Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

titude of his countrymen subsequently complimented with the title of Shah, or King) two hundred years had elapsed, and in that long interval the institutes of the venerable patriarch had acquired the form of a compact and well-understood system. Supported, perhaps improved, by a series of disinterested rulers, so greatly had it elevated the Sikhs above the common standard of Hindû societyto the mass of the population its benefits had become so conspicuous and magnificent, that when Govind called them to arms, the people instantaneously acceded, and seemed, by the enthusiasm with which they embraced his suggestions, to have long brooded over a project which, by one decisive assault, would cast down and destroy the few remaining barriers between the humblest members of the community, and the higher stations of influence and wealth. The nation assumed a military aspect and attitude, and though the superior talents of their youthful chief maintained him in the command of their armies, the determined and heroic spirit of Govind animated every individual; and the peasant forsook his plough-and the manufacturer deserted his loom-and the artizan left his art; and they waited not for arms, but rushed into the field with such weapons as their domestic occupations furnished them with. But, at this period, the Mongul power had attained its loftiest pitch; the sway of Aurungzeb stretched over the whole of northern, and vast tracts of southern India. His armies were numerous-his treasury was full, and their first attempts, though made with all the ardour of a people, conscious of the justice of their cause, and corroborated by the extraordinary abilities of their chief, were unsuccessful. The vigilant severity of Aurungzeb rendered it impossible for them to reassert their rights during the remainder of his reign. But, on the death of that great and guilty sovereign, the scales of fortune began to waver. The empire, no longer held together by the strong hand of the deceased monarch, exhibited evident tokens of decline. Again were the Sikhs beheld in arms-the resources of the Monguls were again employed against the undaunted enthusiasts and once more success attended the Muslim standards. The vindictive victors now gave loose to the reins of persecution, and the savage fury with which they were pursued, compelled the Sikhs to take refuge in the mountains and forests of the Punjaub, there to wait till called forth by some more favourable juncture. The irruption of NaVOL. III.-No. 1.

2

dir, and the extreme feebleness to which that tremendous visitation reduced the Monguls, gave free scope to the ambition and resentment of the long abused but intrepid sectaries. Rushing from their temporary retreats, they spread themselves over the desolated provinces; and the Monguls fell away from before them→→→ and the star of their fortune shone in the ascendant-and they proceeded from conquest to conquest, till the flag of their dominion waved over two-thirds of the Indian empire of the Monguls.

The establishment of the Afghaun sway, on the death of Nadir, brought the Sikhs in contact with the Dooraunee power. Ahmed Shauh was a prince of genius and vigour; and in the shock of the rival states it was the destiny of the Sikhs to succumb for a time beneath their formidable adversary. But the nation appears to have remained entire and untributary; to have retained its laws and liberties. The institutions of Nanock and Govind seem to have been fortified by additional provisions, and the civil contentions of the Afghauns render it not improbable that under the influence of the Sikhs the revolution begun by Nanock and advanced by Govind,* may dirt its victorious march eastward, and northward, and southward through the regions of Hindustaun, and extend the shadow of its wings over the enlightened and aspiring millions of that long and variously oppressed country.

*The principle of equality is the corner-stone of the Sikh constitution, as it stands at present. The change produced by Nanock limited itself to the abolition of caste. Govind was the author of the political and military revolution. He is recorded to have said " that the four tribes of Hindus, the Brahmin, Cshatrya, Vaisya, and Sudra, would, like pan (betel-leaf), chunam (lime), supari (bitter nut), and khat (terra-japoed. All who subscribed to his tenets were upon nica), become all of one colour when well chew

a level; and the Brahmin who entered his sect had no higher claims to eminence than the lowest sudra who swept his house." (Sir John Malcolm's Sketch of the Sikhs.)

"In travelling through the Siringnaghur country, our party was joined by a Sicque horseman, and being desirous of procuring his acquaintance, I studiously offered him the various attentions which men observe to those they court. But the Sicque received my advances with a fixed disdain, giving me, however, no individual cause of offence, for his deportment to the other passengers was not less contemptuous. His answer, when I asked him the name of his chief, was wholly conformable to the observations I had made of his nation. He told me (in a tone of voice, and with an expression of countenance which seemed to revolt at the idea of servitude) that he disdained an earthly superior, and acknowledged no other master than his prophet." (Foster's Journey, vol. i. p. 329).

The Afghauns* constitute the third Asiatic people, among whom we discern considerable proofs of a meliorated state of society, and a practical consciousness of the value of liberty, at least equal to that of many European nations.

'Afghaunistaun contains, within a loosely calculated circuit of two thousand miles, more or less, a population of fourteen millions.

