, by means of the sovereign authority vested in their servants, the Company procured a small quantity of pepper at a rate considerably lower than the Mahé price; but by far the greater part went to that market, and at a lower price than if the Company had gone into a fair competition. A third change has now taken place. The French being expelled Mahé, the Company immediately became