Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/439

 OF THE ARCHIPELAGO* 535 and civilizatioij, — at a moment when religious bigotry was at its height, — ^when the manners were rude and ferocious, — and when the progress of civilization had gone Jar enough to give the Europeans 3uch a superiority in arts and arms as to make them despise their feeble enemies, with- out going so Jar as to inspire them with the huma- nity or generosity to use that superiority with jus- tice or moderation. In our age, the cruelty and ferocity of the soldier is moderated and restrained towards an enemy by the humanity and genero- sity of the officer, In the periods to which I al- lude, the vulgar passion of revenge pervaded every rank ; and we discover the leader and the soldier actuated alike by them in their intercourse with the Indians. In regard to religion, the Europeans of those times hated all who differed from them, and those of an opposite worship they considered as not entitled to the common benefits of humanity. As the immediate and avowed object of their encroachments was not glory or ambition, but the mean and sordid vice of avarice, we feel less sympathy for their crimes than for those of less interested conquerors and tyrants. At the same time, it ought, perhaps, to be considered, that the vices and crimes of the European conquerors of India and America ap- pear to us in colours particularly odious, chiefly, because the art of printing has furnished us with ample records of their transactions, — a disadvan-