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who told a piteous tale, and appeared to be starving, was sure to find a protector in our camp, used, in hard times, to send their children out to beg; and, when better able to support them themselves, would pretend to discover their lost infants, and reclaim them,' pp. 32-34.

The passage of a Mahratta army over an hostile country, seems to be the greatest curse which can happen to any people where French armies are unknown. We are always glad to bring the scenery of war before the eyes of those men who sit at home with full stomachs and safe bodies, and are always ready with vote and clamour to drive their country into a state of warfare with every nation in the world.

We observed several fine villages on the Kota side of the river, situated upon level spots among the ravines which intersect the country for a mile from the bank. By the route we went, our march was protracted to nearly twenty-two miles ; the road lay over a continued plain, covered with fields of young corn, affording fine forage for the Mahrattas, who were to be seen in every direction, men, women, and children, tearing it up by the roots; while their cattle were turned loose to graze at liberty, and make the most of such an abundant harvest. We also fell in with large ricks of Kurbee, the dried stalks of Bajiru and Jooar, two inferior kinds of grain; an excellent fodder for the camels. To each of these three or four horsemen immediately attached themselves, and appropriated it to their own use: so that when our cattle went out for forage after the march, there was as much difficulty in procuring it as if we had halted near the spot for a month.' - 'The villages around the camp are all in ruins; and in some of them I have seen a few wretched villagers, sheltered under the mud walls or broken roofs, and watching over an herd of miserable half-starved cattle. They assured me that the greatest part of the peasantry of the province had been driven to Kota or Boondee, to seek shelter from the repeated ravages of different Mahratta armies; and that, of those who remained, most had perished by want and variety of misery. Their tale was truly piteous, and was accompanied with hearty curses invoked upon the whole Mahratta race, whom they justly regard as the authors of all their misery. You, my dear brother, will, I dare say, ere this, be inclined to join these poor people in detestation of a tribe, whose acts I have endeavoured to make you acquainted with throughout one whole year.

Unless we should go to Ajmeer, of which by the by there is now some prospect, I shall, with that year, close my regular communications. T To continue them would only be to go over again the same unvaried ground; to retrace the same acts of oppression and fraud; detail the same chicanery, folly, and intrigues; and to describe the same festivals and ceremonies. If I may judge of your feelings by my own, you are already heartily sick of them all; and will hail the letter that brings you the conclusion of their history, as I shall the day when I can turn my back on a people, proud and jealous as the Chinese, vain and unpolished as the Americans, and as tyrannical and perfidious as the French.' - (pp. 53. 336, 337.)

The justice of these Hindoo highwaymen seems to be as barbarous as their injustice. The prime minister himself perambulates the bazaar or market; and when a tradesman is detected selling by false weight or measure, this great officer breaks the culprit's head with a large wooden mallet kept especially for that purpose. Their mode of recovering debts is not less extraordinary. When the creditor cannot recover his money, and begins to feel a little desperate, he sits dhurna upon his debtor; that is, he squats down at the door of the tent, and becomes in a certain degree the master of it. Nobody goes in or comes out without his approbation: he neither eats himself, nor suffers his debtor to eat; and this hungry contest is carried on till the debt is paid, or till the creditor begins to think that the want of food is a greater evil than the want of money.

6

This curious mode of enforcing a demand is in universal practice among the Mahrattas; Seendhiya himself not being exempt from it. The man who sits the dhurna, goes to the house or tent of him whom he wishes to bring to terms, and remains there till the affair is settled: during which time the one under restraint is confined to his apartment, and not suffered to communicate with any persons but those whom the other may approve of. The laws by which the dhurna is regulated are as well defined and understood as those of any other custom whatever. When it is meant to be very strict, the claimant carries a number of his followers, who surround the tent, sometimes even the bed, of his adversary, and deprive him altogether of food; in which case, however, etiquette prescribes the same abstinence to himself: the strongest stomach of course carries

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the day. A custom of this kind was once so prevalent in the province and city of Benares, that Brahmuns were trained to remain a long time without food. They were then sent to the door of some rich individual, where they made a vow to remain without eating till they should obtain a certain sum of money. To preserve the life of a Brahmun is so absolutely a duty, that the money was generally paid; but never till a good struggle had taken place to ascertain whether the man was staunch or not: for money is the life and soul of all Hindoos. In this camp there are many Brahmuns, who hire themselves out to sit dhurna for those who do not like to expose themselves to so great an inconvenience.' - (pp. 42, 43.)

Amidst the villanies of this atrocious and disgusting people, we were agreeably surprised with this virtuous exception in a young Mahratta female.

