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About Google Book Search Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web at |http: //books .google .com/I CBiii5dJ.Googlc R M. ^0«^- -r. ij7 2- Google CBiii5dJ.Googlc CBiii5dJ.Googlc BRITISH COLONIAL LIBRARY, R. MONTGOMERY MARTIN, F.S.S. .';;."!t;'^™™""' .h.™.^,. LONDON: WHITTAKER & Co, AVE MARIA LANE. f: ...-.o .oogic Bdj,Googlc CBiii5dJ.Googlc CBiii5dJ.Googlc THE POSSESSIONS EAST INDIA COMPANY. R. MONTGOMERY MARTIN, F.S.S. LONDON: WHITTAKER & Co. AVE MARIA LANE. CBiii5dJ.Googlc ij,Googlc CONTENTS. Govtmment (Engliah and Indian) of Bengal, Madras, Agra, and Bomhay— The Courts of Directors and Proprietor*— iheir Relative Authority —Board of Control — Duties of the Civil Servants — Law Coune, CHAPTER II. Military Eatabiiahnieiita of Bengal, Madras and Bom- bay — Rise and Progress, and Character of Ihe Indian Army — The Marine, Medical, and Ecde- Eiaatica! EstabliRhmenIa— The Patronage of India — Its DiElribulion, &e p. 34 , ..Google CHAPTER III. The Financial and Monetary System of British India — Produce for several years of the Opium, Salt, and Land Reveiiue^ — Different Systems of Land Revenue and A^regate Ta][Btion — Expenditure and Debt of the three Presidencies, with the Surplus, or Deficit Revenue of each since 1814— The Bank of Bengal — Indian Debt—Proportion held by Europeans and Natives, &c, p. 110 Commerce of India, &c. — Staples of Hindoslan, and Suggestions for their Improvement and Develop- CHAPTER V. The Press, European and Indiui — Cireulalion of the Journals — Btaleof Educntion at Bengal, Madras, and Bombay^ — Number of Colleges — Schools and Pupils, tie. p. 164 CHAPTER VI. The Hindoo Religion — Its Attributes, &c. — Mahome- dans, Parsees, Jews, &c — State of Christianity, &c p. 301 5dj,Googlc CHAPTER VII. The Litenlure, Poetry, Law. Drama, Mathematics, &o. of the HinilocB— Their Architecture, Sculpture, Fainting, Music, &c. — Domestic Arls, &c. CHAPTER VIII. State of Clime in British India . . . . p. 310 CHAPTER IX. General Condition of BritiBh India .... p. 336 Appendix p. 3S7 CBiii5dJ.Googlc CBiii5dJ.Googlc CBiii5dJ.Googlc Bdj,Googlc EAST INDIES. BOOK I. BENGAL, MADRAS, AND BOMBAY. Tea gorerameut of the British posBesaionB on the cOQtiiient of Asia, is vested &t home in two powers with co-ordinate authority, — viz. the East India Company, and a Ministerial Board, termed Her Majesty's Commissioners for the afiaira of India, the latter heing devised by Mr. Pitt aa a check upon the political proceedings of the former. A few words 'will be reqoisite to explain this complex authority. Thb Covkt ow OutBCTOBB.— The more immediate governing power of British India, and conaequently the patronage attached thereto, is vested in the Court ..,_.,„Gooslc AOBA, HADB&8, AND BOMBAY. of Directors, or executive body of the East India Com- pany. The capitaletock of this company ie 6,000,000/. BterUng, which ia divided according to a recent cal- culation, among 3,579 proprietors, of whom 53 have fonr votes'; 54, three ; 347, two; 1,454, one; and 221 hold only 5001. stock, and are not qualified tOTotebut merely to debate on any question; 396 prO' prietors hold stock under 500/. and are not qualified to vote or speak, and 220 have not held their stock a sufficient time to enable them to vote. The stock must be honft fide in the proprietor's posBession for twelve months, to enable him or her to vote ; a re- gulation adopted to prevent collusive transfers of stock for particular occasions. The total number of voters is estimated at 2,000, and of the votes about 1,500 are comprised within four miles of the General Post Office. Women as well as men, foreigners aa well as Englishmen, if holding stock sufficient, are empowered to vote and debate. A late classification of the votes gave of gentry, bankers, merchants, traders, shipowners, shopkeepers, &c. 1836; of women (married, widows, and spinsters), 43 ; of officers in the Queen's and East India Company's army, 222 ; of the clergy, 86 ; of officers in the royal navy, 28; of medictd men, 19; of the nobility, 20. The following is said to be the state of the votes of the Court of Proprietors in 1832 :— Peers, 20 ; members of parliament, 10 ; directors, 50 ; clergymen, 86; medical men, 19; military officers, ' A proprietor of not leu than lOOOI. baa one vole i of 30001. tno I of 6000J. Ibree ; snd of 10,000/. and upwardi, no iqfire than four voles. lABT [NriA STOCK. 3 222; naval ditto, 28; minor, I ; other gentlemen, 1775; male votes, 2211; female ditto, 372; total, 2583. The propnetors meet as a court regnlarly every qnarter, smd especially when convened to dificnsa particolar business. The namber of quarterly and special courts held from 1814 to I830'31 was 212. The powers vested in this Court are, the election of qualified proprietors as their delegates, or representatives.to form a Court of Directors; to frame bye-laws for the regulation of the Company — -pro- vided they do not interfere with acts of parliament ; to control salaries, or pensions, exceeding 200/. a year, or gratuities above 600/. Tt may confer pecuniary rewards on any eastern statesman, or warrior, above the latter named sum, subject, how- ever, to the confirmation of the Board of Control ; it can demand copies of public documents to be laid before it for discussion and consideration, but it is prevented interfering with any order of the Court of Directors, after the same shall have received the approval of the Board of Control. The Court of IVoprietors did interfere, and with effect, in the case of the maritime compensations, on the ground that thair concurrence had not been obtained previouslv to the application of the Board. The chairman of the Court of Directors is ei-ofiicio chairman of the Contt of Proprietors ;■ — debates are regulated as in the House of Commons, — and all questions and elections are decided by the ballot. Absent pro- prietors may vote at elections by power of attorney. The Court of Directors, or Representatives of the foregoing body of Proprietors, consists of twenty- B 2 4 BBNOAI., AflRA, If ADBAB. AND BOHBAT, four persons', qualified according to an act of par- liament, which providcB that each must be a natural born or naturalized subject of Great Britain : poft- seesed of 2000/. stock, (no matter for what prerious period) be must not be a Director of the Bank of England, or the South Sea Company; and, by a bye-law of the Company, he shall be liable to be removed if he should promote his own, or the election of any other IXrector, by promises of reward, collusive transfer of stock, or payment of travdling expenses, or receive any pecuniary or other remunera- tion whatever, for any appointment in his gift or patronage as a Director. Six Directors retire annually by rotation, and are re-eligible after twelve months aheencei the Proprietors have a review of every Director in the course of four years, and can of course remove if they think fit such as they deem not fit for the duty which they ought to fulfil '. Tite Court of Directors elect from their own body a Chairman and Deputy Chairman annually ; meet once a week ; not less than thirteen form a Court, and all questions are decided by ballot. The Coart in general consists of men of varions habits, views, and interests; by a recent analysis there were ten retired civil and law officers of the Company ; four military ditto of ditto ; four maritime ditto of ditto ; tlu*ee private Indian merchants ; and nine London ' There are thirty Directon on the list, but twenty-four tovm the Couit : an six retire eieiyyear, and are re-elected after the expiration of a year. ■ Nineleen coDleited elections for Directort Uk^ place fhim 18U to 1831. COUKT OF DIBSOTOBfl or TBC ■. I. COMPANY. fi merchukta and bankere ; of these fifteen were under ten years standing from the first election ; eleven from ten to twenty ditto ; two from twenty to thirty, and two from thirty npwanU. It is gratifying to observe that at all the recent elections, retired civil and military servants of the Eart India Company have been elected to the direction, and that the influence of London bankers &c., is on the wane. The Court of Directors enjoy full initiatory authority over all mutters at home and abroad relating to the political, financial, judicial, and military afiairs of the Company. But its proceedings are subject to certain acts of parliament; to the saperintendence of the Board of Control, and in several matters to the approval of the Court of Froprietors. For the despatch of basinees the Directors are divided into three committees ; finance and home, mght directors; political and military, seven; re- venne, judicial, and legislative, seven ; the duty of each is partly defined by the title, but there is a committee of secresy, forming the cabinet council of the Company, and conusting of the chairman, de- puty ditto, and senior director; its fnnctions are defined by parliament. In reference to the business done by the Court of Directors as compared with the Board of Control, the Select Committee of the House of Commons thus reports in 1832 ; — As to the proportions of general administration resting on the Board of Control, and the East India Company, its courts and its officers respectively, it has been asserted, that, of all the reflections, sug- gestions and instructions bearing upon the policy 6 BBNOAL, AORt, MADRAS, AMD BOHBAT. of the Indian Governments, contuned in the pdilic despatches, nine- tenths, If not a larger proportion', ori^nate with the India House, though whatever regards tba more important transactions with other stales, and whatever is done ia England, may be said to be mainly done hy the Board of Commis- sioners. CoDsidering the mnltiiarions nature of the Company's relations and transactions, it is to be expected that the correspondence should be voln- minons and complicated, comprehending, as it dae», not only all that is originated in England, and bvnsmitted to India, but the record of the pro- ceedings and correspondence ef all the boards at the several presidencies, with dufdicatee of the docnments relating thereto tu India, necessary to put the autho- rities at home in complete possession of all their acts, llie coireepondence comes home in despatchee, and the explanatory matter in books or volucaes. The total nnmber of folio volumes received from 1 793 to 1813, 21 year», was 9094; and from I8I4 to 1829, a period of 16 years, 12,414. Prom the establishment of the board in 1784 to 1814, the number of letters received Srmn the Court by the Board of Conanissioners was 1791 ; the number sent from them to the Court was 1185. From 1814 to 1831, 1967 letters have been written to, and 3642 received from the Board. The number of drafts sent up to the Board from 1793 to 1813, were 3958; from 1814 to 1833, 7962, making an increase of 4004 ; in addition, there have been re- ferences, connected with servants, civil and military, and others, in this country, amounting between the MODE OF TRANBACTIMO BDStNKSS IN KNaLAMD. 7 years 1814 and 1830, to 50,146. Reports made to the Court by its committees, apart trom details and researches made in framing sach reports, 33,902. IVom 1813 to the present time, nearly 800 parlia- mentary orders have heen served en the Conrt, re> quiring retame of vast exteot. By the new East India charter the Company have a^eed to place their commercial rights in abeyance while they hold the political government and patron- age of India, which ta extended by charter to the 30th April, 1845, and in consideration of assign- ing over all their commercial assets (upwards of 21,000,000^ sterling) for the benefit of the Indian territory, the present dividend of ten and a half per cent. (630,0001.) on the Company's capital stock, is secured on the Indian revenoe for forty years, at the expiration of which period the capital of S,000,000/. will be pud oS at the rate of 100/. for every 51. 5s. of annuity. As a guarantee fund for the proprietors in case of the surplus Indian revenues being unable in any one year to pay the dividends, and in order to provide for the ultimate liquidation of the prin- cipal, the sum of 3,000,000/. is to beset apart out of the commercial assets, to he invested in .the three and a half per cents, there to accumulate as a security fund until it reaches the sum of 12,000,000/. The business relating to the India government is transacted in England, between the Board of Control and the Court of Directors, as follows ' : — All communications of whatever natare, and 1 ETidence before PaTlioment in 1833. ,jj,Googlc S BaMOAL, AQRA, MADRAS, AMD BOMBAY. wlietlier received from abroad or from parties in this country, come; in the first instance, to the Secretary's Office, at the East India house, and are laid by the chairman before the first court that meets after their receipt. DespatchcB of importance are generally read to the court at length. The despatches, when read or laid before the comt, are considered under reference to the reepectlTe committees, and the officers whose duty it is to prepare answers take the directions of the chairs upon points connected with them; ttke draft is prepared upon an exami- nation of all the documents to which the substance has r^rence, and submitted to the chairs ; it is then brought before the committee, to whose province the subject more particularly relates, to be approved or altered by tbem, and, on being passed, is lud before the Court of Directors. After it has parsed the Court of Directors, the draft goes to the Board (£ Control, who are empowered to make any alterations, but required to return it within a limited time, and with reasons assigned for the alterations they have made. Previou^y, however, to the draft being laid before either committee by the chairs, experience has suggested the convenience of submitting it to the President of the Board, in the shape cS what is called a previous communication. This is done in com* munication between the president and the chairs, in which stage alterations, containing the onginal views of the president, are made. The draft being returaed to the chairman, is Itud by him, either with or with- out the alterations, as he may see fit, before the committee. The draft, when approved of by the HODS OF TKAMBACnVO BDSINBBB II oommittee, is sabmitted to the Court, and there altered or af^roved, as the Court may see fit. It is then facially sent to the Board, who make ench sltenLtioDB as they judge expedient, and retaro it to the Court, with their recteoiiB at large for the iame. AgaiuBt these alteratione the Conrt may make a re- presentation to the Board, who have not unfrequentty modified the alteratione on such representation ; hut if the Board decline to do bo, they Btate the same to the Court, and desire the draft may be framed into a despatch, and sent out to India, agreeably to the terms of the act of parliament. In the event of a 'refusal, three judges of the Court of Queen's Bench finally decide as to the legality of the Board's order. By the act of 1784 and of 1833, the Directors are charged with appointing a secret committee, whose province is to forward to India all despatches which, in the opinion of the Board of Control, should be secret, and the subject-matter of which can only be divulged by permission of the Board. "Die committee consists of three members of the Court of Directors, chosen by the Court generally, Ttz. the chairman, deputy chair, and most frequently senior member, who take the oath of secreay, as prescribed by the act. Their officers are also sworn to secresy ; and no one is employed in tnuiBCribing secret despatches withont the permission of the Board. The Board arc empowered by law to issue, through the secret com- mittee, ixAen and instructions on all matters relating to war, peace, or negotiations of treaties with the Bt&tes of India, and the secret committee are bound to transmit such order to India without delay. The 10 BXNOAL, AOKA, MADRAS, AND BOMBAT. secret committee have no legal power to remonstnite against Bach orders, provided they have no relation to the BubjectB above stated. The committee haye had communication upon the matter etated in secret despatches, with the Board, and at their suggestions alterations have been made ; but they have not tJie same power with regard to despBtches sent down in the secret department that they have with regard to other despatchee ; they are not empowered to make represeatatioDs thereon to the Board, whose orders are in fact coacluBive on the committee. The sig- natures of the committee are necessary to ensure obedience to the orders conveyed by them to the Company's servants, with whom the Board of Com- miseiooers have no direct correspondence. It has been stated that there is another class of subjects not provided for in the act which establishes the secret committee, but which have been neces- sarily treated through the committee, and upon which its orders have been more punctually obeyed than in other cases, namely, negotiations with European states having settlements in India, and generally aU matters connected with war in Europe, which can in anyway aHect our Indian interests. (Provided for by the Act of 1833, section xxxvi.) When either war against a native state, or the carrying forwtu'd an expedition against any of the eastern islands, has been in contemplation, and the finances of India at these periods exceedingly pressed, or requiring aid from this country, the secret com- mittee, in Gommuutcation with the Board of Com- missioners, have taken upon themselves to provide EXPLAINED. 