The name and importance of the Afghauns are conspicuous in the early periods of the modern history of Hindûstaun. The territories inhabited by that brave and rising people extend in the form of an imperfect circle, the western section of which is composed of some of

* Mr. Elphinstone's "Account of Caubul" has furnished the materials for the observations in the text During the government of lord Minto, in British India, and by his direction, Mr. Elphinstone was charged with a mission to the court of Caubul. Political motives, arising from the possible invasion of India by Napoleon, and the known endeavours of the Imperial Government to effect a good understanding with the states of Western Asia, appear to have been the causes of the embassy, the preparations for which were made at Delhi with a magnificence extraordinary even in the East. Audience was given at Peshawer (the second city of Caubul.) Mr. Ephinstone's work is divided into two parts-The first and shortest, embraces the journey to and from Peshawer, beyond which city the convulsed state of the country prevented him from proceeding;-the second contains a regular, mninute, and admirably-digested account of the geography, productions, animals, &c. of Caubul; the inhabitants, their dispositions, attainments, manners, &c.; the tribes composing the population; the dependent provinces; and, lastly, the government. Five appendices are added; the first-a history of the Dooraunee monarchy; from the Ahmed Shauh to Shauh Shuja, the sovereign in possession when the English ambassador arrived at Peshawer;-the second-a narrative of a journey into Caubul by one Mr. Durie, (a native of Bengal,) written at Mr. Elphinstone's request;-the third-an account of countries bordering on the Afghaun dominions ;the fourth an extract from lieut. Macartney's geographical memoir on Caubul;—the fifth-a vocabulary of the Pushtoo language, the general idiom of Afghaunistaun, and apparently distinct from any other spoken in India. Such are the contents of Mr. Elphinstone's valuable and interesting work; but, to form an adequate idea of its great merits, the mass of information of alinost every description which it includes, the correctness and clearness of its arrangement, the sound and discriminating judgment so conspicuous throughout the volume; the masterly manner, in brief, in which the author has managed a subject at once so extensive and complex, and the exemplary modesty which renders him so anxious that his attainments shall not be overrated-to become acquainted with these combined claims to the reader's applause, is not possible without a careful perusal of the work itself.

the eastern provinces of Persia, the oriental including the conquered parts of Hindustaun, and the northern stretching over the snowy peaks of Hindû Kosh (or Caucasus) into the regions of Tartary. A line carried from the southern to the northern limits, and again to the western confines from the eastern boundaries, may be conceived as the general diameter of a circumference of two thousand miles. The ranges of Hindû Kosh proceed in irregular lines from the north through nearly the whole of this tract. The country is divided between mountain and valley, though many plains of considerable extent (those of Caubul and Peshawer are preeminently fertile and beautiful) intervene between the arms of Caucasus, and afford space and pasture to the wandering tribes. The Sind and its branches are the principal streams, but innumerable rivulets, formed by the melting of the snows in the superior cavities of Hindû Kosh, amply suffice for the purposes of irrigation in those parts of the country that are deficient in great rivers. CAUBUL, PESHAWER, Ghaznah, Candahar, and Heraut, of Peshawer be taken as the criterion of are the chief cities; and if the population that of the other towns above mentioned, we shall find that about 1-28th of the whole people of Afghaunistaun is resident in cities immemorially celebrated as seats of Asiatic politeness and science. The climate is healthy, and unsubject to the depressing and overpowering heats of the Indian heavens; but the monsoons rage with awful violence, and during the periods of their stay, the sheety rains and the raving winds transcend the wildest storms of Europe. The productions of both hemispheres abound and flourish in the generally rich soil and temperate atmosphere of Caubul.

Afghaunistaun has seen the rise in her bosom of the most powerful Muslim states. To Hindustaun she has sent forth her colonies of conquerors and kings, and but for the superior fortune of the descendants of Timour, the present shadow of an emperor might have been an Afghaun. On the west they have pushed their victorious arms into Iraun, and the expulsion of the Sefies was the work of an Afghaun mountaineer, in whose name the Khootba rewhose dynasty gave way only to that sounded in the musjids of Isfahaun-and mighty chief, who, from the humblest obscurity, burst forth into greatness and reround the brows of a hero, and sent out nown--and bound the diadem of Persia afar the tidings of his exploits, and called up the reverence of the East for the name

of NADIR. Previously, however, to the
appearance and reign of Ahmed, the Af-
ghauns, though thus powerfully interfering
in the concerns of circumjacent states,
and held to be formidable neighbours by
the potent sovereigns of Persia, Hindus-
taun, and Tartary, had not permanently
established their dominion over the regions
now comprehended within the boundaries
of Caubul. The form of society among
them favourable to the achievment of
foreign conquest, was wholly hostile to
the establishment at home of a great and
well-settled empire. The division of the
nation into tribes, between whom the
bonds of friendship and alliance were sel-
dom strong, or for any considerable time
lasting, confined the attention of the clans
and their chiefs to their own peculiar in-
terests; civil dissentions would, of course,
frequently occur between communities,
whose views and enterprises must so often
clash-and the weaker party, yielding to
the stronger, vented its resentment on, and
procured a settlement in, the territories of
its less martial neighbours. The authority
of their chiefs might depend, in some
measure, on their personal character; but
their legitimate power was confined within
very narrow limits. As the administra
tors of justice, they were the constita mer and t

