one if natives of Britain, wholly unacquainted with the
laws and customs of the people, were permitted to settle
indiscriminately in India. While the wisdom of this regulation at that
time is not impugned, however, it may not be improper to inquire
whether at the present time a permission to hold landed property, to be
granted by Government to British subjects in India, according to their
own discretion, might not be of the highest benefit to the country, and
in some degree advantageous to the Government itself.

"The objections which have been urged against any measure of this
nature are chiefly that the indiscriminate admission of Europeans into
the country might tend to alienate the minds of the inhabitants from
Britain, or possibly lead to its disruption from Britain in a way
similar to that of America. Respecting this latter circumstance, it is
certain that, in the common course of events, a greater evil could
scarcely befall India. On the continuance of her connection with
Britain is suspended her every hope relative to improvement, security,
and happiness. The moment India falls again under the dominion of any
one or any number of native princes, all hope of mental improvement, or
even of security for person or property, will at once vanish. Nothing
could be then expected but scenes of rapine, plunder, bloodshed, and
violence, till its inhabitants were sealed over to irremediable
wretchedness, without the most distant ray of hope respecting the
future. And were it severed from Britain in any other way, the reverse
felt in India would be unspeakably great. At present all the learning,
the intelligence, the probity, the philanthropy, the weight of
character existing in Britain, are brought to bear on India. There is
scarcely an individual sustaining a part in the administration of
affairs who does not feel the weight of that tribunal formed by the
suffrages of the wise and the good in Britain, though he be stationed
in the remotest parts of India. Through the medium of a free press the
wisdom, probity, and philanthropy which pervade Britain exercise an
almost unbounded sway over every part of India, to the incalculable
advantage of its inhabitants; constituting a triumph of virtue and
wisdom thus unknown to the ancients, and which will increase in its
effects in exact proportion to the increase in Britain of justice,
generosity, and love to mankind. Let India, however, be severed from
Britain, and the wei