1 of which is declared in certain cafes to be infinite; and in all, better than offerings of holy fire ||. THE facrifices of the king are always to be ac companied with gifts of different kinds to the Brah mins, befides their legal provifion from the state. The judicial power feems to have been vested in this order; for though the king was allowed to decide caufes perfonally, as in the feudal monarchies of Europe, he was always obliged to be counselled by the Brahmins, and when not prefent, the whole judicial power was exercised by this order. THE Hindoo governments feem then to have been hierarchical, in the stricteft fenfe of the word: whether the priests pretended to receive their commands from Menu or Brigha, they were always abfolute over the people, who were as effectually ruled by them as the Romans were by Romulus when tutored by Egeria. THAT We do not now fee the Brahminical hierar chy in this plenitude of power, must be afcribed to the conqueft of the country by a people hostile to this system. 》| Menu, ch. 7. v. 81. In every thing, not relating to government, its influence feems as powerful as ever: its dictates are as abfolutely binding upon the Hindoo in his eating, drinking, ablutions, and every part of his behaviour, as the decrees of fate. In Thibet, where the Chinese government has made but few encroachments on the independence of that country, the Lama is not only a prince and king, but a deity worshipped by vaít multitudes, even beyond the limits of his territory. Ar whatever time the Sacred Books of the Hindoos were written, they contain numberlefs allufions to a state of fociety confiderably advanced in the arts of life they mention towns of eight cofs in length, or fixteen miles, a circumstance which implies a degree of population far exceeding that of the Jewish nation at any period of their history. They establish a jus gentium, or law of nations, more humane and refined than has ever been adopted by any people in the firft ftages of their union. Every man is forbidden to ftrike his foe with fharp arms concealed in wood; with arrows mifchievoufly barbed; with poisoned arrows, or with darts blazing with fire: he is forbid to ftrike his enemy when alighted from his car, when he fues for life with clofed palms, when he is afleep, or when he has loft Mention is made of officers commanding an hundred, and officers a thousand towns. loft his coat of mail *. Prifoners, it is true, were made flaves; but this was allowed in the brightest periods of the Roman history. THEIR tolerance for the vanquished in matters of religion, feems far to outdo the indulgence of paganifm itself; tho' impartial history has declared it more accommodating than the Theifm either of the Jews, Chriftians, or Mahommedans. A belief of the unity of Deity, according to Mr Hume, as it implies the falsehood of all other fyftems, leads to intolerance towards their abettors, as infultors of the majefty of the Supreme Being. Be this as it may, the Romans generally permitted the conquered the worship of their deities, and had on fome occafions the complacency to affociate them with their own. This highest condefcenfion of European conquerors is ftrictly enjoined by every Hindoo prince, who is commanded, after conquering a country, to refpe& the deities adored in it, and their virtuous priests; he is bound alfo to eftablifh the laws of the conquered nation as declared in their books †. : THIS injunction of their Scripture is not merely a fpeculative point of faith with the Hindoo, but actuates his conduct. Numbers liften with filent re fpect *The cafes mentioned are more numerous, and breathe greater humanity than is practifed at prefent by any people. Menu, chap. 7. v. 201, 202. fpect to the Chriftians and Mahommedans, when worshipping a deity to them unknown: their conduct he deems pious and commendable; and their fyftem, however good, the Hindoo is satisfied must be inferior to that perfect wisdom which breathes in his own. PECULIARITIES PECULIARITIES OF THE MUSSELMEN THEIR CHARACTER Calcutta, Jan. 1798. THE Mahommedans by whom the peninfula of Hin doftan was so long held in fubjection, are still a numerous race*, and preserve a remarkable difference in their character and manners as well as their religion. By the latter they are laid under no obligation to early marriage, and this circumstance perhaps is the caufe of that diffolute conduct with which both fexes are fo generally charged. By far the greater part of the females who live by proftitution, and in India they are very numerous, belong to the Mahommedan race. The men are, if poffible, ftill more univerfally diffolute; fo that from a premature and exceffive waste of their strength they are foon overtaken by the debility of age. Some fay the tenth part of the whole inhabitants. THEY |