to free his compatriots from the yout of
foreigners, and the reward te proer to
himself was the sovereignty of Like
try. Those glorious Wenee OL WING tu
eyes of ambition delgar to awel bes
before the vision of me care au
zled aspirant. He vor
ed mind contemplated to sens of tax
enterprise aus despes Le
li to
gacity indicated the
accomplish us prox.
them. The hatres uile by am
the Pereau wa a vz
religious terr
tested them to av
matics. TUR URVAL 1
dered the je of vor
deeds of arme i atreven
tion the app i
wed

victor

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

tional depositories of the law, and the e- of news wyppi gal dispensers of rewards and pussies w

ments. In disputes between member of ang s

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

the same community, it was pernitat,
nay, it was almost imperative upon them.
to interpose their respectable inter- www
to assuage the animosity of the outal
ing parties, and by amicable compose,
prevent the fierceness of the quarrel from
degenerating into a bitter and inerce
feud. But when any plan or enterprize
was in agitation touching the interess
of the tribe at large, and to execute which
the efforts and resources of the commun
nity would be required, the chief was in-
der the wholesome and indispensible ne
cessity of convening the members of the
clan, and taking the sense of a genera
Council on the expediency of the measure
in deliberation.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

of

[ocr errors]

Such was the domestic polity of the t ghauns till the death of Nadir Shah. The tea and to add a assassination of that extraordinary potentment. tate gave birth to an order of things can ment it 1ational siderably different. The civil wars that must the sc convulsed Persia on the demise of ner late sovereign, would not permit the candidates for the throne to attend to the seahy curity of the distant dependencies of the the empire. The khaun of the Dooraumees, and tighty : the chief of the Afghann tribes, was

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

young, brave, and ambitious. He aspired stood and re

The clans still continue to enjoy their distinct local governments and jurisprudence. The khauns are occasionally, it may be, appointed by the king-but this, when it occurs, is an affair that requires considerable delicacy; and he whom the voice of the clan pronounces to be best adapted to the office, is the person on whom it will be most prudent in the soveraign to confer it. All affairs of general importance or interest are still discussed in open Jeerga, or council, and decided by a majority. No acts of summary punishment or capricious cruelty, either by the monarch or heads of tribes, can be committed with safety. The khauns, indeed, are regarded rather as magistrates than political rulers. Literature is cultivated and encouraged; some even of the abstruser branches of science are beginning to be inquired into, and known, and the condition of the softer sex is much superior to what is observed in other parts of Asia. The recent and existing distractions of the state do not appear to have stopped, though they may have retarded the career of improvement. Works of public utility and convenience are actively proceeding Like the Sikhs, the Afghauns are rapidly ascending the steps of civilization. The present tumults will, it is probable, terminate in the election to the throne of some new Ahmed, who will colJect and consolidate the fluctuating energies of Afghaunistaun, and, with a resolved heart and a vigorous arm, give them a direction auspicious to the prosperity and grandeur of his people, and send down to posterity a name embalmed in the tears and admiration of his country.

G. F. B,

Biographical Sketch of the late Geographer, JOHN H. EDDY, of New-York.

The subject of the following memoir, died, at the house of his father, on the morning of the 22d of December, last, in the thirty-fifth year of his age. The few particulars of his life, which are here given, though drawn up by the hand of friendship, are stated with all the impartiality of truth, and it is hoped may serve to furnish to the reader some idea of the unwearied industry and extensive attainments of the deceased, though labouring under one of the most severe calamities incident to humanity. Those who were happy in a personal knowledge of the subject of this hasty sketch can best bear testimony to his integrity as a man, and to his warmth and constancy as a friend; while the manner in which he performed

his several duties, must have left an indelible impression on the hearts of those who were the peculiar objects of them.

JOHN H. EDDY was the eldest son of Thomas Eddy, Esq. of New-York, and was born in this city, in 1784. At an early age he entered upon the study of the ordinary elements of education, and equally by the ardour of his application and by his progress in knowledge, while labouring under all the disadvantages of a total deprivation of hearing, engaged the most affectionate sympathy of his friends. It was between the twelfth and thirteenth years of his age, that he had the great misfortune to lose entirely the sense of hearing, by a dangerous and protracted attack of the scarlet fever. Notwithstanding the great personal disadvantage under which he thus laboured, the powers of his mind were not suffered to lie dormant, and he improved with great earnestness every opportunity of cultivating them. To an ample knowledge of the Latin and French languages, he added that of algebra and the mathematics, all which he acquired without assistance from teachers. The intervals of time not devoted to these substantial pursuits, were occupied in reading, and few persons of his age have excelled him in the knowledge of ancient and modern history. It was his practice during the winter to rise an hour or two before day-light, and apply himself in the morning to general reading, and during the course of the day he seemed to be every moment employed in the pursuit of some favourite study.

