Meanwhile,  the  attitude  of  the  British  Government  in
India  affords,  as  I  have  already  hinted,  little  help  toward
the  solution  of  these  problems;  unless  the  legal  Codes  are  to
be  taken  as  superseding  and  repealing  all  other  command-
ments, human  and  divine.  It  is  the  Government  that  has
created  all  these  bewildering  changes  of  moral,  political,
and  social  circumstance,  and  it  is  the  Government  that
sits  apparently  indifferent,  holding  no  form  of  creed,  but
contemplating  all — an  attitude  which,  though  correct  if
you  are  figuring  in  the  character  of  a  mere  embodiment
of  intelligent  Force,  is  from  the  religious  standpoint  some-
what disappointing.  For  your  old  philosopher,  Hobbes,
was  right  when  he  wrote  that  the  religion  of  the  Gentiles
is  a  part  of  their  policy ;  and  although  in  Asia  there  are
no  separate  spiritual  jurisdictions  in  the  legal  sense,  the
spiritual  sanction  has  always  been  assumed  to  be  necessary
to  acts  of  State.  But  the  contrary  proposition,  that  the
art  of  politics  is  completely  utilitarian,  and  excludes
theology,  is  your  principle  in  India.  You  have  not
only  placed  the  temporal  power  above  all  spiritual  juris-
dictions, but  the  spiritual  sanction  your  rulers  formally
decline  to  invoke.  On  this  principle  you  have  un-
doubtedly succeeded  in  establishing  a  very  efficient  ad-
ministrative system,  which,  so  long  as  you  are  dealing


26  ASIATIC  STUDIES  chap.  i.
