W. Crawshay, Esq. Here the water, diverted from its original course, is made to minister its powerful aid in turning immense water wheels, which lift ponderous forge hammers, and give motion to the many rollers by which the plates are wrought, and attenuated to the substance of a sheet of paper. Yonder is a new church, always a welcome object to the pious eye, and especially so when we know that a real man of God is the minister, as is the case here. How blest may be the ministry of such a clergyman, in such a place and neighbourhood! May a rich harvest of converted souls be the reward of his arduous labours; and each returning Sabbath as those solemn and important petitions ascend from his lips-"That it may please thee to give us true repentance, to forgive us all our sins, negligences, and ignorances, and to endue us with the grace of thy Holy Spirit, to amend our lives according to thy word"-may these precious blessings, sought faithfully, descend effectually into the hearts of many to their everlasting salvation "These temples of his grace, Now we pass large iron works, now gain a view of Newbridge, and its singularly constructed stone bridge, of one hundred and forty feet span, across the river Taff; the work of a self-taught mechanic. Now we stop at the station. Here are a number of trucks heavily laden with railroad iron, destined most probably to some foreign land. Again we start, pass over a beautifully and very substantially-constructed stone bridge: pass coal works: at a short distance, on the hill-side, at perhaps more than a hundred feet above our level, where one would suppose a goat would scarcely find footing, we see a train of coal waggons passing, drawn by a locomotive engine: now it stops at the top of an incline, down which its load will soon pass at a more sober pace. Now we catch many pleasing glimpses of strikingly pretty scenes; soon we enter upon an inclined plane of half a mile in length, up which we are drawn by a stationary engine at the top; the down train, which always meets the up train here, acting as a counterpoise, being attached to the other end of the iron-wire rope. Arrived at the top, we find a locomotive engine, one could almost fancy anxiously waiting to convey us onward to our destination. We are again moving, pass through a second tunnel, and wing our way with increased speed. We again renew our intimacy with our old and pleasing friend, the Taff, pursuing its devious and interesting course, in places many feet almost immediately below us; but with which one is sometimes afraid of becoming too intimate, owing to the sudden turns in the rail, caused by its windings. In some places, the railroad is cut along the steep side of the valley, where we have the roots of the trees level with our heads on one side of the carriages, and, on the other, the topmost branches of other trees are waving close to us; and immediately below, the river rushes with wild impetuosity amongst large pieces of rock and stones which have rolled down to its bed. Many sweet spots unfold themselves to our view as we pass rapidly along: scenes of quickly changing and varied beauties, shewn to us by the sudden curves of the rail, which greatly add to the interest and pleasantness of the trip. Soon we see a large volume of smoke: this is from the very extensive iron works at and in the neighbourhood of Merthyr. Here the vale of Taff widens, and gives a more extensive view, bounded by hills, of which it may be truly said, "whose stones are iron;" they are literally composed of valuable mineral treasure. Now we pass very expensively and very tastefully constructed iron works-"The Plymouth Works." The smoke, fires, red-hot metal in course of working, which we notice, give one an idea of a business of great magnitude being carried on here. And now we gain sight of Merthyr, the Church, Cyfarthfa Castle, and iron works belonging to W. Crawshay, Esq. Here are immense cinder heaps, I think I may say, without exaggeration, amounting to many millions of tons, and a vast quantity of refuse from coal works, which give to the neighbourhood the appearance of being upheaved by some violent commotion of nature: one can scarcely believe the whole to have been the work of human hands; and, moreover, to have been effected in a comparatively short space of time, "Merthyr, sixty years ago, being but an insignificant village.' And this feeling of surprize is much increased when we take into consideration that this is but the refuse, waste, and dross of the enterprizing operations carried on here. Interest is now increasingly excited: the eye can scarcely rest upon a spot that does not strikingly exhibit the truth of the psalmist's assertion: Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet." The train stops, having conveyed us in safety to our destination. How different the inward workings and pursuits of the passengers now manifested: some having arrived at their homes, wait with fixed countenances to attend to the unloading of goods which they have purchased at a distant market; others walk carelessly away; others again, on pleasure, look about them with eager curiosity at every object that presents itself to their notice; some on business, hasten away to attend to their errands. OMEGA. THE BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN INDIA.