11 the reqaieite funds, witlioat intimating the same to the Court at the time. ThuB despatches relating to sabjects purely financial and commercial, such as the tranamiseion of bullion, and the nature and amount of the 'Company's investments, have gone through the secret committee. Thb BoARn OP Control. — "Die East ludia Com- pany's Home Government, thus briefly described, has been controlled by a ministerial authority since 1784, which is termed the ' Board of Commissioners for the affairs of India,' or more generally the Board <^ Control; it consists of such members of the Privy Council as Her Majesty may be pleased to appoint, of whom the tno principal secretaries of state and the Chancellor of the Exchequer shall always ex officio form three. The president is also nominated by the crown, is usually a cabinet minister, and in all changes of administration retires from office together with the salaried commissioners and secretary. The oath which the commissioners take imposes on them the responsible duty of governing India to the best of their abihty and judgment, as much and as com- pletely as if there were no executive court or admi- nistrative power. The controlling functions of the Board are exercised in revising all despa.tches pre- pared by the Court of Directors, and addressed to the governments in India ; the originating, in re- qoiring the Court to prepare despatches on any named (abject, and in altering or revising such despatch as it may deem fit. The Board is divided into six departments, viz. Accounts, Revenue, Judicial, Mill- 12 BBNOAL, AGRA, MADRAS, AMD BOMXAT. tary. Secret and FoUtical, and Forei^ and Public; the datiea of which are thus defined i . 1. The AccourUant'a Departntait. — To esamine the accoDuts of the finances at home and abroad : coa- trol the coireBpondence between the Court of Directors and the Indian Governments, in the de- partments of finance, and mints, and coinage : also, occasional correspondence in most of the other de- partments of the Company's affaire requiring calcula* tion, or bearing a financial character. 2. The Revenue i)epartm«nf.— Principally revision of despatches proposed to be sent to the several governments of India, reviewing' the detail pro- ceedings of those ^vernments, and of all the sub- ordinate revenue authorities, in connexion with the adjustment of the land assessments, the realization uf the revenue so assessed, and the general operation of the revenue regulations on the condition of the people, and the improvement of the country. Besides the land revenue, the detailed proceedings of the local authorities in the salt, opium, and custom de- partments, come under periodical revision. 3. The Judicial Department. — Examination of all correspondence between the Court of Directors and the local governments, on subjects connected with the administration of civil and criminal justice and police in the interior of India, such as, the constitu- tion of the various courts, the state of business in them, the conduct and proceedings of the judges, and all proposals and suggestions which from time ' Evidence before Parliament in 1832. DIVISIOM or LABOUR IN THB BOABS OF CONTROL. 13 to time come nader diBcoBaion, with the view of applying remedies to acknowledged defects. The King's Ckmrts at the three preaideocies, are not Bobject to the authority of the Court of Directors, or of the Board of Control ; hut, any cwreapondence wfait^ takes place in relation to the appointment or retirement of the jndgea of those courts, or to their proceedings (including papers tent home for aah- aiisBion to the King in council, recommendationB of pardon, &c.), pasBee throogh this department. 4. The Military Department. — Attention to any olterationa which may be made in the allowances, ot^;a- nizstion, or nombers of the Indian army at the three presidencies ; to the rales and relations a^cting the difierent branches of the service ; to the general staff, comprehending the adjutant and quarter- master general's department; the comnuBsariat (both anny and ordnance) ; the pay, building, aarreying, and clothing departments ; and, in fact, to every branch of Indian administration connected with the Company's army. It also embraces bo much of the proceedings, with respect to the Queen's troopa, as relate to the charge of their maintenance in India, recruiting them from this country, and the periodical reliefs of regiments. 6. The Secret, Political, and Foreign Department — Examines all communications from or to the local goremments, respecting their relations with the native chiefs or states of India, or with foreign Europeans, or Americans. It is divided into the following branches : — I. The Secret department containing the corres- ..,_..„Gooslc 14 BBNOAL, AOBA, MADRAS, AMD BOMBAY. pondence between the Indian GovemmeDts Bnd.the secret committee of the Conrt of Directors. Uadn the provisions of the act of Farliament, such con- fidential communicationa as, in the opinion of the local governments, require aecreey, are addressed by them to the secret committee. Any directions, also, to the local governments, relating to war or nego- tiation, which, in the jadgment of the Board of Ckmtrot, require secresy, are signed by the secret committee ; and the local governments are bound to obey those directions in the same manner as if they were signed by the whole body of Directors. II. Hie Political department, comprising all cor* respondence not addressed to the secret committee, or sent tbrongh that committee to the local govem- mentB, respecting the native chieft, or states, with whom those governments are in alliance or com< mnnication, or whose afiairs are nnder their political superintendence, or who are in the receipt of pecuniary stipends in lieu of territory. III. The Foreign department, inclnding all cor- respondence relating to communications between the local governments and the several foreign Europeans who have settlements in India or the Eastern Islands ; and embracing, in fact, all the proceedings of the local governments in relation to foreign Europeans or Americana, resorting to India. The proceeding of the local governments, with respect to their residents and political agents, and to any other officers and their respective establish- ments, through whom communications with native states and chiefe, or with foreigners, may be main- DlTieiOM OP LUBOVK IN TBB BOARD OF CONTROL. IS tamed, are also reported in tbe eeveral departments in which those officerB are respectively employed. 6. 3ae Public Department.— The business of this department comprises the examination of all de< epatches to and from India upon commercial or ecclesiastical aubjects, and of those which, being of a misceUaneous character, are distinguished by the general appellation of " Public." The commercial and ecclesiastical despatches, which are considered as forming- two branches of correspoodeoce distinct from the " Public," are united with the latter in the same department, only on account of the conve- nience of that arrangement, with reference to the distribntion of buetness in the eBtablishment of the Board of Control. The Public correspondence comprises all those despatches which do not belong specifically to any of the branches of correspondence hitherto enumerated, lliey relate to the education of the natives and of the civil servants ; .to the appointment of writers and of the civil service generally, and to their allowances ; to the several compassionate funds ; to the grant of licenses to reside in India ; to the press ; to public buildings ; to the Indian navy and the marine de- partment; to the affairs of Prince of 'Wales' Island, Singapore, Malacca, and St. Helena ; and to various miscellaneous subjects. Some of these being closely connected with the business of other departments, are reported upon in them, although the whole pass through, and are recorded in, the public depart- Tlie Ecclemaslical despatches contain every thing 16 BBNdAL, AORA, MADRAS, J relating to the a|>po:ntiiient of chaplains, archdeacons, and bishops ; to their allowances ; to their conduct ; to the bnilding and repair of churches, or other places used for public worship ; and to all' queBtions respecting the afiairs of the chnrches of England and Scotland in India, or that of Rome, bo far as pnblic provision is made for their maintenance. Any papers treating of ecclesiastical or miscella- neous topics, though they are not despatches to or from India, are likewise recorded and reported upon in this department. The cost of the Board of Control is abont 30,000/. a year. The salary of the President of the Board is 35001. per annum ; of each of the paid Commis- sioners, 120(U,' ; and of the Secretary 1500/. to be raised to 1 800/. after three years' service. The Charter of 1833 anthorizes two secretaries for the Board. Thb FoBEiaN GovBRNMBNi ov India, is divided into three Presidencies, viz. Bengal, Madras, Bom- bay, and a Lieutenancy at Agra, or rather at Alla- habad ; the chief at each presidency is assisted and partly controlled by a conncil of two of the Com- pany's senior civil servants, and the Commander-in- Chief of the army. The government of Bengal is termed the Supreme Government, and the head thereof is styled the Governor General of India ; he is necessarily possessed of much local independence, exerdsing some of the most important rights of sovereignty, such as declaring war, making peace, ' I believe tliere h now no Commissioner, the Board con- sisting of ihe President Hud Secretariei.— R. M. M., Aug. 1837- ..,_.,„C,ooglc aOTKKNMBNT. 17 {rsDung treatieB, to a certain extent fbrgiving crimi- nale, and enacting laws. The Governor Gieneral's Council conBiAtB of five counaellorB — three to be servante of the Company of ten years' standing, and to be appointed by the directors ; the fourth to be appointed by the directors also, subject to the ap- probation of the King, but not from among the East India Company's servants, and with power to sit and vote in council only at meetings for making laws and regulations. Tbe Commander- tn< Chief fomia the fifth member, with precedence after the Governor General. On all qnestions of state policy, excepting in a judicial capacity, the Governor General is indepen- dent of bis council ; if the council are dissentient, the members record in their minutes the cause, which being submitted to the Governor General and he still remaining of his original opinion, the discussion is adjourned for forty-eight hours, when the Governor General may proceed to execution, first assigning his reasons for dissenting firom the council. The whole of the docnments relative to the difierence are then instantly traaunitted to the Court of Directors and Board of Control ; and the Court have the power, should they deem fit, of appomting new members of council to succeed the dissentient ones, or of recaUing the Governor Genend. The Governor General, in virtue of his commission as Captain General ', may head the military opera- tions in any part of India. He has also the power * This power wa« first granted to tbe Marquess Wellesley in 1802. See voL ii. of hia Lordahip's despatclm. 18 BXNOAL, AOBA, MADRAS, AND BOinAT. of eaepeodiiig the governore of the other preaidendesr or of proceeding thither and t«king the mpreme anthority in their conncils, in the execntion of any of which acts he ia enbject to the vigilant supervision of the home authorities. The GoTemors of Madras and Bombay are in a shnUar manner independent of local control, but for the sake of obtaining unity in foreign transactions, on matters of general and in- temal policy, or in expending money, they are subject to the authority of the Governor General, who, on proceeding to either of the presidencies, may as- semble his cooncil there and sit as president. Regulations for the good government of the British possessions in India are passed by the Governor General in council; theyimmediately become effective, but are transmitted home and subject to the revision of the Conrt of Directors and Board of Control ; heretofore ordinances for the good government of the presidency capitals were not valid until publicly exposed for fourteen days, then registered by the Supreme (Queen's) Court ; put in force, but subject to a further ordeal at home : by the new charter these cfaecki on the Governor General are removed, and that authority in council can now make laws for the regulation of even her Majesty's supreme courts. Such is the legislative department of the govern- ment, the executive is generally exercised by means of Boards, of which in Bengal there are five ', at at Madras three*, and at Bombay me. Any of these < I, Revenue! 3, Cuslomi, rolt and opium) % Trade ; 4, Hiliury; S, Hedic*]. * I, ReveDue ; 2, UUIut; i 3, MedicBl. ,jj,Googlc COUPTROLLINO HOH> AUTHORITIXS. 19 boardB malie suggestions or present drafts of regula- tiona in their respective departments to government ; the boards also receive from their subordinatea sug- gestions, either for their own information or for transmisBion to the Governor General in Council ; hy this means the local knovrledge of the inferior officera is brought under the knowledge of the chief executive, and their talents and industry appreciated : indeed, a leading feature in the duties of the Indian Governments is that of noting down every transac- tion, whether as individual chiefe of departments or as Boards ; thus habits of business are generated, combined with a moral check of supervision, no matter what distance a servant may be from the Presidencf , or what period of time may elapse, should an enquiry be necessary. All minutes of the boards' proceedings are laid before the government monthly, and then transmitted borne. The objection alleged to this is that it creates delay ; but as correctly obsei'ved by the Court of Directors in their letter to the Board of Control, 27th Angust, 1829, the Govern- ment of India may in one word be described as a Government of Checks. The Court thus judiciously remark — ' Now whatever may be the advantage of checks, it must always he purchased at the expense of delay, and the amount of delay will generally be in proportion to the number and efficiency of checks.* The correspondence between the Court of Directors and the governments of India i^ conducted with a comprehensiveness and in a detail quite unexampled ; every, the minutest proceedings of the ,., Google 20 BINOAL, AOBA, MADBAS. AND BOMBAY. local govmuuents including the whole correepotidence respecting it which pasaes between them and their subordinate functiouarieB, is placed on record, and complete copiea of the Indian records are sent anniially to England for the oie of the honw antho- rities. The despatches lirom India are indexes to those records, or what a table of contents is to a book, not merely communicating on mattera of high interest, or soliciting instructions on important measures in contemplation, but containing nummary narratives of aU the proceedings of the respective governments, with particular references to the cor- respondence and consultations thereon, whether in the political, revenue, judicial, military, finandal, ecclesiastical or miscellaneous departments. In the ordinary course of Indian administration much ntu^t always be left to the discretion of local govemmentB ; and unless upon questious of general policy and personal cases, it rarely occurs that instructions from hence can reach India before the time for acting upon them is gone by. This is a necessary conse- quence of the great distance between the two countries, the rapid succession of events in India, which are seldom long foreseen even by those who are on the spot, and the importance of the ruling authorities there acting with promptitude and de- cision, and adopting their measures, on their own responsibility, to the varying exigencies of the hour. These circumstances unavoidably regulate, but do not exclude, the controlling authority of the Court of Directors. Without defeating the intentions of Par- Bdj,Googlc COMPTBOLLIKO Bom AnTBORITIEI. 21 liament, ihey point out the beet and indeed the only mode in which these intentions can be practically falfiUed. AlthoQgh, with the esceptiona above adverted to, a specific line of conduct cannot often be prescribed to the Indian governments, yet it aeeme to indicate any other rather than a state of irrespon- sibility, that the proceedings of those governments are reported with fidelity, examined with care, and commented upon with freedom by the home autho- rities ; nor can the jadgments passed by the Court be deemed useless whilst, though they have immediate reference to past transactions, they serve ultimately as rules for the future guidance of their servants abroad. The knowledge, on the part of the local governments, that their proceedings will always un- dergo this revision, operates as a salutary check upon its conduct in India ; and the practice of replying to letters from thence, paragraph by paragraph, is a security against habitual remissness or accidental oversight on the part of the Court, or their servants at home. From a perusal of the Indian records, the Court also obttun an insight into the conduct and qaalificalions of their servants, which enables them to judge of their respective merits, and to make a proper selection of members of council.' The duties of the British functionaries in India may be gathered from the following detail of the chief stations and offices of the civil servants in Bengal '. The duties of Territorial Secretary, in one I Evidence before Pailiament in 1833. ,jj,Googlc 22 BBNOAIi, AQKA, MADRAS, AMD BOUBAT. branch, correBpond in a great measure with those of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in this country ; he manages the whole financial husiness of the govern- ment, in concert with the Accountant-general ; hut the Secretary is the chief officer of the government in that department ; moreover, he has the manage- ment of the territorial revenue, and the revenue derived from salt and opium, and he conducts the correspondence of government with the three Boaida of Revenue in the upper, lower, and central provinces respectively. In relation to the Board of Revcnne, he ie merely the ministerial officer of the government ; he is not a responsible officer, and has no direct power over the Board of Revenue, If any increase of charge were proposed by any of the Boards of Revenue, or by any person actings onder them, that proposal for increase is submitted to the Territorial Secretary before it is acquiesced in and sanctioned by government — he is the person always addressed. The Boards of Revenue have the power of writing directly to the Governor General in Council; but that is a mere matter of form, for such letter goes equally through the office of the Territorial Secretary, and is submitted by him to the Governor General in Council. The Territorial Secretary offers his opinion upon the admissibiUty of any new charge proposed. He has no right or power to do so, but he is generally called upon to do so. The secretaries are in the habit of giving in papers called memoranda. As Dunss er skitieh functionames. 