sation of a separate, efficient, and economical government, the whole country of the five rivers has become a source of strength to the government of India. The readiness with which Sikh volunteers were formed, from Ferozepore to Peshawur, during the recent terrible revolt of the Bengal sepoys, and the efficiency with which the old soldiers of the maharajah served in our ranks, impose the conviction that, notwithstanding the impracticable nature of Brahminism and Mohammedanism, all India may in time be governed as well as the Punjaub, and made even more productive of advantage to its own people as well as to its rulers. As already remarked, the great revolt of the sepoys seems providentially to hasten and facilitate such results. So long as a native army constituted as was that of Bengal, and two other native armies so far similarly constituted as those of Bombay and Madras, dictated to the government, or were as much a source of apprehension as power, it was impossible to carry out those improvements of which India is susceptible, and which the British people desire. Even in the Punjaub it was the Bengal army that created our only danger. Should the armies of Bombay and Madras be permitted to remain as they are, or a Bengal army similar in any great degree to the former, be re-constructed, the perils which have so long hung over English rule in India will still impend. Present events, however, have determined the future for us, and the military and civil régime will henceforth guarantee the solidity of our dominions, its more thorough usefulness, and its greater honour and renown. The words of Sir Henry Russell, written in 1842, are strikingly appropriate to such considerations:-"Our tenure of India must, under all circumstances, be a military one. If we do not hold it by the exercise of our arms, at least we do by the impression of them. If ever we are thought to have lost our military supremacy, I am afraid no other will remain to us; by our army we must either stand or fall. The most fearful of all disasters that we can dread, therefore, is disaffection among our native troops. When it does occur, and occur it will, unless it be preceded and anticipated by some other, it will be the work of some one bold, able man of themselves, who obtains influence among them. Such a person has never yet appeared, it is true, but it would be a delusion for us to assume that no such person will appear. The natives of India are not an unlikely stock for such a shoot to spring from, nor is the mass ill-suited to the rising of such a leaven. The event, if ever it do come, will be abrupt. It will be an explosion. It will give no warning, but will be upon us before there is time to arrest it. The mischief will have been done before its approach has been discovered. It is only by being foreseen that such a danger can be averted. . . . . The more busily the troops are employed, the more they may be relied upon. In our own territory, as well as in the territory of our allies, we must be provided against every emergency. Forces equipped for rapid movement and effective service must be maintained within reach of each other. No point on our border, no quarter of our territory, must be suffered to feel itself at liberty. No incursion will be attempted from abroad, no rising will be adventured at home, if it is not encouraged by the appearance of impunity. Even if these preparations should not be required to repel attack or suppress insurrection, the very appearance of them will serve the purpose of preventing it." The recent revolt fulfilled the predictions of Sir Henry, except in the particular of a man of eminent military parts arising among the sepoys, which, however, he regarded as a possible or not very improbable event rather than one likely. The danger he depicted as existing in 1842 will exist in 1862, or at any other time, if we continue the old military system of absolute confidence in the sepoy; the preventive care, pointed out in the above quotation as essential, must be the policy of our future rule. The explosion has occurred, and the occasion is furnished not only of testing such predictions, but of profiting by such counsels. If we do take up the government of India with a resolute and just hand, the day will not be so distant as some imagine when over her vast area rich cities shall flourish; fertile fields bloom with the beauty and luxuriance of her glorious clime; peace smile within her borders over many millions of contented people; surrounding nations look upon our power as a beauty and a glory; and the grandeur of empire appear as the consequence and accompaniment not merely of our heroism or our skill, but of our virtue. Where the blood of English victims has left its stain the sanctuaries of English piety shall rear their imposing structures; and where

the groan of the murdered Englishwoman cried aloud to Heaven, the prayer and the psalmody of native worship shall be heard. It is the genius of truth and justice to propagate themselves. Every righteous act in legislature, or voluntary benevolence performed by a people, begets its like, and virtue increases and multiplies, spreading its offspring all around; as some prolific eastern tree, not only graces by its beauty the spot from which it springs, but scatters the seeds of its productive life around it in ever-multiplying energy within the limits adapted to its condition.

The study of the History of India by the British people is conducive to the happy results we contemplate. There is no age of the progress and life of India that is not interesting and instructive. In the far mythic past we learn how the infancy of an oriental people was nursed, and how that nurture affected its future growth. From the remotest antiquity to the conquests of Alexander, from the marvellous achievements of that conqueror until Mohammedan invaders overran those realms, there is in the very sameness of Indian life, and the monotony of Indian story, a lesson of interest and practical utility. The genius of the people through a long period, or series of periods, is so indicated as to facilitate the study of their character in all subsequent times to the present hour. The Mohammedan era of India opens up a new view of the existence of her people. Even then she offers a peculiar aspect in the very high places of her Mussulman conquerors. Mohammedans in India, while possessing the common characteristics of the followers of the Prophet, so adapted themselves to Hindoo custom, and so imbibed the Hindoo spirit, that they assumed a peculiar character, in which they differ from all other Mohammedan nations. In the development of this fact there are also historic lessons of value bearing upon the present.

The story of English power and progress in India, and of the wars waged with Persia, China, and other contiguous countries, is probably the most romantic and curious ever unfolded. What deeds of heroism! what unforeseen and unexpected conquests! what striking and singular providences! over what variety and extent of realm the flag of Britain has been unfurled through what remote glens, and passes, and defiles, her sound of bugle and tap of drum have echoed! on what historic, and yet far-off, fields and mountains the sheen of her bayonets has gleamed in the blazing light of the Eastern sun! even when progressing only by her commerce and her laws, and the reverberation of her cannon ceased among the hills and valleys of the vanquished, how largely she has entered into what Sir Archibald Alison has designated the everlasting war between East and West! how the opinions and feeling of Britain have percolated the moral soil of Asia, to spring up again in renewing and fertilising streams! The people of England must become better acquainted with all this if they will impress their own image upon the Eastern world, and leave it for posterity to recognise. They must study these records of their own fame, as well as of earlier times, if they perform the still nobler task of impressing the image of their God and Saviour upon the oriental heart. If we rise to the greatness of our opportunities and apparent destinies, we need have no fears for our work or for ourselves.

The foregoing Introduction was written soon after the suppression of the Mutiny and the abolition of the political control of the East India Company. Since that period the develop ment of our Empire in the East has made great and rapid strides, with which it is of vital importance that all who make any pretensions to a knowledge of Indian affairs should become acquainted. In our third volume, therefore, we have endeavoured to give a concise and attractive account of the progress of events (including the visits of their Royal Highnesses the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales and the proclamation of her Majesty as Empress), as well as the development of the resources and the moral and religious advancement of India to the close of the year 1878.