OBJECTS OF THE TREATISE. 9 understand even as true of himself. Every individual, as he reads, becomes Greek, Roman, Persian, and Arab; philosopher, priest, and prophet; patriot, warrior, and villain;-or he reads nothing, and learns nothing. If all history, then, though not expressly written so, is read, and ought to be read, with a view to individual education, individualising general facts and generalising individual experiences, the reader will understand us when, in inviting him to these pages, we invite him especially to imitate Baboo Harrischander; invite him to be the educated Native, of whom Baboo Harrischander was so honorable a specimen; invite him alike with the Indian peasant and member of the dull and torpid mass of population for whom Baboo Harrischander fought so bravely and manfully; and invite him also to appreciate the British Government and the British people, whom, though on certain occasions he blamed bitterly, Baboo Harrischander esteemed and admired sincerely. The treatise under these circumstances necessarily becomes unmethodical to a certain extent; but we shall attempt to give to it a systematic arrangement, leaving it to the kindness of our critics to suggest improvements for our future guidance, and divid ing it for the present into two parts, the first treating of Baboo Harrischander, and the second containing passing thoughts on the present and future of our country. But à propos of the immediate subject of our discourse, we must, to allow of a just appreciation of his merited greatness, say that he has evidently two disadvantages. In the first place, he lived with us; and every subject, it will readily be acknowledged, in order to lend a more vivid and lively interest, requires to be shaded by the twilight of remoter times. Delille, by no means a critic of ordinary powers, suggested the defect of that masterpiece of the Revolutionary times-the Henriade-by saying that "it was too near to the eye and the age"; and it has been remarked with much vehemence that Milton might, with far greater effect, have thrown his angelic warfare into a remoter perspective. We cannot with conviction say why, but so it is, that Napoleon storming the stronghold of Presburg, and Havelock surveying his straitened position within the enclosures of Lucknow, influence us with fainter emotions than Brutus musing in his tent at Philippi, or Henry bearing down upon the desperate troops of the French Charles at Agincourt. And so HARRISCHANDER'S POSITION. 11 it must be, that the man who died only a year past, leaving the effects of his patriotism and greatness as yet only half-perceived, must suffer in the interest and acknowledgment of his just merits. And secondly, it must be admitted, as we have already hinted, that he has not, unfortunately, shown himself sufficiently great, in the worldly conception of greatness, to deserve of a notice such as we would claim for him: he has not been a king or conqueror; nor even a poet, historian, or novelist-he wrote nothing in which we may "At intervals descry Gleams of the glory, streaks of flowing light, But yet, the friend of the poor, the mentor of the rich, the spokesman, the patriot, the brave heart that defied danger and opposition in the strife for settling the politics of his country, enchains our affections and sympathies in proportion as he was really little in the estimation of the world, and great in the truly philosophic sense of greatness, by rendering his life useful in one continued scene of charity, benevolence, and uprightness. Harris was born in 1824 A. D. The second son of a Koolin Brahmin, in absolute begga ry, or with just perhaps a shade or two less than what was required by professional strictness, he was confided to the fondness of a maternal uncle to be reared and educated. Of course this cost the latter nothing; because the infant was to live on coarse rice-such as required, by way of expense, only the despicable pittance of not more than about three rupees a month, and vegetables such as were got for the begging. This infant, preserved in penury and beggary, grows up in time, not, like those of his class, a meek, alms-seeking boy, but bold and impetuous, and rather of a violent and domineering disposition. He had been torn from the bosom of his parents at a very early age, and his adoptive father permitted the greatest indulgence in him, lest he should feel dissatisfied with his relations; every one near him, therefore-uncle, aunt, neighbours and all, had to yield obedience to the pet child, who thus felt himself rather encouraged "to play the little tyrant," and was not, we should suppose, unwilling to try the character on occasions. This bold, impetuous child grew in time into a boy in digoji, and his education was then to be considered. Fortunately, this was even cheaper than his men HARRIS IN EARLY LIFE. 13 dicant living; for it cost the beggar father absolutely nothing. He was installed as a charity-boy of the Bhowaneepore Union School, an insignificant village seminary, which subsisted on the philanthropy of a few benevolent officials. Here his character changed; his impetuosity still remained, but his sense of the moral dignity of man increased. He devoted his attention and energies to the cultivation of his faculties, and studied with the facility of a precocious boy, mastering every subject of his curriculum to the extent of his tutors' capacity to teach, and displaying a spirit thorough-going through every task; sifting, instead of passively receiving-a baneful characteristic, only too general among us-everything that came to his mind right and left, and suggesting difficulties and cross-questionings so awkward, that one of his Native teachers, it is said, always stood in dread of the shrewd-minded pupil. But the pupil who could take in all in so comprehensive a grasp of the mind as to master his varied studies, whose progress attracted the regard and attention of the head European Master, and whose shrewdness and intelligence confounded the Native tutor, and often put him to the blush by the correct |