23 the Governor General or Members of Council lay miantes before the Conocil Board, eo the Secretariee, whenever they have any snggestion to make, enbrnit what are called memoranda. One of the members of the council is nominally Preaident of the Board of Revenue, he performe no The dutiea of the territorial and judicial depart- ments as regard the judicial department, are quite distinct departments. There are two secretaries; die Judicial Secretary is quite independent of the Territorial ; he conducts the correspondence of the government with the Sudder Dewanny and Nizamnt Adawlut ; they are the chief criminal and civil The police is under his dirfeetion, at least all the correspondence of government on the subject of the police is conducted by him. Like the Territorial Secretary, he is not a substantive officer, only a ministerial functionary of the government. He writes always in the name of the govemiBent; his letters always begin with words to this effect. ' I am directed by the Governor General in Council to inform yon :' and this holds good with regard to all other secretaries. Tlie business of a Collector in the lower provinces is the receipt of revenue ; the conduct of public soles, in the event of any defalcation on the part of any landed proprietor who is responsible for any portion of the revenue. There being a permanent settlement of the land revenue in those provinces, he has not much to do ..,_..„Gooslc 84 BKNGAL, AOBA, MADBAS, AND BOMBAT. directly with the collection of the revenne ; bnt he has a great number of other dnties, as the manage- ment of wards' estates (miaars'eBtatee); for the Board of Revenue ia also a Court of Wards '. He exerciees judicial fnnctiona in what are called summary suits, arising from disputes between land- lord and tenant, between zemindar and ryot. That is, in disputes connected with the administration of the revenue. The suits are summary ; they are *ot conducted with the formality of regular suits ; they are instituted originally in the coorta of law, and are re- ferred by the judge to the collector for de'. e. canses not exceeding 500 mpees in value), Sudder Aumeena (native judges), and Moonsifis ; and by a regulation of 1832 (for the expedition of criminal juatice), three Zillah judges may be invested with power by the Governor General to hold sessions and gaol delivery. These courts have authority over the police, and thejndges are enjoined to visit the gaols at least Mice a week. Another and extensive set of Zillah and city courts have been established last year with native judges of every class, caste, or persuasion, found qnalified for the duties enjoined them, to whom liberal salaries have been granted ; and by a more recent regulation, native assessors sit on the bench with the European jodges. There are in the Company's Courts three grades of European judges, the district, the provincial, and the judges of the Sudder Court (there are also magis- trates, who exercise civil jurisdiction under special appointments, and the registrars try and decide causes referred to them by the judge of the district). The native judges are divided into two classes: first, Moonsifis, of whom there are several stationed in the interior of every district ; and secondly, Sudder Anmeens, established at the same station with the European judge. Native jodges of any sect can try L^„_,_, Google S8 BENQAL, AOKA, MADKA8, AKD BOMBAT. causes as 6ir as JOOO rapeea, and the amoant may be increased at the reconnnendatioa of the Enropean judge to 5000 rupees; this permission has been granted in very many cases, and the decisions hare been extremely satisfactory. An appeal lies Irom the district native judges to the district European judge, from the latter to the high court of Sadder Adawlut at Calcutta, Madras, or Bombay, and from thence to the Queen in council in England. Apian of judicature, similar to the foregoing, is in force at Madras and Bombay, modified by local usages ; in some parts there are Funchayets (natiTe juries) of arbitration and of civil and criminal pro- cedure ; in others, native assessors in civil and crimi- nal matters. In the administration of civil justice the ol^ecta of the Company's government have been to render it pure in source, speedy in execution, and cheap in practice ; in the administration of criminal justice the aim has been first to prevent crime, and secondly to promote the reformation of the offender. The judges are well paid, in order to secure the pnrity of justice ; the courts are numerous, in order that it may be speedily rendered ; and the authorized fees are light (particularly in trifling cases) for the cheap attainment of right. In criminal matters, ofiencee are qaickly punished, — the death sentences, (which axe inflicted but for very few crimes) are almost sure to be carried into efiect, and it is in evidence before parliament (in 1832) that prisoners are brought to trial without delay, that the punishments awarded are mild and well proportioned to the ofleuce ; that KMBI^TIONS OF OOTKRNMBNT. 29 abandEint care is taken againBt imjost conTictions, Bad that estraordioary care is paid to the health and comfort of the prisoners in the gextis ; the effect of the syatem is the extraordinary diminution of crime as will be seen in the Education Chapter of the pre- ceding volume. Measures have been taken for the promnlgatioD of a knowledge of the old as well as LaiDS tatd Reffvlatione. — In pursuance of the direc- tion, and by virtue of the powers given by. the 47th section of the Act of the 3rd and 4th William IV. chapter 85, the Court of Directors of the East India Company, with the ^probation of the Commissioners &>r the Afiairs of India, ordain as follow : — 1 . Copies of all laws and regalations shall be com- mimicated to the several functionaries appointed to carry them into effect, and shall be preserved in aU conrts of justice, and there be open to the inspection of all persona. 2. All laws and regulations shall be translated into the several native languages most commonly spoken, and printed and sold at a low price. 3. The govermnents of the several Presidencies will make such a distribution of copies of the laws and regulations so to be sold as may bring them most conveniently within the reach of all persons, and wUI notify in a public manner where such copies may be procured, 4. llie governments will likewise, on the passing of any law and regulation, publish the title of it, and an abstract of its contents in the gazettes and such other newspapers as are most generally circulated. 30 BBxaAL, AOBA, MADKA8, AMD BOHBAT. AuthetUtficaiion of Lmcs and Regulations. — 1. The original copies of all laws and regulations shall be signed by the members of the Legislative Council by whom they shall he passed, and such copy shall be preserved in the archives of the Government of 2. Such copies only of the several laws and rega> lations hereafter passed as shall he printed at the govenimcnt press shall be admitted as evidence in courts of justice. Such copies so printed shidl bear in the title page ^-similes of the signatures of the members of coan- dl by whom the several laws and r^ulations may have been respectively passed. l^ere is a Supreme, or Queen's Court at each Pre- sidency, with a chief and two puisne judges ; a master in equity, registrar, an established number of attor- neys, and barristers, at the discretion of the judges, and at Calcutta there is a Hindoo and a Mahomedan law officer attached to the court. The jurisdiction of this court extends over the local boundaries of the Presidency, with certain exceptions not well defined, and the courts claim jurisdiction in certain cases be- yond the Presidency ; such claims have, however, been viewed with al^m, and the extension of the jurisdiction of the Queen's Court at the present period deprecated. The salaries and contingent expenses of the Supreme Court at Calcutta annually, are 879,000 rupees, and the emoluments of barristers and attor- neys about 771,000 rupees. The same items at Madras and Bombay are— for the first, 650,000 ru- pees, omd for the second, 960,000 rupees : total of ..,_..„Gooslc THB BUFRXHE OR ()UEEn'b COHRTB. 31 Supreme Courts, 3,250,000 rupees. Tbe ealaries of the Sapreme Coort Judges at the three Prefiidendes are, Bengal, Chief, 6000/.; Puiene, 6000/.: Madras, Chief, 60.000 rupees; Puisne, 50,000 rupees. Bom- bay, ditto, ditto. Since 1807, there have been six Chief Justices at Bengal, and since 1805, seven Puisne. At Madras since 1815, four Chief, and since 1809, ten Puisne ; at Bombay since 1823, three Chief and five Puisne Judges. The fixed charges were, in 1839, as follow : Bengal, secea rupees, 383,1-20; Madras, 378,056; Bombay, 393,874; total, secca rupees, 955,050, being an excess over 1823 of secca rupees, 205,826. Trial by jury in criminal matters, not in civil ; natives are eligible as petty and grand jurors ; proceedings are in English, with the aid of interpreters, and in general the civil laws of England are applied. There are at Calcutta and Bombay Courts of Requests, for the recovery of small debts, the recorders of which are Europeans. Thk Police, in Bengal for instance, are divided into stations with a native ofiicer, native registrar, petty officer, and from twenty to thirty policemen well armed. In each district there are from fifteen to twenty stations, making altogether in Lower Ben- gal about 500, and in the upper or western provinces 400. Every village has also its own watchman, armed and paid by the vUlage, and as there are 163,673 villages in lower Bengal, there is a further force of 160,000 men added to the government esta- blishment. In Bume provinces of central India, each village has also a petty officer, whose duty it is to track thieves, and when he traces them to a village. 32 BSUaKh, AOBA, IfADBAI, AND BOMBAY. to hand over the search to the trackers of that The bead officer at each elation receives criminal charges, holds inquests, forwards accused peraons with their prosecutors aad witnesses to the ZiUah magistrate, uses every exertion for the apprehension of criminals and the preservation of the peace in his district, and regnlarly reports all proceedings to the European magistrate &om whom he receives ordera. Tbe village police, together with the village corpora- tion officers (such as the barber, echoohnaster, ac- countant, waterman, measurer, &c.), land agents, zemindars, &c. are all required to give immediate information of crime committed within their limits and to aid in the qiprehenaion of offenders. There is a moonted police officered by natives, and & river pohce conducted also by natives. The pohce officers are furnished with precise and hrief manuals of instructions, and the abases which prevailed are being rapidly removed ; what was good in the native laws has been retained, and what was evil obhterated, and an excellent system still open to improvement has been the reanlt. The general sys- tem of police in India, and its gradations of ranks is thus detailed in the recent evidence befra^ Parlianuait. ' The lowest police officer is the village watcher. There are several in a village who perform the lower offices. They are under the control of the head of the village; the head of liie village is under the con- trol of die Tehsildar, who is a native collector of revenue ; the Tehsildar is under the magistrate, wbo is the collector. The village watchers are remnner- ,., Google STBKNOTH OF CITIL filRVICB, 33 ated by a small qnantity of grain from the produce of the village, and from certain fees from the inhabi- tants ; and the head of the village has alao similar allowances, to a greater extent. The TehBildar is a stipendary officer of the government, employed in the collection of the revenue. There are police officers appointed to towns, called Anmeems of police, who have a jurisdiction also bevoud those towns ; and there are officers called Cutwals, a kind of high constables, resident chiefiy in market towns. There are, in some districts, paid police ; and there were formerly various classes of native peons, under dif- £n«nt denominations, many of whom have of late years been dismissed as unnecessary.' The strength of the civil service at each presidency, according to the Bengal Finance Committee, is as ftJlows ; — t i 1 a atnlor Kerchuit.' £ 1 " %l 133 30 347 Total... M. ,« ,.. ■3, HmnberotAnnulUnltTeliriogAiiDuall;. CuuslUMBtTiTQUirl* halt per Cent ... ,1 J ! 1! . . i .. 1 • Tbg tenH hct* giien luve been continued tYtc ilnce the Eut Iiidi*C«»psnj nil mere indlog compui]r, neo duignitlDoi sie neceiuiy. ..,_.,„Googlc 34 BKNOAIt, HADRAB, AND BONBAr. See large edition of this work for a specification of the recent revision of allowances for the civil fonc- tionaries of Bengal. The foregoing' details will enable the general reader to form an accurate idea of the nature of the Anglo Indian government. CHAPTER 11. ESTABLISHMENTS OF BEMOAI Ths Anglo Indian army, amounting to nearly 200,000 men, well deserves examination, whether in reference to numbers, disciphne, gallantry in the field, fidelity to its government, or political importance : — Rise, rHCiOHEss, and chabacter of the native asut OP India'. — Though Bombay wm the first possession which the English obtained in ihe East, the esUblishment on that island was, for a very long period, on too limited a scale to obtain more than its European gairisoD. and a few companies of disciplined sepoys. On the coast of Coromandel, which became towards the middle of the last century a scene of war<- bie between the English and French, who mutuslly luded and received support from the princes of that quarter, the nativea of India were instructed in European discipline. During the siege of Madras, which took place in a.d. 1746, a number of peons, a species of irr^ular in^tty, armed with swords and * TBI HADBAB AKHT. 35 ■p«Bn, or matchlocks, were enlisted for the occagion i to tho«e HKne Englith ofBcera were attached, unong whom ■ young geotlemaQ of the civil nenrice, of the name of Ualiburton, waa the most diitinguished. Tbis gentleman, who had been re- warded with the commisiion of a lieutenant, was employed in the ensuing jiear in training a email corps of nativea in the European manner ; he did not, however, live to perfect that ■yttem, which he appeara to have introdaced into the Hadras It appears from other authoritieB, that the Brat sepoys who were raised by the English were either Mahomedans ot Hindoos of very high caste, being chiefly R^poota. One of the fitst services on which the regular sepoys of Madras were employed was the defence of Arcol, a.d. I7AI. The particulars a! that si^e, which forms a remarkable feature in the life of die celebrated Clive, have been given by an eloquent and MtbfVil historian*; but he has not informed us of one occur- lence tbat took place, and which, as it illustrates the character of the Indian soldiers, well merited to be preserved. When provisions were very low, the Hindoo sepoys entreated their commander to allow them to boil Che rice (the only food left) for the whole garrison. ' Your English soldiers,' they said, ' can eat from our hands, though we cannot from theirs ; we ' ' It was by one of our own sepoys' (the Council of Fort St. Darid observe, in a despatch dated 2nd September, 1748, in which they pasa an euli^um on the character of Hr. Hati- boTton) ' that he had the misfortune lo be killed, who shot him upon his reprimauding him for some oSence ; the poor gentleman' (they add) ' died next day, and the villain did not live so long, for bis comrades that stood by cut him to pieces immediately.' The name of Mr. Haliburton was long cherished by the Madras native troops, and about twenty years ago, on an examination of old grants, some veterans, wearing medals, appeared as claimants, who called themselves Ualiburton Saheb Kb sepoy, or Haliburton's soldiers. ,jj,Googlc 36 BBNOAI., UADKAS, AND DOUBAT. will allot as their ihare every grain of the rice, and subsist ourselves by drinking ihe water in wfaicb it hm been boiled.' I atate (his remarkable anecdote from an authority I cannot douhl, as it refers to the moat unexceptionahle contemporary tritnesses. During all the wars of Cliyei of Lawrence, of Smith, and of Coote, the sepojs of Madras continued to display the same valour and attachment. In the years 1730, 1781, and 1789. they suffered hardsbipa of a nature almost unparalleled ; there was hardly a corps that was not twenty months in arrears ; they were supported, it ia true, by a daily allowance of rice, but this was not enough tn save many of their fiimiliei from being the victims of that dreadful famine which during these years wasted the Company's dominiona in India. Tlieir fidelity never gave way in this hour of extreme trial, and they repaid with gratitude and attachment the kindness and consideration with which they were treated by their European officers, who, being few in number, but, generally speaking, very efficietlt, tried every means that could conciliate the regard, excite Ihe pride, or stimulate the valour of those they commanded. In the campaigns of 17EHI and I7S1 against Tippoo Sultaun, the sepoys of this eitahliihment showed their usual zeal and courage ; but the number of European troops which were now iotennixed with them, lessened their opporiunitiea of distin- guishing themselves, and though improved in discipline, ibey perhaps fell in their own estimation. The native army in some degree became a secondary one, and the pride of those of whom il was composed was lowered. The campaigns of Lord Coinnallis and General Meadows were certainly not inferior, either in their operations or results, to those of Sir Eyre Coote i hut every officer can tell how differently they are regarded by the sepoys who served in both ; the latter may bring to their memory the distresses and hardships which they suffered, and perhaps the recollection of children who perished ftoDl famine, but it is associated with a sense of their own importance at that period to the government they served, with the pride of fidelity and patient valour. The pictures of these three distinguished leadera are in the great room of the zEAii AND CDtrBxas or the sbpots. 