APPENDIX.

s6r

of the globe , the formation of such extensivestates, as were established in that country whenfirst visited by Europeans, must have been awork of long time; and the members of themmust have been long accustomed to exertions ofuseful industry.

Though monarchical government was establishedin all the countries of India to which the know-ledge of the ancients extended , the sovereignswere far from possessing uncontrouled or despoticpower. No trace, indeed, is discovered there ofany assembly or public body, the members ofwhich, either in their own right, or as represen-tatives of their fellow-citizens , could interpose inenacting laws, or in superintending the executionof them. Institutions destined to assert and guardthe rights belonging to men in a social state, howfamiliar soever, the idea may be to the people ofEurope, never formed a part of the political con-stitution in any great Asiatic kingdom. It wasto different principles ..that the natives of Indiawere indebted for restrictions which limited theexercise of regal power. The rank of individualswas unalterably fixed , and the privileges of thedifferent casts were deemed inviolable. Themonarchs of India, who are all taken from thesecond of the four classes formerly described ,which is intrusted with the functions of govern-ment and exercise of war, behold among theirsubjects an order of men far superior to themselvesin dignity, and so conscious of their own pre-eminence, both in rank and in sanctity, that they

S 3