English
Such arrogatit pretensions Time always confutes j and the vain, though laudable, artifice, by which the Athenian legislator attempted to secure perpetual obedience to his laws, has been frustrated, not only by the ficklj^ disposition of his countrymen, but by the revolution of Time, who has laid in ruins Athens ' herself, and rendered her polity, her wisdom^ and . her eloquence merely themes of curious speculation, or subjects for declamatory praise. To the causes already mentioned, arising from their religious and civil institutions, which operate towards the mental depression of the Hindoos, may be added another, which contributes to increase their natural inaftivity. This may be found in the mortifying and melancholy prospeft, which their chronological scheme gives, of the future condition of the human race. It is sup- posed by the Brahmins, that Man is in a progres- sive state of mental degeneracy, as well as of diminution of bodily stature, and bodily strength. That happy aera has long since rolled away, when the life 6f man was extended to myriads 236 of years ; when peace and innocence resided on the earth 5 when the mind of man could compre- hend every material objeft, and every moral truth'; and when his corporeal strength could remove *mountains.- In the present degraded condition of man, nothing of this kind is; to be expe£ied, or hoped. But the time will arrive, when even the present degeneracy of the world shall becpme greater: iwhen every species of depraivity shall more and more abound t^; and when, together with the decay of his inteliefiiual powers, the stature of man shall be so lessened, ■ that he shall not be able, by his natural strength, to pluck the smallest plant from the earth. , It may easily, be perceived, that a prospeft, thus gloomy, must powerfully operate on minds easily terrified by religious impressions : and that it must afford every encouragement to thaj: love of indolence, which invariably; adheres to the Hindoo charafter, To be able to attain no hi,ghef eminence than the feeble consolation of being the first among a race which is continually" growing worse ; to feel a convi£tion, that the highest exertions- will be insufficient to prevent this deterioration of posterity ; to refleft, that each returning day brings with it a fresh accession to the sum of human corruption and of human 237 misery ; -while sucli a convifilion must, on tlie one hand,' inspire a hatred of existence in the present state, it must also produce that disinclination to exertion, which is, of itself, sufficient to render life insupportable. * These then, are some of the primary causes which necessarily paralize the intellea, and con- sequently 'depress the charafiter. These causes are not remote and contingent ; they are immedi- ate and irresistible. These articles of belief, which have been specified are inseparably incor- porated'with the religious system of the Brahmins, and indeed form its substance. But it yet remains to shew, that these causes have really produced their correspondent efFefts : that they have afliually forwarded the mental subjugation of the inhabitants of Hindobs'tan, In the first place, their tdtal abstinence from animal food, and their veneration for some of the most noxious parts of the animal creation, have, in their general efFefts, proved strong impe- diraerits to agricultural improvement, and, in many instances, have aggravated, if- not caused, the miseries of famine. 233 Their dread of shedding human blood, has prevented them from studying the anatomy of the human frame, and from applying this science to the purposes of medicine. Their total abhor- rence from maritime voyages, arising from religi- ous prohibition, has prevented them from enjoying a general intercourse with distant parts of the world, either for purposes of commerce, or for the gratification of useful curiosity; and they have seldom seen the face of a stranger, btit to recog- nize in him an enemy. In short, there is scarcely an art which embellishes life, or a science which strengthens the faculties, which is not, in some manner, brought under the domination of their superstition, and is not either prohibited, or re- strained, or controlled,, by their religious, creed. If, in addition to the arguments, which have: been already urged, to prove the inseparable connexion between mental ignorance and moral degradation, and the powerful influence of i;ellgioii on the removal of both, any exemplification should be thought necessary; this may be fairly instanced, in the superiority of Europe over Asia^ a superiopty acquired, and retained, , by intellec- tual strength :, and this intelkftual pre-eminence, arising from the profession of a religion favourable