87 EicbHDge at Madras ; to that (I speak often yeara ago) when ■ battalion cornea into garrison the old sepoys lead their fiunilies. Wallis and Meadows (these are the names b; which the two fint commandera are known to them) are pointed out as gjeat and hrave chiefs ; but it is to the image of their (avourite, Coote, the pilgrimage is made, and the youngest of their children are taught to pay a respect bordering on devotion In the year 1796, new regulationa were introduced into the Indian army, the whole farm of which was in fact changed. Instead of single battalions of a thousand men. commanded by a captain, who was selected from the European corps in the Honoarabte Company's service, and a subaltern to each com- pany, they were formed into reg;iments of two battalions, to wbich officers were appointed of the same rank, and neatly of the same number, as to a battalion in the service of Her The genera! history of the native army of Fort St. George ia short. Sepoya were first diacipiined, aa has been aiated, on that establishment in 1718 ; they were at that period, and for some time alierwarda, in independent companies, under aub- adars or native captains. Mahomed Eaof, one of the moat distinguished of those afilcera, rose by hia talents and courage to the general command of the whole ; and the name of thie hero, for auch he was, occuis almost as ofien in the page of Ihe English historian ' of India as that of Lawrence and CUve. As the numbers of the native army increased, the form changed. In A.D. 17 of that gnlJaDt legimeot had, from the day of its arriTal in India, laboured (□ egtablieh the ties of mutual and cordial regard between the Kuropeaii and Dative soltUera. Hi» succeaa wu complete. Hia awn Suae while he remained in India was promoted by their com- luned efforts, and the friendship which he established, and which had continued for maoy years, waa alter bis departure consummated upon the plains of Assaye. At the moat critical momcDt of a battle which ranks amoogat the hardest fought that have been gained by the illuttrious Wellington, the British dragooDs, when making their eztremest efibrts, saw their Aaialic fellow aoldiers keep pace for pace, and give blow for blow. A more arduous task awaited the latter, when the bat- tallions of nalire infantry, which formed tbe garrison of Vellore, were Led by the infatuation of the moment to rise upon and murder the European! of that garrison. The fidelity of the native cavalry did not ahrink from the severe trial, and after the gates of (he fortress were blown open, their sabres were as deeply ' staioed as those of the English dragoons with thf blood of their misguided and guilty countrymen. But a few authentic anecdotes of some of the most diatin- guiabed individuals of the native cavalry of Madraa, will show, better than volumes, the high spirit that pervades that corps. In the campaignof 1791, when Secunder Beg, one of the oideat aubadars of the native cavalry, was riding at a little diatanca oD the flank of hia troop, two or three hoiaemeo of Vppoo'B army, tavoured by some hrushood, came suddenly upon him ; the combat had hardly commenced when the son of the subadat, who waa a havildar or seijeaQt Id the same ' The late General Sir John Floyd, Bart., father-in-law of Sir K. Peel. ' This fact is stated upon the high authority of a respeciahle officer who helooged to the 19(h Dragoons, and was with them on thia memorable occasion. ,jj,Googlc 40 DKNQAL, HADIUB, AND DOUBAY. regfiment, flew to hii father's aid and Blew the foremoit of hit opponeDti ; the others fled ; but Dothtng could exceed the tage of the old man at his eoq'b conduct; he put htm iogtaiitly uuder a guard, and insisted upon bia being brought to condign punishment for quilting his ranks without leave. It was with the greatest difficulty that Colonel Fluyd, who commanded tbs force, could reconcile him to the diegnce he conceived he bad Buffered (to use his own expression) from his enemy ' lieiiig taken from him by a prcBumptuoui boy in front of biB regiment.' Cawder B^, late subadar of the fourth legimmt, may b« deemed throughout his life as one of the most distinguished officers of the native cavalry at Madras. In IJ90, he was attached to Colonel Floyd as an orderly subadar, when that officer, who had heen reconnoi taring with a small detachment, was attacked by considerable body of the enemy's hone. Nothing but the greatest exertions of every individual could have saved the party from being cut off. Those of Cawdcr of which he was proud to the last hour of his lifei an English ^bre was sent to him, with the name of Colonel Floyd upon it, and an inscription, staling that it was the reward of valour. But personal courage was the least quality of Cawder B^: his talents eminently fitted him lor the exercise of military command. During the campaign of 1TS9, it was essenlial to prevent the enemy's looties (a species of Cossack horse), from penetrating between the columns and the rear guard, and plundering any part of that immense train of provisions and luj^ge, which it was necessary to carry to Seringapslam. Cawder Beg, with two or three of his relations from the natii« cavalry and a select body of intantry, were placed under my orders. I was then political representative with the army of the subah of the Deckan, and commanded a considerable body of the troops of that prince. I had applied for Cawder Beg on account of hia reputation, and prevailed upon Meer Allum, the leader of the subab's forces, to place a corps of SOOO men of his best regular horse under the subadar's orders. Two days after the corps was formed, an orderly trooper came to OALLANTRT OF CAWDER BBG. 41 Uil me that Gander Beg was engaged nich some of the enemy's horsemen. I hastened to ihe spot with aome alarm for the result, determined if Cawder Beg was victor, to reprove him most severely for a conduct so unsuited to the atation in which he bad been placed. The fears I entertained for his safely ■ere soon dispelled, as 1 saw him advancing on foot with two snords in his band, Bhich he hastened to present to me. begging at the same time I would restrain my indignation at his apparent raahneag till I heard his reasons ; then speaking to me aside, he said ' Though the General of the Nizam's army was convinced by your statement of my competence to the command you have entrusted me with, I observed that [he bigfa-horn and high-titled leaders of the horse he placed under my ordera, looked at my close jacket ', straight pantaloons, and European boots with contempt, and tboiight themselves disgraced by bebg told lo obey me- I was, therefore, templed, on seeing a well-mounted horseman of Tippoo's challenge their whole line, to accept a combat, which ihey declined. I promised not to use Hie arms, and succeeded in cutting him down ; a relation came to avenge hia death ; I wounded him, ■nd have brought him prisoner. You will' (he added, amiling), ' hear a good report of meat the durbar (Courl)of Meer Allum this evening, and the service will go on better for wliat has passed, and I promise most sacredly to fight no more sin^e combats.' When I went in the evening to visit the Meet Allum, I found at hia tent a number of the principal chiels, and among others those that had been with Cawder Beg, with whose praises I was assailed from every quarter. ' He was,' they lud, 'a perfect hero, a Rustum ' ; itwas an honour to be com- manded by so great a leader." The conaequence was, as the subadar had anticipated, that the different chiefs who were ' The native troops in the English b< very like that of Europeans. ■ The Persian Hercules. ,jj,Googlc 42 BENGAL, HADRAB, AND BOHBAT. placed uadei him vied id respect and obedieaEe ; and to wdl neie the incesaant efforts of thU liody directed, that «carcely a load of grain nas lost; hardly a day passed that the activiqr and stratagem of Cander Bt% did not delude some of th« enemy's plimderers to their destruction. It would fill a volume to give a minute account of the actiana of tbia gallant officer; he wai the native aide-de-camp of General Dugald Campbell, when that officer reduced the ceded districts ' ; he attended Sir Arthur Wellesley (ihe present Duke of Wellington) in the campaign of 1603, and mu employed by that officer in Ihe mott confidential raanuer. Al tbe end of this campaign, during which he had leveral op- portunities of distinguishing bimself, Cawder Beg, who had received a pension from the Engtijh Government, and whoM pride was flattered by being created an omrah ' of the Deckan by (he Nizam, retired j but he did not long enjoy the d>S- tincdon he had obtained : he died in 18M, worn out with the excessive fatigue to wliich he had for many years exposed himself. The body guard of the Governor of Madras baa always been a very select corps, and the notice and attention with which both the native officers and men of the corps have invariably been treated, may be adduced aa one of the causes which have led to its obtaining distinction in every service on which it has been employed. On the IStb of May, 1791, Lord ComwaUis returned bis thanks in the warmest manner to this corps and its gallant commanding officer, Captain Alexander Grant, tor a cbarg* upon the enemy. It obtained still further distinction under Captain James Grsnt, the brother of its former conmlander. ' These districts, which were ceded to the English Gorem- ment by the treaty of Senngaptamio 17M, lie between Mysore Proper and the territories of the Subah of the Deckan. > He received the title ot Cawder Nuai Khtw, or Cawder the lavaured Lord. Bdj,Googlc THK ootkrnok'b boot atrAKs. 43 when employed, in Ibe yewx lSOt> againK the Foligan, a nee of warlike men who inhabit the ■oalhern part of the Madras tenitoiy. There nre indeed few examples of a more despenle and BucceBaful cha^e than was made, duiiog that service, by this small corps upon ■ phalanx of reaolute pikemen, more than double its own nombers; end the bebsTiour of Sbaik ItH^im, the senior subadat (a native captain), on that occasion. This ofGcer, who was alike remoFkable for Ma gallantijr, and anrivalled skill as a horeeman, anticipated, from hii experience of the enemy, all that would happen. He told Captain Grant what he thought would be the fate of those who led the charge St the same moment that be urged it, and heard with animated delight, the resolution of his commander to attempt an exploit which was to reflect lUch glory dq the corps. The leaders of the body guard and almost one-third of its number fell, as was expected s but the shock broke the order of their opponents, and they obtained a complete victory. Shaikh Jbrahim was [nerced with several pikei, one was in the throat ; he held bis hand to thie, as if eager to keep life till he asked the fate of Captain Grant The man of whom he inquired pointed to diat officer, who was lying on the ground and apparently dead, with a pike though his lungs ; the aubadar, with an eipresuon of regret that he had di^ained to show for his own &te, pulled the pike from the wotuid, and instantly expired. HU duracter and his behariour in the last itHunent of existence are fiilly described in the following general order, which waa issued on this occoaion by the Oovernment of Fort St. ' A rare combination of talents baa rendered the character of Shaikh Ibrahim familiar to the o^ers of Ihe army ; to cool decision and daring valour, he added that Bober judgment, and those honourable aentiments that raised him far above the level of his rank in life. An exploit of uncommon energy and personal exertion terminated bii career, and the last effort of his voice breathed honour, attachment, and fidelity. ' The Governor in Council, desirous of showing to the army his IfOrdlhip'a' aeoie of ihe virtue and attainraeata which have rendered the death of this naliTe officer a seTece lou to the service, hai been pleaeed la confer on Ms family a penaion equal to the pay of a subadar of the body guard, being thirty pagodas a month. And hia Lordship has further directed thai a certificate to this effect, translated into Peruan atld Hindoostanee, may be presented to the Cunily, as a record of the giti, and a tribute to the memory of the brave subadar ShaiUi Ibrahim.' The posthunious praise given to Shaikh Ibrahim appeared to have inspired olhen with a desire to share his fate, that tbey might attain hie fame. A jemadjr of the same corps, aoma days afterwards, being appointed with a few select men to watch a rood, nhere it was thought [he chief whom they were attackii^ might try to escape, with one or two (bllowers, determined, when a whole column came out, to make an attempt againM its leader, and such was the surprise at seeing five or six horsemen ride iuto a body of between 300 or 300 men, that Iw hod cut down the chief before they had recovered from their aatonishment ; he succeeded in riding out of the column, but WHS soon afterwards shoL He had, when he meditated this attack, sent a person to inform Captain J. Grant (who had recovered of his wounds) of hia intendon. ' The captain will discover,' he observed. ' that ther^are more Shaikh Ibrahima than one in the body guard.' Captain Grant, when the service was over, erected tombs over these gallant officers ; a con- stant lamp is kept at them, which is BupporCed by a triflii^ monthly donation from every man in the body gtwrd, and the noble spirit of the corps is perpetuated by the contemplatiott * The Marquess Welleiley was at this peHud Goiemot General of India ; and it is the Eesdmony of all contemporary authorities (s similar remark applies to Earl Powis, then Lord Clive and Governor of Madras), that virtue, talent, or valour, either in European or native, were certain, under his adtniuis- tratioD, of attaining distinction and reward. ,jj,Googlc NATITH INFANTRT OF UADBAS. 45 of these rejfimemal shriuea (for such they may be termed) of leraic valour. Sbaikh Mnheedeen, a Bubtidar of the bodip guard of Madras, who WBB one of the first offlcerg appointed to the torpa of native harse artillery, accompanied m^lo Persia, and was left Vith a detachment of his corps, under the command of Captain Lindsay, to aid in instructing the Persians in military tacticB. This small body of meu and [heir gallant European com- mander nere engaged in several campaigns in Georgia, and his conduct has obtained not only for [he subadar, but for all the men of his parly, marked honours and reward, both from the Persian Government end their own. Their exertions received additional importance from the scene on which they acted, for it is not easy to calculate the future benefits which may result from the display of the superior courage and discipline of (be native soldiers of India on the banks of the Araxes. The native infantry of Madras is generally composed of Mahomedans and Hindoos of good caste : at its lirst eslahlish- ment none were enlisted but men of high miliury tribes. In the progress of time a considerable change took place, and natives of every description were enrolled in the service- Though some corps [hat were almost entirely formed of the lowest and most despised races of men obtained considerable reputation, it was feared their encouragement might produce disgust, and particularly when they gained, as they frequently did, the rank of officers. Orders were in consequence given to Ivcruit from none but the most respectable classes of socie^, and many consider the regular and orderly behaviour of theae men as one of the benefits which have resulted from this system. The infantry sepoy of Madras is rather a small man, but he is of an active make, and capable of undergoing great fatigue, upon a very slender diet. We find no man arrive at greater precision in all his military exercises ; his moderation, his sobriety, his patience, give him a steadiness tha[ is almost un- known to Europeans ; but though (here exists in this body of men a fitness to attain mechanical perfeclion as soldiers, there are no men whose minds it is of more canaequence to study. ..,_.,„Googlc 46 BXNaAL, MADRAS, AND BOHBAT. The most marked general fenture of tlie chiracter of tbe TUdve of India ii a pruneness to obedience, aceompanied by ■ ^eat susceptibility of good or bad niage ; and there are faw in that country who are more imbued with these feelings than the class of which we are now treating. Tbe sepoya of Madras, when kindly treated, have invariably shown great attachment > to the senice { and when we know that this claas of men can be broU(^(, without harshness or pnniibmenl, to the faigheit discipline, we neither can nor ought to have any toleration for thoae who pursue a different system ; and the commander- tn-chief is unfit for his atatioa who grants hia applause to the mere martinet, and fbi^ets in his intemperate zeal, that no per- fection in appearance and discipline can make amends fof the loss of the temper and attachment of the nadve aoldiers We discover in the pages of Onne many examplea of that patient endurance of privations and fatigue, and that Meady valour, which has since charnctertzed the native infantry of Madras. Their conduct in the war apinst Hyder Ally in 17G6, naa such as justly to entitle them to admiration. In the battle of Tiincomalee and Molwaggle they displayed all the qualificalioDB of good and steady soldien ; and it was during this war that