terpretation of the Apocalypse to the prophecies which have been fulfilled; and remembering the maxim of former days, when book-making and publishing were not quite so common as they are at present, that a great book is a great evil, he has condensed his observations into comparatively little space. The peculiarity alluded to in the title, consists in regarding the Apocalypse as altogether a spiritual, and not a political prophecy; as relating exclusively to the progress of true religion, and not to the history of the Roman empire. This principle, the Author has adopted from the very admirable work of Archdeacon Woodhouse, to which he acknowledges his obligations, and which he has taken as his guide. Occasionally, however, he diverges from the path of his leader; as in the interpretation of the fifth trumpet, which the Archdeacon explains of the Gnostic heresy, but which the present Writer considers as applying to the Mahommedan apostacy. In assigning the limits of his expository labours to the prophecies which have been fulfilled,' Dr. Park has fixed on the pouring out of the Sixth Vial; the accomplishment of which, he thinks, is obviously taking place in the impending fate of the Ottoman empire. As the section in which this portion of the book of the Revelation is explained, is short, we shall transcribe it as a specimen of this concise Exposition,

CHAPTER XVI.

THE SIXTH VIAL.

Verse 12. And the sixth poured out his vial upon the great river. Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the East might be prepared.

13. And I saw from the mouth of the dragon, and from the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs.

14. For they are spirits of demons, working wonders, which go forth upon the kings of the whole region, to gather them together for the battle of that great day of the Almighty God.

The History extending to the East as well as the West, now intimates the downfal of the Ottoman Empire; the great barrier that prevents the dissemination of Christianity among the Eastern nations.

The nature of these three spirits may be inferred from their origin. From the dragon proceeds irreligion; from the beast, worldly ambition; from the false prophet, false religion, Mahommedism.

These will be leagued together for the support of their worldly interests, and in opposition to those of true religion; but will receive a signal overthrow.

15. Behold, I come as a thief, blessed is he who watcheth, and preserveth his garments, that he may not walk naked, and they see his shame.

16. And they gathered them together unto the place which is called in Hebrew Armageddon.

And this defeat, though foretold and looked for, will yet be more sudden than is expected.

'Whether the final conflict be spiritual, or political, or both, the event alone can determine.

The drying up of the Euphrates, (in evident allusion to the dominion established by the Euphratean horsemen under the Sixth Trumpet,) is a metaphor that appears singularly appropriate to the gradual manner in which the Ottoman empire is now dwindling away. And as the Eastern and Western Apostacy arose at the same time, so it here appears that they are destined to fall together. There can scarcely be a doubt, that the third party to the league announced in verse 13, applies to the imposture of Mahomet, and to the Turks.

T

Perhaps some profound investigator of the preceding passage, who may be more highly gifted than his brethren with clear and penetrating sight, may discover the Triumvirs of the Holy Alliance in the symbolic frogs or three unclean spirits. They are certainly leagued together for the support of their worldly interests; they are besides working wonders; and they also go forth upon the kings of the earth. And who can doubt that a signal overthrow awaits the members of a league which was formed for the oppression of mankind, and the destruction of every right and privilege which lift men above the degradations and miseries of slavery? And who will scruple to repeat his prayer, that He who sits in the heavens, and laughs at the deeply laid counsels of these rulers of the world, and holds in contempt and scorn their unhallowed projects, may soon confound their devices, and, in the utter confusion and ruin of all the measures which they oppose to freedom and religion, may open the way for the advancement of truth, and righteousness, and peace?

This concise Exposition deserves to be recommended as a useful outline of the Apocalyptic predictions and their fulfilment.

Art. V. 1. A Narrative of the Political and Military Transactions of British India under the Administration of the Marquess of Hastings, 1813 to 1818. By Henry T. Prínsep, of the Hon. East India Company's Service, Bengal. 4to. Price 21. 12s. 6d. London.

2. Considerations on the State of British India, embracing the subjects of Colonization, Missionaries, the State of the Press, the Nepaul and Mahratta Wars, the Civil Government and Indian Army. By Lieut. A. White, of the Bengal Native Infantry. 8vo. Price 12s. Edinburgh.

NDIA has of late years been the theatre of the most memorable exploits, and of the most astonishing vicissitudes of empire. The policy by which so tremendous a mass of empire has been accumulated, as England now possesses there, and the civil wisdom by which it is to be preserved, are problems in political science highly deserving of serious meditation, and they have recently called forth the most anxious inquiry. The public mind is at last fully awakened to the importance of the. subject; and the civil and military affairs of that country are no longer considered as being little more than what Milton, speaking of the disorders of the Saxon heptarchy, called, the skirmishing of kites and crows.'