'It was in one of these battalions that an interesting young girl was discovered, about a twelvemonth ago, who had served with it for two or three years as a Sipahee; in which capacity she had acquired the favour of her superiors, and the regard of all her comrades, by her quiet and inoffensive behaviour, and regular attention to the duties of her station. It was observed that she always dressed her own dinner, and ate it, and performed her ablutions, by herself: but not the slightest suspicion of her sex was entertained, till about the time I mentioned, when it was discovered by the curiosity of a young Sipahee, who followed her when she went to bathe. After this she continued to serve for some months, resolutely declining the patronage of the Baee, who proposed to receive her into her own family, as well as the offers of the Muha Raj to promote her in the corps she belonged to. The affair soon became the general subject of conversation in camp; and I having expressed a strong wish to see Juruor Sing'h, the name by which this Indian D'Eon went, one of our Sipahees, who was acquainted with her, brought her to my tent. She appeared to be about twenty-two years of age, was very fair, and, though not handsome, possessed a most interesting countenance. She spoke freely of her profession and her immediate situation: but betrayed neither the affected bashfulness nor forward boldness which such a situation was likely to have produced: and let it be recorded, to the honour of every party concerned, that from the moment when her sex was discovered, she met only with increased respect and attention from her comrades; not an individual presuming to utter a word that might insult her, or breathing a doubt that could affect her reputation.

'At length, her motive for enlisting and remaining in the service was discovered. An only brother was confined for debt at Bopal; and this interesting young creature had the courage to enrol herself as a common soldier, and afterwards persisted in exposing her person to the dangers and difficulties of a military life, with the generous idea of raising money sufficient to liberate this loved relation from confinement.' - (p. 264-266.)

These extracts will give a good idea of the sort of entertainment which this book affords. We wish the Row (when they get hold of a young man who has made notes for a book) would be less splendid in their productions; -leave out pictures, lessen margins, and put books more within the power of those who want them most, and use them best.*

* I am sorry that I did not, in the execution of my self-created office as a reviewer, take an opportunity in this, or some other military work, to descant a little upon the miseries of war; and I think this has been unaccountably neglected in a work abounding in useful essays, and ever on the watch to propagate good and wise principles. It is not that human beings can live without occasional wars, but they may live with fewer wars, and take more just views of the evils which war inflicts upon mankind. If three men were to have their legs and arms broken, and were to remain all night exposed to the inclemency of weather, the whole country would be in a state of the most dreadful agitation. Look at the wholesale death of a field of battle, ten acres covered with dead, and half dead, and dying; and the shrieks and agonies of many thousand human beings. There is more of misery inflicted upon mankind by one year of war, than by all the civil peculations and oppressions of a century. Yet it is a state into which the mass of mankind rush with the greatest avidity, hailing official murderers, in scarlet, gold, and cocks' feathers, as the greatest and most glorious of human creatures. It is the business of every wise and good man to set himself against this passion for military glory, which really seems to be the most fruitful source of human misery.

What would be said of a party of gentlemen who were to sit very peaceably conversing for half an hour, and then were to fight for another half hour, then shake hands, and at the expiration of thirty minutes fight again? Yet such has been the state of the world between 1714 and 1815, a period in which there was in England as many years of war as peace. Societies have been instituted for the preservation of peace, and for lessening the popular love of war. They deserve every encouragement. The highest praise is due to Louis Philippe for his efforts to keep Europe in peace.

MAD QUAKERS. (E. REVIEW, 1814.)

Description of the Retreat, an Institution near York, for Insane Persons of the Society of Friends. Containing an Account of its Origin and Progress, the Modes of Treatment, and a Statement of Cases. By Samuel Tuke. York, 1813.

THE Quakers always seem to succeed in any institution which they undertake. The gaol at Philadelphia will remain a lasting monument of their skill and patience; and, in the plan and conduct of this retreat for the insane, they have evinced the same wisdom and per

severance.

The present account is given us by Mr. Tuke, a respectable tea-dealer, living in York-and given in a manner which we are quite sure the most opulent and important of his customers could not excel. The long account of the subscription, at the beginning of the book, is evidently made tedious for the Quaker market; and Mr. Tuke is a little too much addicted to quoting. But, with these trifling exceptions, his book does him very great credit; - it is full of good sense and humanity, right feelings and rational views. The Retreat for insane Quakers is situated about a mile from the city of York, upon an eminence commanding the adjacent country, and in the midst of a garden and fields belonging to the institution. The great principle on which it appears to be conducted is that of kindness to the patients. It does not appear to them, because a man is mad upon one particular subject, that he is to be considered in a state of complete mental degradation, or insensible to the feelings of kindness and gratitude. When a madman does not do what he is bid to do, the shortest method, to be sure, is to knock him down; and straps and chains are the species of prohibitions which are the least frequently disregarded. But the Society

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