the 6th battalion of native infantry, commanded by Captain Calvelt. distinguished itself hy the defence of Ambore, and obtained the honour of bearing a representa- tion of that mountain fortress on one of its standards. To tite campaigns of Sir Eyre Cootewe have already alluded, and have qwken of the unshaken fidelity which the sepoys of Madras ' In into one ' brothers' extends in India to first ct PATIBNOB UNDKR PRIVATION. SI grave,' uid one of Ihe party. The offlcei, who hbb well ac- quainted with the iDdividuale who had been slain, expresBed hu regret, and tras sbout to offer aome conaoIatioD to ifae nir- TiTors, but he wag stopped by one of the men : ' There is no occaaioD,' he aaid, ' for such Teelinga or expreuiona; these men (pointing to the dead bodies) nere aepoya (soldiers) j they have died in the performance of their duties; the Gavem- ment they served will protect their chQdren, urbo will soon fill the ranks they lately occupied.' The respected and distin- guished oiBcer, the late Sir Roberc Barclay, to nhoro we owe this and the following anecdote of the Madras troops, con- cludes a note he had been kind enough to write on the aubject with the fallowing remark : — ' 1 hare seen (he abserreB) the Madras sepoys engaged in great and trifling actions more than fifty times; I never knew them behaTe ill, or backward, but once, when two havildais (or seijeants) that were next to me, quitted their poaC, from seeing the fire chieBy directed to me ; but it is (he adds) but justice to state that, on other occaaions, I have owed my life to the gallantry of my covering havildar.' Though sensible 1 have dwelt too long upon this part of my ■abject, I cannot forbear recording an example of ihat patience with which the native troops meet privation and distress. In 1804, the subsidiary force in the Deccan, commanded by Colo- nel Haliburlon, was inclosed between two rivers, which became suddenly so swollen as to cut off their supplies of provisioDs. It was a period of genera] famine, and the communication was cot off with the grain dealers, from whom alone they could e]4>ect a supply. All Che rice in camp was found to be barely aufScient for five days' allowance, at a very reduced rale, to the European part of the force. Issues lo the sepoys were itopt, but while ibey were left to the scanty aubsistence Ibey might bo able to procure for themselves, they were appointed the sole guards over that grain, from all share in which they were from necessity excluded. This duty was performed with the strictest care, and Ibe most cheerful submission. Fortu- DBtely the waters subsided, and an ample supply prevented their feeling that estrerae of famine, the prospect of which they bad contemplated with an attention to discipline and a S2 . BBNQAL, MADRAS, AND BOHBAT. composure of mind which even astonished those beat acquainted with their habits of orclet and obedience. Bombay Army. — II nag et Bombay (hat the first native corps were disciplined by tbe English. Of tbe exact date 1 am ignorant, but re^lar sepoys are noticed in tbe account of the transactions of that part of India some time before they were embodied at either Madras or Bengal. A corps of 100 sepoys fi^m Bombay, and 4000 from Tellicherry, Is mentioned as having joined tbe army at Madras in A. D. 17*7, and a com- pany of Bombay sepoys, which hod gone with troops from Madras to Bengal, were present at the viclory of Plassey. The sepoys at Bombay continued long in independent com- paniea, commanded by lubadars or native caplaioB. As the possessions and political relations of that settlement were en- larged, its army increased. The companies were formed inliD battalions under European officers; and during the war with the Mahratcas, a. d. 1780, we find tbe esCabUshmenc consistitig of fifleen baicaliona. These, at the termination of the war with Tippoo, 1783, were reduced to ax, and one battalion of marines. In 1788, its numbers were augmented to twelve bat- tnlions. In 1796, it was reformed into an establishment of four r^ments of two battalions each, from which it has been progressively raised, by the acquisition of territory and aub- lidiary alliances, to its present eilablishmenL Tbe men of the native infantry of Bombay ■ are robust and hardy, and capable of enduring great fatigue upon very slen- der diet. This army has, from its origin to tbe present day, been indiscriminately composed of all classes, Mahomedana, Hindoos, Jews, and some few Christians. Amoi^ the Hindoos, those of the lowest tribes of Mahrattaa and ibe Furwarrie, Soortee and Frost sects, are much more numerous than the Rajpoots and higher castes. Tbe Furwarrie are generally fhiin the southward of Bombay, the Frosts and Soortees from the ■ Since this was written, a considerable change has taken place ii; the com^iosition of the Bombay native atmy. ATTACHUBNT TO THE flOTERNHENT. S3 nanhward. Theae are men of what ia termed very loir caste, being hardly above what are called pariahs, on the coast of Coromandel. Jewa have already been favoutite aoldien in this anny, aod great nurabere of them attain the rank of com- misaioned offlcen. An officer of tank and experience in the Bombay army, observeB, ' the Jena are clean, obedient, and g«xi Boldien, make excellent nan-commiBBioned and commik jioned officers, until they arrive at an advanced age, when they (Aen fall of^ and turn drunkards.' It ia probabljr owing to the peculiar composition, and to the local lituatiDn of the ter- ritories in which they are employed, that the lepoys of Bombay hare at all periods been found ready to embark on foreign ■ervice. They are, in fact, familiar to the sea, and only a (mall proportion of (bem are Incommoded in a voyage by those privations lo which others ore subject from pr^udices of caste. But this is only one of the merits of the Bombay native sol- dier: he is patient, faithful, and brave, and attached in a remarkable degree to his European officers. There cannot be a class of men more cheerful under privation and dilficul- tiea. 1 question, indeed, if any army can produce more extra- {vdinary examples of attachment to the government it served and to its officera than that of Bombay. Towards the close of the war with Tippoo, in 1782, the ithole of the force under General Matthews were made priaon- ns. The Sultan, sensible of the advanlagea he might derive from the accession of a body of well'disciplined men, made every offer that he thoi^l could tempt the English sepoys into his service, but in vain. He ordered them to work upon his fortifications, particularly Chiltledroog, which was very un- healthy, upon a seer (two pounds) ofraggy (a small grain like mustard seed) and a pice (about a halfpenny) per day. On this pittance they were rigidly kept at hard labour through the day, and in close confinement at night, subject to the con- tinued insults of their guards ; but neither inaulc, oppression, nor sickness, could lubdue (heir fidelity ; and at the peace in 1783, 1600 of the natives of India, whobad been made prisoners near the mountains of the coast of Malabar, marched a dis- tance of 600 miles to Madras to embark on a voyage of six or ..,_.,„Googlc 54 BSNGAL, MADBAB, AND BOMBAT. eig:ht weelcs, to rejoin the army In which they belongied st Bombay. During the march from Myaore, the guBrds of the Sultan carefully separated Ihoae men, whenever they encamped, by a fflok C« large reservoir) or some other Buppoaed inaiir- mountable obatacle, fiom the European [^Eoners, among whom were their officers. Not a night patsed (I write iTom a paper of an officer of distinctiDii who was a witness of what he aCates) that some of the sepoys did not elude the viplance of their guards by swimming across the tank, or by passing the sentries, that they might see their officers, to whom they brought such small sums as they had saved from their pittance, begging they would condeiceud to accept the little all they had to give. ' We can live upon any thing (they used to say,) but you requite mutton and beef.' A considerable number of the sepoys taken with General Matthews had, at the haxard of their lives, made their escape from the Sultan, and reached Bombay, through the Mahratta territories. To the service inEgypt,iQ 1800, the Bom bay troops proceeded with the same alacrity bb to every other, and neither the new disorderB (to them) of the ophthalmia or plague, &om both of which they sufiered, abated in the least degree their ardour. We can hardly contemplate an event in any history more cal- culated to ioBpire reflection on the character of that transcend- ant power which our countrj' had attained, than the meeting of her European and Indian army on the shores of the Medi- During the progress of the war with France, subsequenl to 1803, several parties of the Marine battalions c^ Bombay se- poys were captured on hoard o( the Company's cruisers and carried to the Isle of France, where they were treated in a nianner that reflects no credit upon the local government of the island, which probably expected that the hardships they endured would make them give way to the temptations con- tinually held out, and induce them to lake service ; but In this they were disappointed ; not one of those men could be per- snaded to enter into the employment of the enemies of Great Britain ; and n^ien the Isle of France was captured, they met with that notice which they had w well meriwd. The Govern* INDIVIDVAL HEB018U. 55 ment of Bombay granted lo ef eiy iDdiTidual who snrviTed hU ciptirity a uher medal, as a memorial of the aenie which it entertained of his proTed fidelity and attechnent. From the documenla in my posaeuion, many eiamplei of indiTidual heroism in the Bombay sepoy might be given, but I ihall content myaelf with two, which will show in a veiy ■troDg point of view the nature of theit attachment to theit Earopeaa officers. Four years ago, when the commanding; officer (Lieutenant Ctdonel Hull) of a battalion on the Bombay establiehment waa proceeding along the banks of a raTine, wilb eight or ten men of his corps, (a search for some lions, which had been seen near the cantonraent of Kaira, in Guzerat, a royal tiger aud- denly sprang upon him. The ground gave way, and the tiger and H^or Hull rolled together to the bottom of the ravine. Though this fall prevented the latter bom being killed by the first assault, still his fate aeemed certain ; and those who know trom having witnessed it, the terror which the attack of this fierce animal inspires, can only appreciate the character of that feeling which led every sepoy who was with him to rush at once to bis succour. Tbe tiger fell under their bayonets, though not before it bad wounded two of the assailanta most desperately; one having lost his leg, and the other been so lacerated as to be rendered unfit for future service as a soldier. These wounds, however, were deemed trivial by those who ntatained them, when ihey saw that tbe officer whom they loved had escaped unhurt from his perilous situation. The second example of this strong feeling of duty is still more remarkable, as it was not merely encountering danger, but a devotion to certain death. 1 take the account of the transaction fWnn a document ' in irtiich it wai recorded at the period of its occurrence. In 1797, Captaio Packenham, in His H^etty's ship Re- dstance, accompanied by lome small vessels of war belonging > Madras newspaper, 37th Sept. I7&7' 66 Bssaxh, madras, and bokbat. to the Compan;, took possession of Copang, the chief Ehitch settlement on the eailern Isle of Timor. Lieutenant Frost, of the Bombay marine, commander of the Intrepid cruiser, who was to be appointed Governor of Copang, had taken a houee on shore, where he expected Captain Faclcenham to meet the Dutch Gnvemor, and make arrangemenis for the future ad- ministralion of peace. The Malays had fonaed a plan, by which it was settled that the moment Captain Packelibam landed to attend this meeting;, they were to rise and murder all the Englishmen on shore. Fortunately something occurred lo, induce Captain Packenham to defer his visit; but he sent his boat, and its reaching the heach was a signal for tiie com* mencement of the massacre, tiearly twenty persons were ■lain. A large party had rushed to Lieutenant Frost's house. The head of his surgeon had been struck off, and bis own destruction seemed inevitable, when two sepoys of the Bombay marine battalion, whom he had landed from his seaael, ex- claimed to him, ' Saoe yourself by flight, we will fight and die i' at the same time exposing themselves to the fury of their assailants, and giving their commander time to escape to H boat. The sepoys, after a resistance as protracted aa thej could render it, were slain, and their heads exposed on pikea explained their fate to their lamenting companions on board the Intrepid. Captain Fackenham took prompt and ample vengeance of this treachery ; he opened a heavy fire upon the place, under which he landed an efficient force, which defeated the Malays, who fled after losing SOO men. Bengal aemv. — I shall not dwell on details connected with the progress of this army, from a few companies who landed with I/ord Olive in il56, to its present number, which is nearly 100,000 effective native soldiers, commanded by about 2248 ' European officers, but content myself with noticing ' This is independent of the officers of artillery and engi. neers, and of invalid corps. In I7fOr Che whole of the Euro- pean officers in the service of the Compaoy in Bengal amounted to eighteen captains, twenty-six lieutenants, and fifteen ensigns. BBHOAL KATtVB ASMT. 57 those ^ts which appeir best calculBted to LlluBtnte the dia- poEttion and character of the materialB of which ic i* com- The first bBttalion ttdied in Bengal were ten companies of 100 men each, commanded by a captain, nith one lieutenant, one ensign and one or two seijeants. Each company had a ■tandard of the same ground as the facings, with a different device (auiled to its subadar, or native captain), of a sabre, a orescent, or a dagger. The Company^s colours, with the unian in one corner, were carried by the grenadiers. The first battalions mere knonn by the name of the captain by whom they were commanded, and though, in 1704, 1ft corps received a numerical rank, correiponding with the actual rank of their commaadanta at that period, this did not prevent them from continuing to be known under their former appellation, or ftoiD assuming the name of a favourite leader ; the 15th battalion, was raised in Calcutta in 1767. and called the HatlhewSi from the name of its first commander. Thia corps wai with Colonel Ford in 1738, when that able officer, with 916 Uuiopeans and 1400 eepoys, besieged and took bv storm the strong fortress of Muuiipaiam, making prisoners a French garrison, who, both in Europeans and natives, were nearly double his numbers. In this daring and arduous enterpriaewe ■re told by the historian of India that ' the sepoys (who lost in killed and wounded on the storm 200 men) behaved with equal gallantry as the Europeans, both in the real and false attaclis '.' In 1763, in the wars with the Vizier of Oude, the ' Matthews,' which was with the force under the command of Major Adams, is stated, when the Company's European regiment was broken by cavalry, to have nobly supported Uia Majesty's 84th regiment, whose courage restored the action. Mqjor Adama died shortly al\erwards, and a general mutiny of ibe whole force took place, in which the sepoys at first joinedi but were soon after reclaimed to their duty. At the battle of ' Orme's History of India, voU Li 58 BBNOAL, HADKA8, AMD BOHBAT. Buzar, which ma fougbt in 1764, all the luitiTe corps appear to have behaved well. In 1782, ' the MHtthewe' wb» one of three Benpd corps who mutinied, under an apprehension of being; embarked for foreign service ; and though the conduct of those corps ' was remark- able for the total sbseace of that spirit of general insubor- dination and disposition to outrage by which mutinies of soldiery are usually marked, they were in the ensuing year brtJcen and dntfted into some other battalions. ' Thus fell • the Matthews' (says Captain WUliaiDs), a corps more highly spoken of during the twenty-six years it existed than any battalion in the serrice ,- and at this m the right tutud guns. ' They had always fought on the right (they said), and they hoped they would be permitted to die at that post of bonuur.' Their request was granted, and they were the first executed. ' 1 am sure (gays Captain Williams, who then belonged CO the Royal Marines employed in Bengal, and who was an ' Probably trom its dress. ■ The name of this officer was Oalliez. The oatiTet of India often corrupt English names in an extraordinary manner; Dalrymple is made into Dalduffie ; Ochterlony, Lonyochter ; Littleji^, John Lit^e ; Shairp, Surrup, Sec 60 eye-witnesi of thU renuTkable scene) that there waa not a dr7 eye Bmon);; the mariDes, although they bad been long accna- l reward their merila, or to stimulate others to liiture exertion of a similar nature. He visited this corps, and his personal conduct towards both the European irfBcera and natives gave grace to his public measures. A lasting impression was made on the minds of all ; and every bfour was doubled by the manner in which it was conferred. An officer of rank and distinction (Migor-General Sir Henry Wonley), who, when a young subaltern, was an eye-witness of this scene, observes, in a letter which he has written to me on the subject, ' Mr. Hastings, dressed in a plain blue coat, with his head uncovered, rode along the ranks. The troops had the most striking appearance of hardy veterans. They were nil as black as ink, contrasted witb the sleek olive skins of our own corps. The sight of that day (he concludes) and the feelings it excited, have never been absent from my mind ; to it, and to the affecting orders (which Mr. Hastings issued), I am satisfied I, in a great degree, owe whatever of profes- sional pride and emulation I have since possessed.' The rebellion of Cheyt Singh, the Rajah of Benares, in 