ENGLAND AND INDIA
SIR,—The passage which follows is from the " Private Journal of the Marquess of Hastings," Governor-General of India from 1813 to 1822. The date of the entry is May 17th, 1818:
"A time, not very far remote, will arrive when England will, on sound principles of policy, wish to relinquish the domination which she has gradually, and unintentionally, assumed over this country, and from which she cannot, at present, recede. In that hour it would be the proudest boast, and most delightful reflection, that she had used her sovereignty towards enlightening her temporary subjects so as to 'enable the native communities to walk alone in the paths of justice, and to maintain, with probity, towards their benefact- ness that commercial intercourse in which we should then fmd a solid interest."
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