tp the progress of knowledge. And, if there be 239 any truth in the popular apophthegm, that " know- ledge is power," its propriety and its justice will here be forcibly asserted. That a diversity formerly subsisted, in the manners of the inhabitants of these two different parts of the world, the voice of history abundantly testifies. It is well known tojhave been the chief wish of Alexander, among his other vast proje£ts, to reconcile this remarkable dissimilarity. After his death, there was found among his tablets or commentaries, a design, to build several new cities, some in Asia,' aiid some in Europe ; to people those in Asia with Europeans, and those in Europe with Asiatics : that by intgr-marriages, and by the constant interchange of the common offices of social life, the inhabitants of these two great continents might be gradually moulded into a similarity of sentiment, and become attached to each other, by mutual affection. Biit, whatever this diversity might have once been, it was not such as we find at present. The rich and powerful empires of the Asiatic conti^ nent, might once have disputed, with the gi;eatest kingdoms of the western world, pre-eminence, either in science, or in martial prowess, or in political wisdomi There was aothiog of that 240 complete subjeftion on the one hand j and of that unqualified superiority on the other, which is now felt and acknowledged. The boast of the Athenian poet* that Asia was formed to be the hand-maid of Europe, was far distant from sober truth, at the period when it was uttered. It was not true, when the Indian monarch, gigantic in mind as well as in stature, defended with noble intrepidity, his territories, against the insatiable ambition of Alexander ; and preserved his courage undaunted, both in defeat and in captivity. It was not true, at a subsequent sera, when the whole vvestern world was torn by feuds and religious dissentions, and when the followers of Mohammed brought their proud independance, and their romantic chivalry into Spain, and estab- lished the most absolute authority, from the con- fines of Tartary and India, to the shores of the Atlantic ocean. It was not true, at a still later period, when, by the arms of the Mogul dynasty, the globe itself was shaken from China to Poland, and the Ottoman power became the scourge and the terror of Europe. . But it has been reserved to these times, to see this boast completely verified. It has been reserv- ed to these times, to see the haughty potentates of the East, with the countless myriads under Ml their dominion, acknowledging the superiority and yielding to ths sway of the natiotis of the western world : tacitly admitting the excellence of their civil institutions, and of their religious faith. This 'superiority began to be felt and acknow- ledged, when the pure doftrirtes of the Christian faith were separated from the additions of human craft, or human folly : when the eyes of mankind were, at IShgth, opened to the errors and super- stitions 6f the Romish Church, by vv-hich they had been so long enslaved ; and religion and science re-appeared ' together, to bless and to eftlighten the World. It was then, that the be- nign influence of the genius of the Gbspel, was sensibly felt; and if Asia be hovv indeed the handmaid of Europe, Europe has attained do- minion, by c6nquerlng lindei: the banner of the cross. The elegant and rational Jortin, vvith a warmth which the subje'ft justifies, and which, if the professors of Christianity have any cause for glofy, ot if Christianity were capable of inspiring ostentatious vanity, might be enlarged on with greater fofce, and emblazoned with greater eloquence — has enumerated many of those advantages, for which the vvorld is indebted to the christian Religiori; arid which have, in more 242 senses than one, proved the ;assertion of its divine author to be true, " I am the light of the world." In the same spirit, and with the same success* may we apply his observation to the subjeQ: which has now been under contemplation, the superiority of the European to the Asiatic continent. ; We may boldly ask, by whom was the design first formed and attempted, of encountering thtf fury of distapt seas, when , navigation w^s yet in its infancy, with the laudable desire of rescuing the commerce of the eastern world, frprn the despotic influence of Mphammedism? — by Christ- ians. By whom was this influence at length subdued? and by whom were the riches of Asia, diverted from the Persian Gulph, to the shorjes of the Adriatic and the Mediterranean ? — by Christ- ians. In spite of the exaggerated aspersions of prejudice, of ignorance, or of party, on the Europe- an charafiler in the East, we may again confidently ask, where in.