1781> must be familiar to all acquainted with Indian history. My purpose in mentioning it, is limited to the object of showing the conduct of (he Bengal sepoya under one of the aererest trials of fidelity to which they were ever exposed. ~ I followers of the Rajah had risen upon ' I can particularly quote the late Lord Labe. No officer ever saw troops under more varied and severe trisls than he did the Bengal sepoys. He never spoke of them but with admiration; and was forward to declare, that he con - aidered Ihem equal to a coolest with any troops that could be brought Bgaiiut them. WAEEBK HASTIMQB AND THE AHUT. 63 tno compajiiea of Eepoys appointed to ^ard the house in which he was placed under restraint, and killed and wounded the whole of them. The lashneaa of au European ofGcer had led another party to slaughter in the atreets of Ramnagur. Mr. HasCingH, who waa at Benaies when these events occurred, had only a few companies of sepoys to guard his person, and even these he had no money to support. He summoned corps from different quarters to his aid i but when we reflect on the impression which the first success of Cheyt Singh had made, and consider that b; far Che gjealest proportion of his troops, with whom Mr. Hastings had overcome the dangers with which he was surrounded were men of the same tribe sfii country as those against whom tfaey were to act, and that the chief, who was declared a rebel, had long been considered by many of them as their legitimate prince, we must respect the mind that remained firm and unmoved at so alarming a criaii. The knowledge Mr. Hastings had of the sepoys led him to place implicit trust in them on this trying occasion, and his confidence was well rewarded. Their habits of discipline, and their attachment to their officers and the service, proved superior to the ties of caste and of kindred. Not an instance of defection occurred, and the public interests were preserved and restored by their zeal and valour. Before 1 make any remarks on the more recent parts of the history of the Bengal native inlanlry, I must of[er some obaetvationB on the composition of the army of that presidency. The cayalry is comparatively young ; its formation on the present ealablishment was only just completed when (he Hahratta war of 1803 commenced. Their conduct, however, in the severe service that ensued has justly raised their re- putation, and they at present form a roost efficient and dis- tinguished branch the general character oT a race of men whose numbers in the anuy of Bengal amount to between 30,000 and 40,000, and of whom we can recruit in our pro- vinces CO any amount. But this inatnunent of power must be managed with care and wisdom, or that which is our etrength may become our danger. It muit always be recollected that minds of the caste we have described are alive to every impulse, and, from similarity of feeling, will all vibrate at the same touch. If we desire to preserve their attachment, we must continue to treat ihem with kiodneas, libeFslily, and justice r we must attend to the most t rising of their prejudices, and avoid rash innovations, hut above all, thme that are calcu- lated to convey to their minds the most distant alarm in poinn connected with their usages or religion. Adetachmentof Bengal native troops shared in the ^otyao- quired by Lord Comwallis in hia war against Tippoo Sultan in ] 790 and 1791 . From that time tUI IDO.'i. the only operalion of any consequence in which they were engaged was a short cam- paign, in Rohilcund, in 1794. ThenideanduDtrained, butfieroe and hardy enemies against whom Sir R. Abercromhie had to act, were perhaps too much despised, and they took advantage of a confusion caused in his right wii^, by the bad behaviour of the English commandant of a small body of half- disciplined cavalry, to make a furious charge, by which a most destructive impression was made on two baltaliona of sepoys and a regi- ment of Europeans. Their desperate career wai checked by the fire of the Engli«h artillery, by whose good conduct, and the steady valour of the other parts of the line, a victory was ultimately gained. The native troops never, perhaps, displayed more courage than on this trying occasion, and all regretted that the in&moua' ' Tbe name of this officer was Ramsay. He escaped, by .desertion, &om (be punishment he bad so amply merited. ..,_..„Gooslc COLONEL uonbon's retrxat. €7 conduct of one msD had caused Euch serioiB loss ofofflcen and Dien in same of the most distinguished corps of (he army. The corps on Che light of the army was the 13th battalion, which had been eminently distinguished against the French at Cuddalore. It had earned more laurels under its well known eommaader, Captain Norman Macleod, in the campaigns of Lord Cornnallis. Captain Ramsay's cavalry rode uneipectedl; cnrer this fine haltalion, and 6000 Rohillas chared it. hefore it could recover from the confusion into which it nas thrown. The campaigns of 1803 and 1804 present a series of actions and sieges, in every one of which the Bengal sepoys showed Iheir accustomed valour. At the battles of Delhi and Laswsr- lee they nere as eminently distinguished as at the sieges of Agra and Deeg ; and I may safely assert, that in the only two great reverses which occurred during the war, the retreat of Colonel Monaon and the siege of Bhnrtpore, the courage, firmness, and attachment of the native troops were more con- spicuous than in its most brilliant periods. We know sufficient of the former operations to regret that no full and laithful ac- count of them baa yet been published ; nor does Captain Wil- liams's narrative supply this blank. I can only express my conviction, (bunded on a perusal of a private journal kept by an ofScer of the detachment, that in this disastrous retreat, the native troops (with the eiception of a very few, who, after suf- fering almost unparalleled hardships, were deluded by the offers of the enemy to desert) behaved in (he most nohle manner. They endured the greatest privations and dislresaes, during the march from the hanks of the Chumbul in Malwa, where the first retrograde movement was made, till their arrival at Agra, a distance of nearly 400 miles. They had at onee to combat the elements (for it rained almost incessantly) and the enemy. At the ChiimbuUee Nullah, a rapid torrent, at which the elephants were employed to carry the troops over, the animals becoming nearied or impatient, shook off those on their backs, numbers of whom were drowned. But a still more horrid scene en- sued. The fcligued elephants could not bring over the follow- ers. The Bheels, a mountain banditti, encouraged by Holkar, came down upon the unprotected females'and children, whom f2 68 BENGAL, MADBAS, AND BOUBAT. the; masBHcred in the moat inhuman manner. It was on this extreme trial that some of (he gatlanl fellows, who had before sufieted every hardship with firmness, gave way to deepair. Several of them, maddened with ihe scresme of their wives and children, thren (henuetves, with their firelocks, into the rapid stream, and perished in a vain attempt to aid those they loved more than life. Scenes of horrot occurred which were hardly ever surpassed ; yet, though deprived of regular food and rest, snd harassed with continued attacks, their spiricwas unbrolien. They maintained throughout the most severe discipline, and I am assured that on many occasions, when their European officers, worn down by the climate and fatigue, appeared taint and deapaodiug, the men next them exclaimed, ' Keep np your heart, sir, we will take you in safely to Agra'.' When in square, and sustaining charges from Che enemy's horse, it more than once happened, when a musket was fired by a young sol- dier, that a veteran struck him with the butt end of hia fire- lock, exclaiming, ' Are you mad, to destroy our discipline and make us like the rabble that are attacking us ?' The only serious impatience that the sepoys of this detach- ment showed was to he led against the enemy ; and the manner in which they behaved on all occasions given them of signaliz- ing their valour showed that this feeling had its rise in ou vain confidence. The flank companies, under Captain O'Donnell, were very succeasful in beating up Ihe quarters of a consider- able corps of the enemy on the 21st July. On the tilth of August, when all the detachment, which consisted of five bat- talions and six companies of sepoys, had been sent Bcrass the Bannaa river, except the second battalion of Che second regi- ment, and some piquets, Holkar brought up his infantry and guns to attack this corps, which not only defended its position, but advanced with the utmost gallantry and obtained posses- sion of several pieces of the enemy's artillery. It could not, however, be supported by the other parts of the force, who d of this fact by officers to whom tbeoe BHDETPOHB AND THE BENOAI. BBPOTS. 69 were divided from it by the river, and it was almost annihi- lated. Those who wiinGssed the attack which ii HoUur'a line from the opposite bank of the Ban with admiraliao of the heroism of the European ofRcers, and of the gallant men whom chey led to a momenlary but fatal victor]'. At the close of [his affair they saw a jemandar (netive lieutenant) retiring towards the river, pursued by five or lix men. He held the standard of hit battalion in one hand, and a sword, with which he defended himself, in the other. When arrived at the river he seemed to have attained bis olgect of saving the colouis of his corps, and, springing with them into the current, sunk to rise no more. There have been few officers who better understood the character of soldiers than the Iste Lord Lake ; he had early discovered that of the Bengal sepoys ; he attended to their pre- judices, flattered their pride, and praised their lalour. They repaid bis consideration of them with gratitude and affection, and during the whole of the late Mahratta war' their zeal and devotion to ihe public service was increased by the regard and attaohment which they entertained for the commander-in-chief. SuJBcient instances of this are recorded by Captain Williams. There is none, however, more remarkable than the conduct he pursued towards the shattered corps of Colonel Monson's de- tacbmeni. He formed them into a reserve, and promised them every opportunity of signalizing themselves. No confidence was ever better repaid, and throughout the service that ensued these corps were uniformly distinguished. The conduct of the second battalion of the twelfth regiment may be taken as sn example of the spirit that animated the whole. This corps, which has been before noticed under its lirst name of ' Callis,' or Che Lai Pultan, had behaved with un- common valour at the battle of Laswarree, where it had 100 men and three ofGcers killed and wounded. It was associated on that occasion with his Majesty's aeventy-sisth regiment, and shared in the praise which Lord Lake bestowed on ' the hand- I The war of 1803-4. D^„„jj,Googlc 70 BSNOAL, UADKAB, AMD BOHBAT. ful of heroes,' aa be emphatically termed thcne whose great ex- ertioQi decided that battle. It was with Colonel Monson'sda- tschmenl, and maintained its high character in the disaatroua done at the siege of BhurCpore. It appears hy a printed me- morial which we have before us of its European comioanding officer, that on the first storm of that fortress this corps lost 160 officers and men, killed and wounded, and did not retire till the last On Che third attack, when joined with the first bat- talion of the same regiment (amounting together to 800 men,) it became the admiration of the whole army. The second bat- talion of the twelfth regiment on this occasion not only drove back the enemy who had made a sally to attack the trenches, but effected a lodgment, and planted its colours on one of the bastions ofthe fbrt. Unfortunately this work was cut offby a deep ditch from the body of the place; and after the attack had failed the twelfth regiment was ordered to retire, which they did reluctantly, with the loss of 7 officers and 360 men, killed and wounded, being nearly half the number they had Examples of equal valomr might he given Irom many other corps during the war, and instances of individual valour might he noticed in any number, but more is not necessary to satisfy the reader of the Just title of the Bengal sepoys to the high name which they have acquired; their conduct throughout the arduous service in Nepaul, where they had at once to contead with the natural obstacles of an almost impracticable country, and the desperate vatoLU' of a race of hardy mountaineers, baa been worthy of their former fame. I know of few instances where more has been required (rom the zeal and valour of the native troops than in the late campaign against the Goorkhas. The great successes of M^jor-General Sir D. Ochterlony could only have been gained by the patience and courage of the troops being equal to the skill and decision of their comman- der, and in the spirited and able operations of Colonel Nicolb, quarter-master-general of his Majesty's troops in India, against Almorah, where HOO sepoys, aided hy a few irregulars, were led against 3000 gallant mountaineers, who occapied that moun- ..,_.,„Gooslc NATITB ARMT OP INDIA. 71 tain foitieas, and the heighCa hj irhich ii waa Burrounded. Victory could only have been ohtained by every sepoy partafa- ing of the ardour and resolution of his gallanc leader. Of their conduct on this occasion we may, indeed, judge by the admira- tion nith which it inspired Colonel Nicolls, who gave vent to his feelings in an order that does honour to hia character. SpeakiDif of an attack made by a party of aepuy grenadiers, he observeB, ' this was an exploit of which the best troops of any age might justly have been proud.' Since the conclusioD of this war a small body of these troops has had an opportunity of exhibiting, in a most distinguished manner, that firmness, courage, and attachment to their officers and the service which have always characleriaed this army. We allude to a recent Robilcund. The introduction of a police- tax, intended to pro- vide means for the secnrity of life and property, had spread alarm and discontent among an ignorant population, whose lead them to regard any innovation (whatever be its character) with jealousy and indignation. Acting under these feelings, the Rohillas of Bareilly, who are alike remarkable for their strength of body and individual courage, rose in a body to op- pose the orders of the civil raagistraie. They were influenced i^ a priest upwards of ninety years of age, who dug hia grase, to indicate bis resolution to conquer or die, and at whose orders the green flag or standard of Mahomet waa hoisted, that religi- ous feelings might be excited to aid the eObrCs which they now (traclaimed themselves determined to make to eScct the down- Eal of their European tyrants. What rendered this revolt more alarming, was the knowledge that the cause of the insurgents was popular over the whole country, and a belief that their suc- cess would be the signal for a general rise in the neighbouring ptovinces. All the force that could be collected to suppress this revolt was a detachment of between 300 and 400 sepoys of the twenty- seventh regiment of native infantry, and part of a provincial battalion, under Captain Boscaweu, with two guns, and a parly of about 400 Rohilla horse belonging to a corps lately embodied under Captain Cuiuiingham. The former re- ..,_.,„Googlc 73 BENGAL, UADRAB, AMD BOUBAT. ceived, with undismayed courage, Che charge of en undisci- plined, but furious and desperate rabble, who. encouraged by iheir numbers, nhich exceeded 12,000 armed men. persevered in the attack tiU more than 2000 of them were slain ; and the latter, though of Che same class and religion as the insurgenta, and probably related to many of them by the ties of kindred. proved equaLy Gnn as the sepoya to their duty. When their priest advanced and invoked them to join their natural friendB, and to range themaelves under the standard of their taith, only one man was found wanting in fidelity ; he deserted, and was aooti afterwards slain by his former comrades, who continued throughout to display prompt obedience, exemplary courage, and unshaken attachment to the oiiicer by whom ihey were led. However slight this affair may seem, I do not recollect any occurrence in the history of Britisli India more calculated to show the dependence of our power on the fidelity of our native troops, and the absolute necessity of adopting every measure It is by tieating the sepoya with kindness and consideration, manner, to their feelings and prejudices, that we can command, as haa been well observed, ' their lives through the medium of their affections;' and so long as we can, by these means, pre- serve the fidelity and attachment of that proportion of the po- pulation of our immense possessions in the east, which we arm to defend the remainder, our empire may be cooaidered M Subsequent to the date of this account, the native arou of India have lidly maintained the high reputation they bad During the campaigns against the Mahrattas and Pindaries, in 1817 and 18IB, that in the territories of Ava, and the siege ot Bburratpore, in 1S26, these troops evinced all the military qualities of zeal, attachment to their colours, and gallantry, for which they had been so long distinguished. Bach presidency haa its separate army, comnian- der-iu -chief, etaff. Sic. ; but the commander- in- cQii^ INDIA. 73 of the supreme government has a general authority over all the presidenciea. The total armed force in British India is about 194,000 men : it may be said to consist of three branches, viz. Queen's cavalry and tnbntry; East India Company's European engineers, artillery, and infantry; and the Company's native artillery, cavalry, and infantry. The European officers serving in British India are at present in number and distribution as follows' : — Offp.. i 1 1 j 1 1 J 68 1 1 •1 Het Mjijetty'i RMflmenu ... Ci'ilrj ... Hon. Company's Regulus ... Hoc Maleily'i Hegimenis ... Melicid DeiBtlnienl „ Iot«l • Included in Eurepsan honeartUlerr. t There i. no" no Kp-rste Pioneer Corp. ud miDcn are emliodied in one cctp>. 