all know how well this plan answered. From being obstinate enemies, the Britons soon became attached and confiding friends; and they made more strenuous efforts to retain the Romans, than their ancestors had done to resist their invasion. It will be a shame to us if, with our greatly superior advantages, we also do not make our premature departure be dreaded as a calamity. It must not be said in after ages, that “the groans of the Britons” were elicited by the breaking up of the Roman empire; and the groans of the Indians by the continued existence of the British.
We may also take a lesson from the Mahommetans, whose conquests have been so extensive and so permanent. From the Indian Archipelago to Portugal, Arabic was established as the language of religion, of literature, and of law; the vernacular tongues were saturated with it; and the youth of the conquered countries soon began to vie with their first instructors in every branch of Mahommedan learning. A polite education was understood to mean a Mahommedan education; and the most cultivated and active minds were every where engaged on the side of the Mahommedan system.
k 3
nea et conviviorum elegantiam; idque apud imperitos humanitas vocabatur cum pars servitutis esset.”
