eat conglomeration of peoples. It should also be
remembered that British statesmen in their work of legislation in India,
and in their coordination of laws, have not only had to consider the
manifold character of the different portions of the population of the
land; what is more difficult still, they have been compelled to ingratiate
themselves with the Indians by conserving, so far as possible, those
myriads of ancient laws and customs which obtain there. The laws of Manu
and of other writers of twenty-five centuries ago have been handed down by
this people through the ages and have accumulated authority and reverence
with increasing time, until today all Hindus regard them as divinely given
and as possessing irresistible claim upon them for all time. So that,
while it may be said on the one hand that the laws of India are largely
built upon western foundations, and savour of Christian principles and
modern ideas; it should also be remembered, on the other hand, that the
_dicta_ of ancient Hindu lawgivers find a large place in the legal codes
of that land.

Yea, even more than this is true. There are a host of caste rules and
customs which have no further sanction than the fact that they have become
customs, and yet which have been dignified with the authority of law. This
is of course due chiefly to the fact that most customs in India have a
religious basis and interpretation, and therefore draw to themselves that
sanctity and claim which belong to things religious. Thus, for instance,
every caste in South India has its own marriage customs. Most of these are
highly incongruous with modern ideas and rights, and most of them
absolutely disregard the rights of the wife. And yet it has been deemed
wise by the State to conserve and to give the sanction of law to these
multitudinous marriage customs which are enough in themselves to
constitute an extensive code.

Some conception of the magnitude of the work carried on by the Indian
Government may be gathered from the following description by Bishop
Thoburn:--"With a population greater than that of the five great powers of
Europe put together; with a revenue exceeding $350,000,000; with a foreign
commerce worth $768,000,000 annually; with a standing army 230,000 strong,
more than two-thirds of which are composed of native soldiers; with a
drilled police force of more than 150,000 men; with a code of laws in many
respects superior to those found on the statute books of Europ