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TRANSMIGRATION.

This, they say, is not the appointment of man, but the decree of the Creator; and woe be to the individual who would be dissatisfied with the arrangement and would venture to disturb it. The present state of existence is not regarded as one of probation-it is one of rewards and punishments. The Bramin is happy in his present lot, but it is the fruit of some meritorious actions which he performed in a former birth; while the perpetration of some dreadful crime has consigned the Shoodra to his labour, and the Pariar to his degradation and vassalage. For a Shoodra to aspire to the rank of a Veisha, or for a Veisha to envy the caste of a Cheitra, or for a Cheitra to wish to become a Bramin would be an unpardonable crime. Fate has fixed the position of every one in the universe. So pure, so rich, so honourable and excellent is the blood which flows in the veins of the Bramin, that it is a dignity conferred upon the monarch sitting upon his throne, and surrounded by his nobles and his senators, to have the feet of the most abject and worthless of the tribe upon his head; and happy indeed is the day in which a Shoodra is permitted to drink of the water where a Bramin has bathed his feet. Let the descent of the individual be high or low, noble or contemptible, his destiny has fixed it; his future history is written upon his forehead; the decrees of Bramha are inevitable; and to the control of fate he must submit. At Bellary, I once visited a Bramin who was under sentence of death.

A BRAMIN CULPRIT.

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For a trifle of money which he knew his friend possessed, and while he entertained him as his guest, he had risen in the night and murdered him. I endeavoured to bring home the crime to his conscience; but it was of no use. "Bramha," he said, "has written it all in my forehead; it was my fate to murder my friend, and to be hanged for it; it is no concern of mine. I must suffer, it is true; but the Creator must account for it all." His destiny had given him his birthright; had allotted him his career, had exempted him from his responsibility, had made him what he was, and would make him what he would be.

On the same principle, the caste of the individual determines his trade, or his profession. Whatever his father is, that is the employment which the son must follow, to which through life he is bound to adhere, and in which it is his duty to instruct his posterity. This plan would seem, at first view, to secure the advancement of the arts and sciences, and the greater perfection of the trades and manufactures. But it is not so. They are only carried as far as could be expected, without taste and imagination, which flourish only in more congenial climes. Under such oppressive enactments, there is an end to emulation, there is a stop to all skill, ingenuity and improvement, and there is no stimulus to excel even in those branches of industry which the individual may purseu. In England and in China, the humblest peasant, may, by his learning,

his genius, his diligence and talents work his way to the greatest honours, and to the highest offices in the state; but the caste of the Hindoo forbids his attempts to rise out of the condition in which he was born; and while trade and commerce have been changing society in Europe, and are now, with the power of steam on their side, propelling it with accelerated speed, society in India has been almost stationary for two thousand years, has withstood all the storms, and changes and revolutions to which it was exposed, and will unquestionably continue the same, till the present combinations be broken to pieces, that, out of the confusion, there may arise a public order more in accordance with freedom, improvement and prosperity.

No doubt, at Calcutta, at Madras, at Bombay, and at some of the large stations in the interior, where numbers of Europeans are collected together, the natives are surmounting their former prejudices. It begins to be understood that caste has been a great barrier to improvement; the manners, the customs and habits of Europeans, and the order of society as existing among them, are producing a salutary influence; and it would only be necessary for the government to adopt a liberal line of policy, to hold out encouragement to genius, to enterprise and to industry, and to introduce into India, all the improvements which are performing such wonders. in England, to inflict a blow upon caste from which it will not speedily recover.

But the Capitals are not the country. The towns, the villages and the distant provinces are far behind; and an individual looking at Calcutta, and alleging that the leaven which is working there, is operating, in the same degree, throughout the whole empire, would commit a grievous mistake. But even there general knowledge, the success of the gospel, and new laws and European government are producing similar effects; and let the British authorities lay aside that great partiality which they have invariably shown to the prejudices, the usages, and the extravagant pretensions which prevail in Hindoo society; instead of looking at the natives with pride and hauteur, let the civil and military officers treat them with kindness and condescension; let office and rewards be conferred upon merit, and talent and service and integrity alone; instead of frowning upon the Shoodra in his hut, and scowling the outcast Pariar to a distance and compelling him to prefer his complaint in court, through the medium of another, let them understand that they are men, and that they are deserving of law and justice and right as much as the highest Bramin in the land; let a system of education, on proper principles, and suited to all classes, be established throughout the provinces, and the day must speedily come when the sons of India will vie with those of Britain in the career of civilization, and improvement. The government and all classes of Europeans have it in their power to do much, and while the progress

of knowledge and true religion must crown the triumph, education, the press, public opinion, and equitable laws, and measures of amelioration may do a vast deal to hasten and to secure it.

No system could be more the reverse of the gospel, than that of caste, as established by Bramha. According to the letter and the spirit of the Bible, it is our duty to love our neighbour as we do ourselves, to love our enemies, to do good to those who hate us, and to pray for those who despitefully use us and persecute us. While it holds up to reprobation the conduct of the priest and the Levite who, very probably on the ground of caste and their own superiority, looked upon the poor man who had fallen among thieves, and passed him by on the other side; it holds up, as an example to all, the conduct of the good Samaritan who bound up his wounds, and took charge of him. But the spirit and temper which caste generates and maintains in its votaries, are, to leave all, except their own immediate kindred, to starve and perish in their calamities, and to make them unkind and malevolent. A stranger may lie at the door, may writhe in agonies, may die, and become the prey of the jackals or the vultures, before a Hindoo would render him any assistance. To give him a cup of cold water to relieve his thirst, or to administer medicine to him in sickness would be violation of his caste, and would expose a Shoodra to the anathema of his kinsmen. Shortly after our