The first contemplation of an empire geographically extended from Cape Comorin to the utmost natural barriers of India, the Humalachy, the sandy deserts of the Indus northward, and the impenetrable forests and mountains on its eastern side, fills the mind with an image of terrific greatness, not unlike that produced by the huge impending masses of external nature, which seem every moment ready to fall by their own magnitude. But the difficulty vanishes so soon as we examine the minute texture of our Indian government, which is one great federative constitution, where treaties stand in place of physical superiority, where influence produces all the effect of military strength, and the whole system is kept close and compact, because, either by contrivance or by accident, the various native powers think that they govern themselves, although not a shadow of political independence is left to them. Analyzed into its elements, it will be found little more than a government of opinion, carried on by means of the confidence reposed in us, by those in whom the physical strength resides, and by those chiefs and princes who, having been forced successively into our alliance, find that they reap such benefits from it, as render them unwilling to desert it.

It is obvious, that this confederacy is subject to many dangers; and it has been the necessity of successively obviating

them, and preventing their recurrence, that has compelled us, in the very teeth of acts of parliament and of the fundamental policy of the East India Company, to go on enlarging our territory, till it has arrived at the bloated and gigantic empire which it exhibits at this moment, to the awe and astonishment of mankind. Never was this political association more endangered, than by the predatory hordes which lately overran the whole central part of India, under the name of Pindarrees-a word of uncertain etymology. From the rapidity of their movements, the whole of this immense space was converted into a theatre of rapine and disorder. It became necessary, therefore, to put down the evil, which, in 1814, had arrived. at a height that threatened the dissolution of the British empire in India. They engaged in the most distant expeditions, passing the most formidable barriers of nature and of military skill with impunity and success, and baffling every attempt, however well concerted, to intercept their return. It is immaterial how the predatory hordes acquired the strength which they had attained at the period we have mentioned. It is sufficient to say, that their actual condition rendered them a distinct political interest of the day, and objects of the most vigilant and apprehensive precaution. Hyder Ali, in the fulness of his power and his animosity, scarcely required equal circumspection. The actual military force at their disposal amounted to 40,000 horse, including the Patans, an immense band, who, though better disciplined, supported themselves by bloodshed and depredation. This number would be doubled by adding the remainder of Holkar's irregular troops, who were daily deserting the service of a falling house, to engage in the more lucrative career of predatory enterprise, and the loose cavalry of Scindia and the Bhoosla, which were bound by no ties beyond those of actual entertainment, and were beuts sides in great arrears of pay. It was in Malwa and the con➡2 tiguous provinces, now officially called Central India, a region little known heretofore, and scarcely laid down in the maps, that they found a secure asylum. This country had for thirty years been exposed to unremitted anarchy and warfare, and it: was a rallying point from which they poured out their unnumbered cavalry in every direction, who carried devastation and plunder wherever they went. The situation of these provinces, nearly equi-distant from the dominions of the three Presidencies, rendered it necessary to keep up annually the most expensive system of precaution; notwithstanding which In 1808, the provinces of our allies were perpetually overrun. they entered Guzerat; in 1812, they devastated the Bengal provinces of Murzapoor and Shahabad, which for years had

been exempted from such a calamity. A principle of concert naturally grows up among those who are intent on a common object, although they may not yet be united under any single chieftain. Yet, had such a person arisen among them, they might have been modelled into the same description of force, that Timour and Zengis Khan had employed to desolate the Eastern world. They resembled the bands of Companions, that swarmed all over Europe in the fourteenth century, and only wanted a leader of superior energy. At the same time, two chiefs, military adventurers of great enterprise and activity, had attained among the Patan tribe a fearful pre-eminence. For the Patans were a regular and efficient army, who extorted contributions from the weaker states by hovering around them, and not unfrequently by overrunning their territories. Against the Pindarrees and these powers, we were forced into a constant state of preparation; and it became the more requisite, when the death of the less active of the two leaders, placed Ameer-Khan at the head of a force amounting to 30,000 horse and foot, with artillery well manned and served.

In 1814, the strength of the Pindarrees exclusively was estimated at about 33,000 horse. Such was the anomalous and undefinable force that had grown up in the heart of India. Its leading feature was hostility to all regular governments, and we were obliged to keep up a constant vigilance along the whole south-western frontier of the Bengal presidency; while for the security of the Dekhan, the subsidiary forces of the Nizam and the Peishwah were obliged annually to move to the northern frontier of their territories. But, in spite of every precaution, they were frequently penetrated by this new enemy,-a moral pest in the bosom of our states, an array of all the unsettled spirits of the empire against the well-being and repose of society. But it may elucidate the military part of the historical notice which we shall endeavour to lay before our readers, to give a rapid sketch of the political position of the several states and their disposition towards the British Government at the beginning of the year 1814.

We were connected by subsidiary alliance with five native powers; the Nizam at Hydrabad, the Peishwah at Poonah, the Gykwar in Guzerat, and the Rajahs of Mysore and Travancore. We omit all mention of the nominal power of the Nabob of Oude, a mere political pageant wholly subservient to the British Government. A subsidiary alliance is thus constituted. We stipulate to furnish a specific force to protect the country, and to maintain the political authority of the sovereign. A subsidy equivalent to the expense of the force, is furnished by the state thus protected, generally not in money, but by terri