David Baird led several thousand Sepoys from the remotest provinces of India to aid in the expulsion of the French from the land of the Ptolemies; and this may again be repeated with greater facility, and to an unlimited extent, should we at any time be called upon by the faith of treaties and our national interests to support our old ally, the Turk, against the machinations of the Northern Powers. This by no means improbable contingency, together with the approaching termination of the Company's Charter, and the pending measures of Government for establishing our Eastern policy on a more solid and satisfactory basis, invest the subject at the present moment with a degree of importance paramount to all others, whatever may be their character or complexion.
In order to clear away a few of those obstacles which too often obstruct the interest that otherwise belongs to Oriental subjects, we shall endeavour to lay before our readers, previously to entering on our military narrative, a concise view of our Eastern possessions at the present day: in their territorial extent, climate, productions, population, laws, and government; concluding our summary with an accurate statement of the naval and military establishments of the three Presidencies, and such minor details as may be necessary for a thorough comprehension of our whole Anglo-Indian system, in all its magnitude, diversified bearings, and vital importance.
India extends somewhat above 1800 miles from north to south, and at its greatest width nearly 1500 from east to west. Its boundary line is 11,260 miles in length, or half the circumference of the globe. It comprises an area of 1,309,200 square miles, which is ten times that of France. Of these, 800,758 belong to England,[1] and 508,442 to native states, protected or subsidiary. It extends from the sea level to an altitude of 27,000 feet;
- ↑ Within the last twelve years we have enlarged our territory by 167,013 square miles, bearing a population of 8,572,630 souls; our principal acquisitions being Scinde, the Punjab, and Sahara.