That such ardent and constant intellectual exertions were not calculated to do good to his constitution, will not excite surprise; and the anxiety of his relatives became awakened at the symptoms of disease which he himself little regarded. In order to restore him to his former health, he was persuaded to abandon for a time his closet studies. It has often been observed, that a change of mental occupation is itself sufficient for the purposes of physical renovation. He now resolved to indulge that fondness for the works of nature, to which, at an early age, he had formed an attachment, but which he had, from various circumstances, been prevented from gratifying. That his attainments in this pleasing department of rational investigation, entitled him to high praise, cannot be denied; and the success that attended his labours in botany and mineralogy, is known to the cultivators of these branches of science.

But, while thus engaged, Mr. Eddy did not neglect those ornamental studies

which enable the possessor to take a part in elegant and polite conversation, but of which, from his peculiar situation, he was painfully deprived. His taste was improved by the perusal of the best poetical and prose authors of the present and former times. What he himself wrote he communicated in a style characterized by its perspicuity and force: and in his occasional interviews with the muses, he evidenced some of the stronger marks of genuine poetry. In a small volume of manuscript poems which he has left, there is one written on the occasion of his loss of hearing, in which he deplores, in plaintive accents, what so seriously affected. his sensibility; and in no other instance has he ever been known on that account to utter a complaint.

Geography, however, was the favourite pursuit to which Mr. Eddy was attached : it is by his acquisitions on this important subject that he is to be especially regarded. How large were his pecuniary expenditures, what sacrifices of time and of health he made in order to acquire correct geographical knowledge, how honourably he supported his pre-eminence, and how extensively was his usefulness in this study directed for the benefit of his country, are circumstances familiarly known and universally admitted. He maintained an extensive correspondence with many of the most eminent characters in England and France, as well as in different parts of the United States, on geographical topics. The several maps which he published exhibit a display of taste and science exceeding any thing of the kind that had been presented to the American public. Among the first of these was his circular map of thirty miles round New-York, which appeared in 1814. He also published, at the request of the Canal Commissioners, a map of the western part of the state of New-York, with the proposed tract of the intended canal from lake Erie to the Hudson, accompanied with an accurate profile of the levels, and with a scale showing the number of feet of each level above Hudson river and below lake Erie. Next followed, at the request of his excellency governor Clinton, the President of the Board of Canal Commissioners, a map illustrative of a communication between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic ocean, by means of lake Erie and Hudson river. On this map are laid down the North-Western Territory, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, the western part of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the western part of the state of NewYork; with a table, showing the respec

tive distances from principal places to New-Orleans, New-York, Montreal, &c. About the same time he gave to the public a map of the Niagara river, with a profile view of the country from lake Erie to lake Ontario. The materials of these different maps were derived from the best sources, and the accuracy of his illustrations could not be questioned. Mr. Eddy had, more than two years before, viz. in 1812, accompanied his father and other commissioners for the purpose of exploring the western part of the state, and of ascertaining the practicability of a canal communication between lake Erie and the Hudson.

A short time previous to his death, Mr. Eddy finished a map of the state of NewYork. This may be pronounced his best executed work: as to style, accuracy, and scientific arrangement, it may be safely said to exceed all other maps hitherto published in America. It cost him nearly four years of unremitted labour: his materials were original; he collected them with uncommon care, and incurred great expense in obtaining distinct surveys of every county in the state.*

He had also engaged in other important labours of a like nature. Governor Dickenson, of New-Jersey, and a number of gentlemen of that state, made application to Mr. Eddy to undertake a map of New-Jersey, and, with that view, fur nished him with considerable surveys, The legislature, anxious that this work should be executed by one so competent, passed a resolution, unsolicited and unknown to Mr. E. directing that he should: be supplied from the public offices of the state with such copies of surveys or records as he might suppose useful for his. purpose. He collected no small amount of information for the Jersey map.

The premature death of this useful man has also deprived the country of an American atlas, which he had been solicited to undertake by a number of enterprising individuals. Nothing perhaps would more conclusively have shown how defective and erroneous are the European maps as it respects the geography of the United States. The enterprising projectors of the atlas intended it as a national work: they have now to lament the death of him whom they deemed so abundantly qualified to take the lead in

*The writer is informed, that this valuable. map will not be lost: the engraving is stated to phia, and copies of the work will be published be already executed, by able artists in Philadelwith all convenient expedition by Messrs. James. Eastburn & Co. of New-York

« AnteriorContinuar »