events are on the gale," the Punjaub is daily talked of by those who are interested in the affairs of British India; the London Papers have it "Is the Pear ready to be plucked ?"-" will the Affghans seize upon it, if it is not plucked?” and such like questions, made by those who will taste of the sweetness of the pear when it is plucked, but who will not consider the dangers, hardships, and difficulties encountered by the pluckers, in plucking it. I have always looked on a war as the most detestable scourge that can afflict mankind, to observe to-day a country floating in peace and happiness, the same to-morrow merely through perhaps one or two discontented persons, groaning under the cruelties and excesses of war, and all to satisfy man's insatiate thirst for honour, is enough to make human nature shudder. War is like duelling (which indeed is nothing else than war on a small scale), the eloquent moralist may raise his pen of genius against it, he may hold forth in the most satisfactory manner, all the evils, and the hatefulness of war, but of what avail is it? the very room in which he is writing owes its security-to the art of war. Although war is unavoidable, especially in a country like India, which is kept by the British at the point of the sword, still there is no doubt but that the quantity of it can be lessened by a proper policy. Our great Indian Empire at this present time is not unlike the Roman in the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, it was then, "says Gibbon" the terrur of the Roman arms added weight and dignity to the moderation of the Emperors. They preserved peace by a constant preparation for war; and while justice regulated their conduct, they announced to the nations on their confines, that they were as little disposed to endure, as to offer an injury." About 330 years before the Christian era, we find Alexander the Great in Asia, little the Grecian Hero then thought, while admiring the fertility and beauty of the Punjaub, that in 2000 years would arise the most enlightened nation that ever existed, that a precious little gem was then " in the silver sea” destined to hold supremacy over the fertile fields of lovely Hindostan, little he thought I say, that this Pear would take two thousand years to ripen ere it could satiate the appetite of the Epicurean John Bull. But I am speculating instead of attending to my subject." After passing the Indus, Alexander marched forward in the road which leads directly to the Ganges, and the opulent provinces to the south-east, now compre hended under the general name of Indostan. But on the banks of the Hydaspes, known in modern times by the name of Betah or Chelum he was opposed by Porus, a powerful monarch of the country, at the head of a numerous army. The war with Porus, and the hostilities, in which he was successively engaged with other Indian Princes,led him to deviate from the original route, and to turn more towards the south-west. In carrying on these operations, Alexander marched through one of the richest and best peopled countries of India, now called the Punjaub from the five great rivers by which it is watered ;* and as we know that this march was performed in the rainy season, when even Indian armies cannot keep the field, it gives an high idea both of Alexander's persevering spirit, and of the extraordinary vigour, and hardiness of constitution which soldiers, in ancient times, derived from the united • Les noms de ces cinq fleuves sont, L'Indus; l'Hydas pes, l'Acesines; l'Hydraotes ou Hydraules, et Hyphasis ou Hypanis. M. de Bernoulle, 1786. A NOTE BY POLYPHILUS. By careful cultivation, it is generally asserted by Indian writers, the Punjaub might become a most flourishing, and productive country; the soil is good, and the country well watered. In the province of Lahore, salt is in great abundance. effects of gymnastic exercise, and military discipline. In every step of his progress, objects no less striking than new presented themselves to Alexander. The magnitude of the Indus, even after he had seen the Nile, the Euphrates, and the Tigris, must have filled him with surprise." This account is taken by Dr. Robertson from Strabo, and is in the Historical Disquisition, from which I have extracted rather freely; the brilliancy of Alexander's career in India is well known. He met everywhere with unequalled success. He wished to unite the European and Indian in the most indissoluble ties, and he was the first who formed a native Corps officered by Europeans, viz. that body of infantry named the Phalanx, which constituted the strength of a Macedonian Army. POLYPHILUS. Saturday, February 10, 1844. No. 19. On Persia. "Histories make men wise." LORD BACON. Perhaps no historical incident roots itself so deeply in the mind of childhood, as that of the invasion of Greece by Xerxes, king of Persia, which happened more than 2,300 years ago. The splendour of the army, and the fleet of Xerxes, then the most mighty monarch in the world, all are illustrations of a great antiquity. 150 years after the Persian invasion of Greece, we find this renowned Empire itself, making one of the principal conquests of Alexander the Great; afterwards remaining almost in obscurity for many hundred years, till about the commencement of the 7th century of our era, Persia was conquered by the Arabs, and became one of the chief instruments in the promotion of the Mahometan religion throughout the East. We read throughout Sacred History of the glory of ancient Persia, she has now gone with all her famed sisters of antiquity, that nation is now seldom spoken of which boasted a Cyrus, a Darius, and a Xerxes, the latter's magnificence being that for |