* We now come to the first marvel in the history of nations. In walking up Leadenhall-street, it would depend entirely on your taste whether your attention were more taken by Mechi's razor-shop, Allen's book-shop, or by a quiet Ionic portico, the front to a grave building on the same side of the street. Yet the merchant owners of that building are there conducting the affairs of an empire which, only 100 years ago, had not an existence; but which at this day is more extensive than China Proper, and equally populous with the continent of *From "Arthur's Extent and Moral Statistics of the British Empire." Green, London. Europe. Suppose that all the other realms of her Majesty were suddenly to melt away; that these islands became a province of France; that her American territories were seized by the United States; that Mexico laid hold of the West Indies, that a combination of Kafirs and Dutch swept her flag from Africa, Australia started up into the new empire of the south, and the struggle in New Zealand terminated in the extirpation of our countrymen; suppose that her Majesty were placed on a throne on the Himalaya mountains, and it were said to her, “There is not on earth a foot of ground or a human being over whom you may extend your sceptre, but what are enclosed by these mountains and those two seas;" yet even then she could turn to the sceptres of earth, and say, "You have not a mightier than my own;" to the potentates of Europe, and say, "I am equal to you all; for, taking all the men on the surface of the globe, one, at least, out of every six owns me as supreme. INDIA is not to be conceived of as a nation or state, but as a numerous family of nations, of various languages, manners, and governments, though now united under one great power. Many of its states have kings of their own; but these kings cannot declare war, form an alliance, or take any other important political step, except by the permission of our authorities; and at the same time they are under obligations, either of tribute or subsidies, which place them in complete subordination; so that to describe them as independent sovereigns, is mere affectation, except, indeed, in the formality of official documents. Taking these subordinate kingdoms, with the others, of which we hold the nominal as well as the real sovereignty, the population cannot be estimated under the enormous aggregate of two hundred millions; that is, fully one-sixth, at least, of the existing human family. It is a vulgar error among writers on India, that, in all ages it has been the ready prey of every conqueror,—the Persians, Alexander the Great, and the Mahommedans being constantly cited in proof. It would be quite as correct to describe England as having been in all ages the ready prey of every conqueror. The Persian monarchy never held more than a province in that part of India most contiguous to its other territory. This province probably embraced the Punjaub, with perhaps some portion of the adjacent countries of Delhi; but this was far from a conquest of India. Alexander, again, as much conquered India as Xerxes conquered Europe. He crossed the Indus. and, entering the Punjaub, instead of finding a ready prey, encountered on the banks of the Hydaspes (the modern Jelum) a powerful army, led by Porus; and so formidable was the opposition, that he was forced to alter his line of march. By the time he had gained the Hyphasis, (the modern Beas,) another river of the Punjaub, his army was so worn out and so discouraged, that they compelled the ardent hero to begin a reluctant retreat from hopes of conquests far surpassing any of the glories which his unequalled success had brought him. Thus he never traversed even the whole of the Punjaub, nor once set foot upon that Hindustan which we govern. Then, as to the Mohammedans, they had overrun the Eastern Empire, Persia, Africa, and Spain, before they so much as attempted Hindustan. It was not till the first year of the eleventh century that Mahmood the Great, after a series of conquests, "turned his face towards India;" and it took eight different campaigns before he effected any permanent conquest; while, even at his death, though he had fought no less than twelve campaigns, he held only an unstable supremacy over the provinces of the north-west, leaving eastern, central, and peninsular India untouched. The conquest thus lately begun proceeded so tardily, that, when the Europeans arrived on the south-western shores of India, the whole of the south was enjoying independence of the Mussulmaun yoke. Our own success has been so rapid, that we are in danger of forgetting that it was unique; and of assigning to the incompetency of the native armies, or the want of patriotism in the people generally, events which pass far beyond the range of natural results, and force the judgment to find repose in ascribing them to the hand of Providence. A series of unaccountable successes, a chain of political miracles, has raised us |