Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/15

Rh in the emperor's service, and the most dangerous enemies of the throne when in arms against it. THE arts which furnish the conveniences of life have been carried by the Indians to a pitch far beyond what is necessary to supply the wants of a climate which knows so few. At the same time no ideas of taste or fine design have existed among them and we seek in vain for elegance in the magnificence of the richest empire of the globe. THEIR knowledge of mechanical powers is so very confined, that we are left to admire, without being able to account for, the manner in which they have erected their capital Pagodas. It does not appear that they had ever made a bridge of arches over any of their rivers, before the Mahomedans came amongst them. IT is to the suppleness with which the whole frame of an Indian is endowed, and which is still more remarkable in the configuration of his hand, that we are indebted for the exquisite perfection of their manufactures of linnen. The same instruments which an Indian employs to make a piece of cambric, would, under the rigid fingers of an European, scarcely produce a piece of canvass. HIS religion forbids the Indian to quit his own shores: he wants nothing from abroad: he is so far from being sollicitous to convert the stranger to his own opinions, or from wishing him to assimilate with the nation, that if a foreigner were to sollicit the privilege of worshipping Vistnou, his proposal would be received with the utmost contempt.

NOTHING seems to have been wanting to the happiness of this nation, but that others should have looked on them with the same indifference with which they regard the rest of the world. But not content with the presents which nature has showered on their climate, they have made improvements when they felt no necessities. Thy have cultivated the various and valuable productions of their .