9i()»N -^^'-=*:£— "sssssssgast -d^H SS£S3:gS|S2=||2SSSS£2S 3 1 -■umH 5SS-S!iS=!2i»8S55E5is ■*m.a 23?*H2S5?sl2B§^€=sl ^5 1 ■"*n»N S3=!ls~s°S!=SSSS3S8iS ..™, SSSrSSSESSESSSSSSSS;^ f ||i|S|||||e|i|!|S|l!s D^„_,j., Google KCCLBSIASTICAL EBTABI.IBHUBNT. 101 l^e range of pxifeseioQal talent is of the highest, and the vnluahle additione which the sargeone in the East India Company's service have made to onr here- tofore limited knowledge of the botany, zoology, geology, meteorology, &c. of the east, entitle them to the most honoured considerations. The medical so- cieties and museums -which have heen established at each presidency have been the means of concentrating in a focna the invaluable local information which the ' different members of the service have an opportunity, while serving at distant stations, of acquiring ; and the native medical schools in which the Hindoo and Mussulman youths are taught anatomy, the practice of physic, surgery, and chemistry, either to enable them to serve as doctors and assistant surgeons in the Company's army, or as private practitioners, are as creditable to the munificence of the Company, as to the talent and zeal which presides over them. Betibino Funds. — The military, medical, and civil services of the East India Company have established retiring funds, to which each member contributes a monthly sum Ax)m his pay. EccLBsiASTicAL.— TTie British clerical establish- ment in India was stated before Parliament, in 1 832, (hy Mr. Lushington) to be adequate to its purposes ; the European chaplains in 1817, were in number, thirty-nine; in 1S27, fifty-one, and in 1831, they were increased to seventy-six, of whom thirty-eight were at Bengal, twenty-three at Madras, and fifteen at Bombay. The clergy are under the charge of diocesans at each presidency. The total charge of the eBtablishment m 1827, was 66,943;. sterling. A D^„_,_, Google 102 BBNOAL, MADRAS, AlfD late retam gives the number of chaplains, stations, and ecclesiastical charges, as follows t Presidency. Staciaas. Chaplains. Charge- Bengal ... 18 .... 38 ... . £40,625 Madras ... 18 .... 23 ... . 20,199 Bombay .. 12 .... 15 ... . 6,119 In 1830-31, the salaries and allowances paid by the Indian government, at each presidency, for the support of the clergy and places of worship, was — Bengal Episcopal, sa. rs. 425,876 ; Scotch Church, 20,451; Roman Catholic, 4,000; total. 450,327. Madras Episcopal, Mad. rs. 206,976; Scotch Church, 11,760; Roman Catholic. 5,346: total. 224,082. Bombay Episcopal. Bomb. ra. 178,578; Scotch Church. 20.862; Roman Catholic, 820; total, 200,280. Grand total, 874,669 rupees, or about 85,000/. (See Chapter on Be%ion). Indian Patronaob. — The Directors of the East India Company have'the nomination of writers, cadets, and assistant- surgeons for the Indian service, thia with a salary of 300/. a year is the sole reward which they receive for their services, for by their oath they are bound to accept no pecuniary consideration for any appointment whatever. The number of wri- ters, cadets, and assistant -surgeons required for the year being made known, the number is divided into thirty shares, of which the chairman and deputy chairman have each two, the President of the Board of Control two, and each director one. Her Ma- jesty's ministera, through the Board of Control, have the appointment of jndges, bishops, officers of the Queen's army, and a negative on the Court of Direc- ,jj,Googlc PATRONAOB or AFPOINTllBNT. 103 ton' nommatioii of the governor general, governors, commanderB-in-chief, and members of council. The patronage of ajymatment rests only with the home authorities, that of promotioit is thas managed. A writer oa proving his qualifications in India Is al- lowed to fix on any branch of the service, (revenue, judicial, or political), and the principle of succeseion to office is regnlated partly by seniority, and partly by merit, blended so well together, as effectoally to destroy favouritism, while a succession of offices is still left open for the encouragement of talent and indoatry. An Act of Parliament, providing that all Bituationa exceeding in total value 5001. per annum, must be held by a civil servant of three years reai- dence in India; ditto exceeding 15001. a year, by aae of six years standing ; ditto, 30001. by one of nine years, and of 4000/. and upwards by a servant of twelve years sojourn in the £ast. Thus, for vacan- dea onder each classification, there are a certain number of candidates of the required local experience when the selection depends on the government, but every care is taken to make merit the sole ground for eligibility and snccess. The salaries of the whole civil service are now undergoing reduction and mo- difications, which it is thought will tend to stimnlate the faculties of the functionaries employed. The Company's civil servants are educated at the East India College of Haileybury, where each student must enter before he is twenty years of age, and pay 103/. per annum towards defraying the expensive and elaborate education which he receives in every euential branch of oriental and western literature, 104 BKNGAL, KASSAB, AND BOMBAY. philology and science, tinder the anperintendencft of a college council, and the most learned profeesorft in England. The test of ezaminations for a writer- ship is severe. The nominationB during the laat five years from the college consisted of sons of aoblemen thj-ee ; of baronets eight ; of clergymen fbmleen ; of East India directors eight ; of Company's cItU aer- vantB thirty; of ditto, military ditto, twenty-two; of ditto, naval ditto, forty-two ; of her Majesty's mili- tary and naval officers, twenty-seven ; and of mer- chants, bankers, and private gentlemen, 110. The «*( expenditure of the College of Haileyhnry, from 1805 to 1830, was 363,427/., of which 96,359/. was for the boildiog ; 33,553/. for books, and philoso- phical instruments, &c. ; the salaries paid to pro- fessors, amount to 220,730/., and the nnmber of students educated was 1978. The manner in which the patronage exercised in India is controlled by the Home Government of the East India Company, is aa fallows': The records, as now gent home from India, contain the most minute description of the setFices, the character, aikd conduct of every iodividual in the civil eatabliahment. Per- hapi 1 ma; exemplify it b; stating, that when member* of council for India are appointed b; the Court of Directors, a list of civil servants within a ^ren period of [he standing of those servants, from whence it is proposed Co select members o( cDunoil, is laid before the Court of Directart, which list contains a complete statement of the whole courae of a ser- vant's progress, from his arrival in India as a writer, to the date at whiah it is proposed to appoint him to a seat in couD~ ' The late Becretai; to the East India Compauf, P. Auber, Esq., gave in this valuable and lucid evideiwe on the subject. 105 cil. So it is Kith regard to everf other civil lervant ia the establishment ; and, if it would not be troubling the comniitlee loo iDUch, I will take the liberty of reading a letter, which has particular reference to the course now observed with regard to the patronage in India, aod the Bcrutin^ which is OKerciaed bj the authorities here, or rather the knowledge which they posses* of the course pursued bj the goreramsnt abroad. It is an eztTBCl of a letter from the chairman and deputy of the Court of Directors to Lord Ellenborough, dated Norember, 1829. ' The Le^slature has placed the local gOTemmenls in subordinatioD to the government at home, it has exacted from them obedience to the otden issued hy the constituted autho- rities in this country. The legislature baa provided, that all the Company's servants in India, civil and military, under the rank of Governor-general and Governor, shall, in the first in- ilBoce, receive their appointments from the Court of Directors ; Ihat the members of council shall, exaepting in particular cases, be nominated by the court, and that (he governor- general and governors shall likewise be appointed by the court, with the approbation of the Queen. The legislaCuRi has empowered the Court of Directors to recal the Governor- general and other governors, and to remove from office, or dismiss fiom their service, any of their servants, civil or mili- Uiy ; and as a security against excessive lenity or undue in- du^Dce on the part of the Court, it has conferred upon the crowD the power, under her Majesty's sign manual, counter- signed by the President of the Board of Commissioners, of ncacJDg appointtncnts and commissions, and of recalling any nf the Company's servants, civil or military, from the Governor- general downward. By these provisions, the fortune of every servant of the Company in India is made dependant on the hixne authorities ; and as long as the powers with which the taller are thus entrusted continue to be properly aod season- ably exercised, there appears to us lo be little ground for ap- prehension that the Indian lunclionaries nil! forget they are accountable agents, and still lesa that this fbrgetfiilnesB will be generated by so inadequate a cause as an occasional dday 106 here, not in iuuing necensry iasCruclioaa, nor in replying bi ipecisl Teferencea, but in reviewing- thek post proceedings. ' Tbe legiaUture having thus provided aufficienC lureCiea agUDBt the independence and irTeapanubiliCf of the govem- menia in India, haa with a just appreciation of the diatBiice and all the eitraordmary circumstBiicea attending die con- nexion between tbe two countries, not only left to the govem- menta there tbe diatribution anddisposai of all the Compaay's establishniente, civil and military, and the power of suspending from the service such individuals as may be guilty of miscan- duct, but has delegated to them powers of legislation, and (o the Qovemor-general, individually and temporally, some of the most importaat rights of sovereignty, such as declaring war, making peace, and concluding treaties with foreign statesj and while it has enacted, that the wilfiil disobeying, or the wilfiil omitting, forbearing or n^lecling to execute the orden of the Court of Directors by the local functionaries, shall be deemed a misdemeanor at law.and made it punishable as such, the enactment is qualiGed with the exception of caseg of neces- sity, the burthen of the proof of which necessity lies on tbe party so disobeying. Sic. ' Nor do the poners thus conferred (lai^e as they are) ex- oeed the exigencies of the case. It would be superfluous in addressing your lordship to enlarge on tbe magnitude of the trust reposed in the local governments, and the difficultiea with which it is encompassed, difficulties so many and ao great, as to be almost insuperable, if experience had not ahown that to a great extent at least they may be surmounted. Tbe imposition of the various checks with which the system abounds presupposes the grant of a liberal confidence in those to whom power is delegated. The individuals selected for members of the different councils of government are usually men of malufe experience, who have distinguished themselves in the several gradalioaB of the service. At the head of the two subordinate governments are generally placed persons who have recom- mended themselves to the home authorities by their eminent e local knowledge, tried habits of busi- Lces in Inilia, or persons sent from this ..„„G„oslc or THB GOVBRNHKNT. 107 oounCi;, nho, without emctly the same recommendations, are on other groundB aupposed to posaeK equal quail Qcations. Hie office of Governor-genera) haa usually been filled by no- blemen of elevated rank and character, who in lome ingtances have held high offices of itate in England, and wbo in going to India with the qualities of British ataleamen, have there &e means of acquiring a personal knowledge of the country and the people whom they are sent to govern i and (he allow- ances of the Oovemor-general, other governors and members, u well of the supreme as of the subordinate governments, are filed on a more liberal scale, suitable not to the character of mere executive agents, but to the greatness of diicretioDary tiusti and ibe weight of their responsibility. ' It is by no meaoB our intention, in submitting the for- going considerations, to apologize for any want of promptitude or regularity on the part of the local goveromenla in reporting their proceedings to the Court, or to absolve the Court from the obligation of cardully reviaing those proceedings, and communicating their sentiments thereupon within a reason- able titne, and above all of enforcing strict obedience to their orders where no sufficient reason is given tor suspending or modi^og them : all that wc mean to infer is, that when the relative cfaarBctert, position and powers of the constituted au- thorities at home and abroad are duly considered, a minute interference in the details of Indian administration was not aODtemplated by the legislature, and that as long as a general supervision is watchtullj exercised, and no proceedings of im- portance are kept back from observation, overlooked, or neg- lected, its intentiong are not necessarily defeated by an arrear of correspondence on matters of minor moment. ' ttis doubtless indispensable that the home authorities shall eiarciae the utmost caution and circumspection in the selec- tion of their Indian governors, and in the choice of fit persona for the councils of government ; that they shall constantly and vigilantly inspect the proceedings of those governments, as they may affect the inleresis of the state as nell as the charac- ters and prospects of Individuals: chat commendation and Mature be Impartially distributed, and that in cases of mani- 108 BBNC feat iDcotnpetence oc groBi miscanduct, the eztTeme raeaiure of removs] froni office be reioried to. It U incuinbeiitaa (hem to tike care that, in our political relations trith forsign powers, juatice and moderation are uniformly obsersetl, that the diici- pline and general efficiency of the army are maintaiaed. and that in (he business of internal adoiiaiatralian, the «elfore of the native population ig sedulously coniulted. It is obligatory on them narronly to scrutinize and control the public expendi- ture, to keep a watchful eye over all their aervanli, to see that diatinguished merit is adequately encouraged and rewarded, that die undeserving ore not promoted by favour, and that evil doers are not improperly shielded from the punishment due to delinquency. It is also within tfaeir province to convey to the local governments auch instructjons as may from time to time be deemed expedient with a view (o these or other oh- jecla, and lo enforce obedience to their orders when transgressed or imperfectly executed without valid reason.' Your answer went in the first inataDce to show the eiistenoe of a control and vigilant scnitiny exercised by the home ait- ihoriiies over the patronage of the Govemoi-general in India, and which control you consider would cease lo exist in the event of the gubstituiion of some other public organ for the Court of Directors at home ; and you have instanced this by the care that is taken to ascertain the character and qualifica- lioDs of individuals selected to be membsra of councila in India; are not (he members of council nominated at present by the Court of Directors, and not by the OovemoT'geiMral I — What I wished to exempliiy (o the committee was, (he mi- na[e knowledge that the Court of Direcioti poaseased of all nominations made to India, of (he progress of their servants, and of ibeir ippoiatment from one station to another, and of the duties they performed. At the present moment there is, I conceive, a check both on the part of the Board of Control and on the port of the Court of Directors in the exercise hy the Governor-general of his patronage, which patronage is made by selecting civil serraots accordiog to their ■eniorit]', as prescribed by the Act of Parliament, unless there is any rm- •on for a different course of proceeding; and whilst it is true mUlAM GOTBRNHBNT. 109 ibat the GoTeTnar-gen«-al «elecu from the miliuuy Bervice military men for civil aUtions, it ii a practice objected to, and for which he ie obliged to assigti reasons. Unless some strict proviaioti or check shall exist in future as dow does exist, the Govemor-general will of course be at liberty to exercise his paDooage as be might see Ql, without any control Id point of fact, is it your belief that any real control is ex- ercised over the appointments in India of the eommissionert, judges of circuit, members of the courts of revenue, and of other Boaidsr in short, of the detail of the pstronage in thai country? — I conceive that the patronage in that country ia carried on as prescribed in the manner I have already stated, by the regu- lations, and if there were not the check that now exists, which I conceive the Governor-general is perfectly aware of, lie might exercise It to a large and Imperious extent. "Hie government of the Anglo-Indian empire is one foonded on an opinion aiiaing out of oar moral rectitude as well as pliyaii»l force, and whatever weakens it, tends therefore to the diminution of our power in the East ; in tlie preceding sketch may be perceived, the existence of present benefit, as well as future advantages, and the positive danger to both coiintries by rash and crnde plans of fancied perfec- tion being urged for adoption at this eventful criais. Unlike European govemmeate, the East India Com- pany's administration has been in general ia advance of the intelligence of the people ; the increasing vigi- laot control of Parliament, the faat-growing influence of public opinion in England and in India, and the omnipotence of the press in both countries, will from time to time suggest, and enable the authorities to carry into eflfect, such improvements as may be safely, )tnd with a prospect of permanent benefit enacted. eJj,GOOglC no remembering always that governments are not like a forge neil, etruck out at a single heat of the iron, bnt like the oak tree, which grows from year to year, while the more extended its age, the deeper and deeper become its roots. To the corporation of the East India Company, headed and directed by such statesmen as Wellesley, Clive, and Hastings, we are indebted for the acquisition and present progressive atate of India, and to the adoption of sound and com- prehensive measures, the good and the wise still look for the amelioration of Hindostan, and the preserva- tiou of the ministerial balance of power in Britain. CHAPTER in. HATIVEB, &C. The prosperity of a nation is materially dependent on a just system of finance, the leading prindplea of which are, that every individual shall contrUnite to the maintenance of a government in proportion to the yiaperty he possesses, in order to protect him from domestic tyranny or foreign aggression, and ..,_..