ready to rise against us. Every indication of our
desire to avoid hostilities was interpreted as a sign of weakness, and
thus became an incentive to the renewal of the struggle. Another reason
for the fresh outbreak of war was the treachery of the native princes. I
cannot say that in the matter of treaty keeping we had clean hands. The
gross deceit played on Omichund, as described by Macaulay in his Essay
on Lord Clive, stands nearly alone in our public conduct in India, but
other transactions have been unworthy of our character for high-minded
integrity. It may, however, be confidently affirmed, that looking at our
governing conduct as a whole, it presents by its faithfulness to
engagements a marked contrast to the conduct of those who had entered
into treaty with us. Many of our Indian wars would have been prevented
had there not been on their part the violation of engagements in a
manner which showed they never intended to keep them an hour longer than
they were compelled by circumstances.

If a review of the course pursued by our people in India shows how we
became the governing power, and indicates the ground on which our rule
rests, a review of the history of India for ages previous to our advent,
and of the condition in which we found it, will help us greatly in
answering the question--Has India been benefited or injured by our
having seized the sceptre?

[Sidenote: MUHAMMADAN RULE.]

For centuries Muhammadans were the rulers of India. They entered, not
to avenge wrongs done to them, but as the servants of Allah, called to
put down idolatry, and entitled to rule over the nations they subdued.
Centuries elapsed before the extension of their rule beyond the
North-West region. Gradually it extended to other parts of India. The
seventeenth century was well advanced before the greater part of
Southern India came under the rule of the Emperor of Delhi--the
Shah-un-shah, King of kings, as he was called. His suzerainty was
generally acknowledged in those lands which continued under Hindu
rulers.

As we turn over page after page of the Muhammadan rule in India, what
scenes of strife, of bloody war, of treachery, of desolated countries,
continually meet our view! No sooner did an emperor die than the
struggle commenced for the vacant throne between his many sons, brother
fighting with brother till one became the victor, and then woe to the
vanquished! The governors of Provinces, as soon as they thought they had
suffi