Φιλοσοφίαν δὲ οὐ τὴν Στωικὴν λέγω, οὐδὲ τὴν Πλατωνικὴν, ἢ τὴν Ἐπικουρεῖον τε THE ECLECTIC REVIEW FOR JULY, 1845. Art. I. The History of British India, from 1805 to 1835. By Horace Hayman Wilson, M. A., F. R. S. Vol. i. Madden & Co., London. 1845. BRITISH power in India has grown up like the enchanted palace of Aladdin. The great Moguls have hardly ceased to rub their eyes with astonishment. European knowledge has proved itself a more wonder-working lamp, than that of the African magician: inasmuch as truth will be frequently found far more marvellous than fiction! But the parallel holds yet further between the fact and the fable; for, as in the favourite story alluded to, there was a window of the hall left incomplete, so in the case of our Anglo-Indian empire, the fabric never seems finished. There is always a war to begin or conclude,— an enormous robbery to avenge, or perhaps perpetrate,—some province of diamonds or indigo to set in order, or conquer. Neither directors at home nor governor-generals abroad, have been able to realise their professions of moderation, and set limits to aggrandizement. In Roman history, Adrian surrendered the acquisitions of his predecessor; but all our heroes in Hindostan have, as yet, been Trajans. At what point will the talisman of ambition or necessity cease to operate? The descendant of Timour, who reigned at Delhi in 1715, might have cast a supercilious glance on two intelligent factors from the then humble presidency of Calcutta, presenting, as they did, an offering from the English merchants-'one hundred gold |