CHAPTER XL.
"Rich in the gems of India's gaudy zone, And plunder piled from kingdoms not their own, Degenerate trade! thy minions could despise Thy heart-born anguish of a thousand cries: Could lock, with impious hands, their teeming store, While famish'd nations died along the shore; Could mock the groans of fellow-men, and bear The curse of kingdoms, peopled with despair; Could stamp disgrace on man's polluted name, And barter with their gold eternal shame." CAMPBELL.
Gold!--gold! for thee, what will man not attempt ?--for thee, to what degradation will he not submit ?--for thee, what will he not risk in this world, or prospectively in the next?
Industry is rewarded by thee; enterprise is supported by thee; crime is cherished, and heaven itself is bartered for thee, thou powerful auxiliary of the devil! One tempter was sufficient for the fall of man; but thou wert added, that he ne'er might rise again.
Survey the empire of India; calculate the millions of acres, the billions with which it is peopled, and then pause while you ask yourself the question--How is it that a company of merchants claim it as their own?
By what means did it come into their possession?
Honestly, they will reply.

Honestly! you went there as suppliants; you were received with kindness and hospitality, and your request was granted, by which you obtained a footing on the soil.

Now you are lords of countless acres, masters of millions, who live or perish as you will; receivers of enormous tribute.

Why, how is this?
Honestly, again you say; by treaty, by surrender, by taking from those who would have destroyed us the means of doing injury.

Honestly! say it again, that Heaven may register, and hell may chuckle at your barefaced, impudent assertion.
No! by every breach of faith which could disgrace an infidel; by every act of cruelty which could disgrace our nature; by extortion, by rapine, by injustice, by mockery of all laws, or human or divine.