is unpopular in the country, and the Frenchmen, by whom the regular troops are officered, are viewed with a jealous eye by the Seik Sirdars, whom they have supplanted in posts of military authority. The whole of the improvements in the administration, both military and civil, are, in fine, hitherto regarded by the great body of the Seiks as at best but hazardous innovations and it would require the hand and head of a vigorous and talented successor to carry out to the full extent the system which Runjeet Singh has introduced. But his only legitimate son, Kurruck Singh, so far from possessing the qualifications which would enable him to grasp the sceptre of his father, is "almost imbecile, illiterate, and inanimate," "takes no share in politics, and conciliates no party.' There is, however, an adopted son, Shere Singh, now governor of Cashmere, whose frank and martial character, and unbounded generosity, have given him great popularity among the soldiery, of which he will doubtless endeavour to avail himself on the death of the Raja, in order to set aside the legitimate son, and seize the kingdom for himself. But this will scarcely be effected without a civil war; and in the confusion thus produced, it may naturally be expected that the numerous partizans of the ancien régime will make an effort to oust both the aspirants to monarchy, and restore the old constitution in Church and State. What the result of the struggle may be, cannot of course be foreseen; but it is the opinion of Burnes, the latest and most accurate traveller who has visited these regions, that, "If Shere Singh does not secure a supremacy, this kingdom will probably relapse into its former state of anarchy and small republics," or "be subjected by some neighbouring power." The accession of the Punjab to our own territories, in which all past experience demonstrates that such a state of things must inevitably terminate, would be an acquisition in every point of view most invaluable to the security of British power. Its numerous rivers, and the unrivalled fecundity of the soil fertilized by their waters, have caused the Punjab to be frequently denominated the Netherlands of India; and the pertinacity with which the successive lines of defence, afford.

ed by these rivers, were defended by the natives, in early ages against Alexander, and in later times against the incursions of the early Moslem conquerors, has given the country an additional feature of resemblance to that battle field of Europe. The extension of the British frontier to the Indus, would give our territory a well defined and defensible boundary, with a series of positions in its rear, which, even if the Indus were crossed by an invading army, would require to be forced in detail; at present, there is not a single fortress, not a river or a mountain, between Delhi and our frontier-station of Loodiana, which could check an invader's progress after crossing the Suttege. Besides the natural advantages to be derived from the possession of the country, the Seiks, naturally martial, and unencumbered by the privileges of caste, &c., which fetter the Hindoo population, would furnish an inexhaustible supply of hardy soldiers to fill the ranks of our native armies; the abundant and regular pay, and the care with which the comforts of the soldiery are provided for, would render our service more popular than that of the disciplined troops of the present Raja, where the pay is often in arrear, and the discipline does not extend beyond the parade ground. Runjeet himself, indeed, once shrewdly remarked to an English visitant at Lahore, that a regular army did not suit the habits of an Eastern prince, as it could not be regularly paid; and some of the Seik officers, at the interview between the Raja and Lord William Bentinck, expressed great astonishment at being told, in answer to an inquiry whether the English troops often clamoured for their pay, that such conduct would be considered mutinous, and visited with severe punishment.

But whatever may be the future destinies of the Punjab, it is fortunate that the shock of the impending war must fall on its soil, in case of a temporary reverse, rather than on any of the districts under the sway of the British. In removing the seat of the conflict to a distance from our territories, the authorities have, beyond all controversy, acted wisely. It is a favourite notion in England, that our equitable institutions and impartial administration of justice, with the security of life and property thereby

afforded, as contrasted with the alternate anarchy and despotic tyranny previously prevailing, have made our rule so popular with the bulk of our Indian subjects, as to ensure their adherence in the event of a foreign invasion; but this is well known to be a mere delusion by those who are practically acquainted with the country. It may be true that the native merchants of Calcutta, and the cultivators of Hindostan Proper, feel some degree of gratitude and attachment to a government under which they are exempt from the various forms of oppression and extortion still exercised in Oude and other semi-independent states; but even among these classes considerable distrust and discontent has lately been excited by the vexatious inquiries instituted as to the tenure of their lands; and at any time, or under any ruler, any thing like European feelings of patriotism and loyalty are utterly out of the question. But in the northern and north-western provinces, on which the storm of invavasion would first burst, the case is widely different.

The warlike and turbulent tribes of Rajpootana, forming the military caste of the Hindoo nation, foiled all the efforts of the Emperors of Delhi to complete their subjugation. Even now their principal sovereignties acknowledge only a slight and reluctant dependence on the British power, and would rise against it on the first appearance of a foreign standard on the Indus. During the siege of Herat they openly expressed their satisfaction at the prospect of a change of masters; and it is even strongly suspected that secret agents from several Rajpoot states communicated with the Russian envoy in the camp of Mohammed Shah. The Patans, or descendants of the Moslem conquerors, of whom thousands are scattered over the country, having no profession but arms, and prevented by pride and prejudices from entering our military service, loathe us both as strangers and infidels, whose presence and dominion, in the land where they so long reigned supreme, is a perpetual stigma both on their religion and their prowess. The Mahrattas would eagerly seize the opportunity to avenge their humiliation; and the numerous predatory tribes of central India would soon swell the array of a native insurrec

tion against that power whose rigid surveillance and omnipresent arms have supplanted

-"the good old rule, the simple plan, That those should take who have the power,

And those should keep who can." In short, the first footing gained by a Russian or foreign army in India would be the signal for the instant realization of the state of things predicted thirteen years ago, in the event of Lord Combermere's failing before Bhurtpore, by a great and good man, whose published fragments, notwithstanding a few inaccuracies, afford almost the only clear and practical view extant of our Indian possessions, the late Bishop Reginald Heber:"Should he fail, it is unhappily but too true that all northern and western India, every man who owns a sword, and can buy or steal a horse, from the Suttege to the Nerbudda, will be up against us, less from disliking us than in the hope of booty." At the moment when this was written, the mob were shouting in the streets of Delhi, and before the Residency," the rule of Company is over!" and plunderings on a small scale had already commenced, in anticipation of a second victory to be gained by the defenders of the Jut capital, already triumphant over Lord Lake. The annals of the Pindarry war show how easily a marauding force, held together solely by the hope of spoil, is collected in India. The famous freebooting leader, Ameer Khan (lately dead), on being asked how he contrived to keep together the various tribes and religions found in the ranks of his motley followers, said that he always found the talismanic gathering-word Loot (plunder), a sufficient bond of union in any part of India; and in those devastating hordes of cavalry, the Cossacks and Bashkirs would find a similarity not only in habits and pursuits, but even in name, the term Cosak being in common use throughout the north of India to indicate a predatory horseman. An outbreak of all the independent tribes, and of the turbulent spirits within the British territories, would be the immediate consequence of the appearance of an invader; and even if not a single foreign soldier survived to recross the Suttege, a second Pindarry war, with years of bloodshed and suf