-upon th e fu b je ft, it is, that i# fu tu re beneficial effe&s, m
.facilitating the adminiftration o f Ju ftice th ro u gh o u t our
A fia tic territories, and u n it in g us Hill more clofely w ith our
M u ju lm a n Subjefts, m a y r e f le a fome additional luftre on
'y o u r Adminiftration. — I h a v e th e 'h o n o u r to be, w ith the
mtmoft r e fp e a , and th e m o lt liv e ly gratitud e and efteem,
S 1 R,
Y o u r mo ft obedient,
and mo ft h um b le Servant,
CHARLES HAMILTON.
P R E L I M I N A R Y DI SCOURSE,
B Y T H E
T R A N S L A T O R .
T he diffufion of ufeful knowledge, and the eradication of prejudice,
though not among the moft. brilliant confequences o f extended
empire and commerce, are certainly not the leaft important.— T o open
and to clear the road to fcience; to provide for its reception in whatever
form it may appear, in whatever language it may be conveyed :—
thefe are advantages which in part atone for the guilt of conqueft, and in
many cafes compenfate for the evils which the acquifition of dominion
too often inflifts.
P erhaps the hiftory of the world dóes not furnilh an example o f
tiny nation to whom the opportunity of acquiring this knowledge, or
communicating thofe advantages, has been afforded in fo eminent a
degree as Great Br ita in .— T o the people of this Ifland the acceffion
of a vaft empire, in the bofom of A sia, inhabited, not by hordes of barbarians,
but by men far advanced in all the arts of civilized life,- has opened
a field o f inveftigation equally curious and inftruftive.— Such refearches
muft ever be pleafing to the fpeculative philofopher, who, unbiaffed by
the felfilh motives of intereft br ambition, delights in perufing the great
and variegated volume of society :— but to -us they come recom-
V ol. I. a mended