„Gooslc tbat every iadividual contributing a quota shall have a voice is regulating its disbursement. As the com- parative advantages of direct and indirect taxation are now deaervedly engrossing a large share of public attention, and the financial system of Great Britain and of our possessions in India is materially different, it will be necessary to enter into some detail, in order that the Indian mode of finance may be more thoroughly understood and appreciated. The history of most ancient states show that direct taxation, or in other words, taxation on pro- perty, has been the foundation and maio stay of their revenue Bystems ; in England the principle has been progressively departed from since the reign of William III. until now, oat of nearly 50,000,000/. taxes levied annuallyin the United Kingdom, almost 40,000,000/. < are raised on the consumption of the necessariee and comforts of life. In India the ancient system of direct taxation has not been changed, the land oon- tjnpiog, as it has been from time immemorial, the grand fond of supply to the government, as will be Been by the proportions of the Indian revenue derived from different sources in 1831-32, the latest year in which the returns have been laid before Parliament oomplete : — < Tfae volume nbich 1 have written on the ' TaxaEioii of t)ie Britiih Empire' will show the effects of high taxea on articlee of general coniumptian ; especially in connectioii with the -coDtnuitionof thecuneacy, which took pkceia 1810. CBiii5dJ.Googlc BEKOAL, MADRAS, AND BO MB AT. DIRECT TAXATION. LuhI Reveaue £10,7fiO,3IS HoiweTai. ....... «,000 Tax on ProieuiDiis 116,830 Tolls on Ferries 96,342 Territories on Nerbudda . . . 239,317 Burmese Cesaions 87,266 Mysore, Travaooore, and Cochin. 342.776 Nagpore Subsidiary 77,7*3 Bhurtpore 24,881 Nizams and Rajpoot Tribute . . 7S.93B Cutch Subsidiary 13,332 HiscellaneoUB 17,990 £11,885,560 INDIRECT TAXATION. Salt Sale and Licences .... £2,314,982 CuEUnu (Sea and Land) . . . 1,380,099 Opium 1.442,670 Pose Office 103,501 Tobacco 63,048 Mint Beceipta 60.618 Stamps 328,300 Judicial Fees and Fines .... 70,409 Sayer and Abkaree 764,769 Marine and Pilotage 46,974 Excise (in Calcutta) 19,106 Now, in making this division, I have given in the second column eeveral iteras, which will detract from its amount when examined. The tax levied upon opiam is paid indirectly, it is true, hy the Chinaioen who consume it in the celestial empire, but in reality BBTRNUB AMD CHABQES. 113 the tax falls on the land which grows the poppy, for were there no tax levied, the amount now paid by the Chinamea would go into the pockets of the Hindoo landed proprietora, thae we reduce the 6,600,000/. to 5.200,000/. ; and when we consider how nearly salt, stampa, judicial, mint, and post- office receipts are direct tases, the large proportion of the latter will be apparent. The gross revenues of the Three Presidencies during the fifteen years, ending 1828-29, were aa follows : — Mftdra 12,043,967:. 1 Bombay. Revenue and Charges of Bridsh India for 1831-3.— (Latest Ben^aL Madru- B Lud-tu OpfiuDiate P«t.. Kupi. srtseo 248811 Hup«. Rup«.. 17871 133U3 410M 97Hia 34SS1 1S»3» Nliam'i Md Raftiol Iribiita MTBore, TraTBncon, and Cochin j 118449994 I144l)!4 187603! ly). 4W7!1 lasso; 196971 295375^ «Si7l iHM0S7 !iSSI»8 IHIM 191431 M2!0il 44Moi 4S»79:J IS«7J1152 isom 28isiig noil 1»M 114IM 1143«M irswt 7411) 2007614 IB7I4M Colleeltog land-tax s»7Br»nd«b-l Dillo ult (indnding Frenoh uidl ItanWimpplie.) S ^^SS^"-~~zzzz: ^'^'^^^.TJ^'^^z imsrrs B7»e7« Suddcr. urovincUl uidiiUata courti Neibud^ tenjloi? cb'uget 4«4!471)8 a»34DSU IMMBS ,.4798 ... ..,_.,„Googlc 115 Land rkvxnub op India. — The land-tax of British India ia entitled to priority of consideration, no less on account of ita financial importance as to amount, than of its influence over the rights and interests of the Dative inhabitants of the country, and over the general prosperity of the empire. There are three different modes of assessing land io India, and as each has its advocates and are essentially different in operation, the fairest plan which the author can adopt in laying a detail of them before the public, will be to give a very brief abstract of the evidence on the subject as laid before Parliament, doling the recent discussion on the renewal of the East India Company's Charter; thus no favour to any system will be shown, and the public will be better enabled to a form a cotoparative judgment on their respective merits '. FuNClPLEB Of THE Land-TjIic. — Three different modes of tneasing.Ihe land-tax prevail in British laAia—SM, a per- petual settlement vrilh the proprietors of the land (—2nd, a UatfOTOfy settlement nith the heads of villages or townships ; and 3rd, a definite settlement with each iadiiidual occupant or cultivator of the soil (1832, C. P. 2"), hut the ackno«ledged basis of every land revenue settlement in India, is the right c4 a government to a certain share of the gross produce of every inch of cultivated landj the share may be alienated entirely or partially, or it may be diiDinished by grants from ' The Bource whence each paragraph is derived verbatim, is also given ; T have only added copulative conjtmctionB or aitides for the purpose of ' davetsiling,' as it were, the sentj- ments scattered through a vast mass of evidence. ■ C. P. in Commons' Paper ; Lords' ie signilied by L. ; the ligure refers to the number of the paper oi question. 116 BBNOAL, HADKAS, AND BOMBAY. gavemment : it mar be commuted for a mone; psfment under engagements more or less extended for a series of years, of even for perpetuity, but the ground works of Oie land revenue in India, is the right of government to a share of the gross produce of all cultivation (1832, C. P. £9). Land is aaseesed with reference to the payments of former yeara, and to the actual state of [he cultivation, and of the season ; if the culti- vation have heen increased the revenue is increaaedi ifland have been thrown up it is diminished ; if it be a bad season aUowances are made for it (1830, L, 2,288) ; and in case of complaint of over- assessment it is rectified (1830, L. 1,565), as it is well understood that nothing contributei so essenliallj to secure the public tranquillity as a low aaseBBment (1831, C. ft,260). The pecidiarity of India in deriving a large proportion of its revenue from the land, is in Skct a very great advantage ; nias- tenths probably of the revenue of the government is derived tiom tlie rent of land never appropriated to individuals, and always considered to have been the property of government : this is country, because in consequence of this the wants of the slate are supplied really and truly without taxation : the wants of ^vernment are supplied without any drain, either upoo the produce of the man's labour, or the produce of an; man's capital (1831, C. 3,134). But the great difficulty In raising a revenue tiom the land in India, is the difficulty of aicertaining correctly the value of the land ; approximation is all that can be obtained (1831, C. 3,162); the general proportion taken is extremely uncertain (1830, L. 2,637); because no portion of the gross produce of the land can ever be taken as the standard for assessment, for various proportions of the grosa produce go as rent, according to all the various qualities of the soil, some lands yielding no rent, others a fourth, others a third, and other portions of the soil of a still more valuable quality, yielding half or more than half of the gross produce as rent (1831, C. 3,686); that is, a surplus of the produce of the cMlaflera full remuneration to the cultivator for his labour and itoefc (do. 3884). Tbe instruetian [at many jean sent from THB ZIMINDART BBTTLBMHNT. 117 iKinie, and impressed upon the f^verntnents of India ia. tlist innocase can more be taken thsn the rent of the land, witholU both injuEtice and permaaent injury to the countrjr, not only injury to tZje indiriduaJ cultivators^ but injury to the goTeru- ment iOelf ; and in all doubtful cases, the instruction has been to take special care to err on the side of lenity rather than on the side of severity ; to Uke legs tban the rent rather than more (1831, C. 3,16S). The consent of goternment is not requited for the cultisa- tioD of any new land; government are happy that people should come and take up their abode ; they make no inquiry, if there be no objection loade by the neighbouring villagers ; that ia to say, that they do not occupy the land that others are in the poaiession of; tbe right of possession remaining, unless disturbed by other claimants, which rarely ot never occurs (1830, L. 943 and 543). The zbuihdart or PEKPETuaL settlehgnt or Lord CoRHWULLtS. — One of the moat material paints for considera- tion, in respect (o the land-tax, is the different modes of levying the assessment now in force (1832, C. R. P. 2). To begin with the Zemiadary Settlement, the most obvious feature of advantage in which is the facility of collection, as it is a much more simple thing to obtain the revenue of a large dis- trict Irom a certain moderate number of Zemindars or contri- butors, than it is to perform the collection in detail by the officers of government themselves, and another advantage un- doubtedly is the greater degree of certainty in the result (1831, C. 3,339) ; the main diSerence in the mode of collecting the land revenue in different parts of British India, consisting chiefly in the different defFTeeBofsummariness, or detail adopted in the collection of the revenue, from the great mass of ciilti- vatora who hold land generally in small portions, and who have aright to the perpetual hereditary occupancy of the soil, ao long aa they continue to paythe revenue demanded by govern- When the East India Company came into possession of the revenues of the Dewanny of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, they found the Itmd revenue collected in the moat summary method ..,_..„Gooslc 118 BBNO&L, MADRAS, AND BOMBAY. by the interven^an of officers under the MBbotnedan pirern- ment, who had charge o( districU sometimeE of more, gome- dmesofless ezteat, with various [idea, such ai ZemindsTS, and TalookiiarB, and nho paid the revenue iuta the treaaut? in one Eum, for which tbey were rewarded by the goTennnent, generally, with a per centage on their collectioiifli in &ct. Zemindars were found managing: considerable diEtricta nbote DhligadonB consiated in paying a certain annual amount to the goyemment; many of Ihem held their districts or estates under this condition hereditarily. (1831, C. 3,114, 3,116, 3,31S). On the East India Company becoming possessed of the Bengal territory, great abuaes were fouod to prevail, and to be practised by the difierent sorta of people employed in tbe cnllection of the revenue. The detail of the business was au great that it frightened Lord CorDwallis and tbe govemment of the day, and they conceived that no better method for the protection of the Ryota or small cultivators could be invented than to create a species of landlords, from whom tbey eipected much benefit to arise. The ground upon which their reasoning principally went was this, that those Zemindars, having a per- manent intereit in the land assigned to them, would feel an interest in the prosperity of the Ryots, in the same manner as a landlord in England feels an interest in the prosperity of his tenants. This was expected to produce two good effects, to create a landed aristocracy in the country, and above all to afford protection to tbe Ryots or small cultivators, fiwn the kind of paternal feeling that was expected to pervade tbe Zemindars(1831,C. 3,136). With a view to the protection of the whole mass of the agricultural population, and witl) the best of motives, the Zemindars in 1793, whether cul- tivators or officers in actual charge of districts, hereditarily or by special appointment, were created landholders of the country, by which a proper^ in the soil was vested in them, in nearly as full a sense ss it is to the holder of a fee* simple in England; the sum which a Zemindar bad been in the habit of paying was ascertained by the observation of a few prior years, the aaseument or tax was fixed forever, and an engagement was made that tbia amount of land re- SETTLEUBNT. 119 venue Bhould never be railed oa bim ; such ia the nature of the settlement known by the name of ' the ZEXiKDAay or Pbruihent SE'rTLEUEKT'(ie31, C. 3115,3116,3136,3215; IS32, R.C.P. 21). Thecounlriea eeltled on the permanent Zemindaly tenure include, under the Bengal presidency, an extent of 149,783 square miles, embracing the wbole ol Ben- gal, Bahar, Benares, and Orissa (CuCtack alone excepted), with a population, exclusive of the Benares province, of 35,618,649, asKssed in 1829-30 at a permanent jumma, or revenue of 32,470,858 sicca rupees. UniiertheMadraspresidency,the Ze- mindary settlement includes nearly the whole of the five north- ern circars lying immediately adjacent to the Bengal ftvntier ; rather more than one- third of the Salem, and about one- third of the ChingleputdistricUiucludeduDderthe head of Madura; and a small portion of the southern division of Arcot, consisting of some of the East India Company's ancient lands near Cudda- lore : these countries include a lerrltory of 49,607 square miles, withapopulation of 3,941,021, aaaessed in 1829-30al 8,511,009 sicca rupees. The permanent, or Zemindary setUement, haa never extended to any portion of the provinces under the Bom- bay presidency, which canlatn 69,438 square miles, with a po- pulatian estimated at 6,261^6, and S600 square miles in the northern Concan, of which the population is unknown. Far the greater part of the Madras territories, to the extent of &a,3ie iquare miles, with a populadon of 9,667,614, has also been exempted from it; as has also been the case in the pro- vince of Cuttack, under the Bengal Government, contuning 8040 square miles, and a population of 1,984,620 ; neiAer has the permanent settlement been extended to the upper or western provinces under the supreme government, embracing 66,610 square miles, and a population of 32,206,806; nor to the distncts ceded on the Nerbudda, and by the Rajah of Berar, in 1826, containing 86,700 square miles, of nhich the population ia unknown : thus of the firi^sh territorial posses- sions on the continent of Asia, including an area of 512,878 square miles, the permanent or Zemindary settlement extends over but 199,389 square miles (1832, R. C. P.ai). We may now proceed to the considelation of the tillage ststem. ,., Google ISO BSNflAt, MADRAS, AND BOHBAT. ViLLKGE Land Revenue Siitbh. — The landed propertj in Upper India may be aaid to belong to the community of b village, each village having head men, leaden, or principals, called MocudiUmt, or Polailt, oho either b; detcent, or Borne- timea by their personal influence, obtain a mperioricr In the village, and the management of its allairs! they are selected by the villagers, and removable at their pleaaure. The lands are let out to men sometimes in the same village, Bomelimes in the Dei^bouring village, while certain portions, and certain righta are possessed by the different frafUmea or artizana of the village, such as the schoolmaster, the washer- man, the barber, the carpenter, the blacksmith, the wstchmao, the village accountant, &c., who have each a right to a certain share in the produce of the soil, of which there is also a certain portion set aside for certain recognised expenses of the village, and for defraying its hospitality towards strangers (1830, L. 39S, 399, 406, 406, 639). These village communities are little republics, having nearly every thing that they want within tbemselveg, and almost independent of any foreign relationb Dynasty after dynasty tumbles donn, revolution succeeds to revolution, Hindoo, Patsn, Mc^ul, Mahralta, Seik, English, are all masters in turn, but the village communities remsin the same. In times of trouble they arm and fortify- themselves t an hostile army passes through the country ; the village com- munities collect their cattle within their walls, and let the enemy pass unprovoked. If plunder and devastation be di- rected against themselvee, and the force employed he irreus- tible, they flee in friendly villages at a distance ; but when the storm has passed over, they return and resume their occupa- liona. If a country remain for a series of years the scene of continued pillage and massacre, so that the village cbddoi be inhabited, the scattered villagers nevertheleaa return whenever the power of peaceable poiseasion revives : a generation may pass away, but the succeeding generation will returo ; the bods will take the place of their fathers, the same site for the village, the Bsme position for the houses, the same lands will be occu- pied by the descendants of those who were driven out when the village was depc^ulated, and it is not a trifling matter that will ..,_.,„Googlc TILLAGE COMHtmiTIBS OK RBFOBLICa. 121 drive them out, for ihej will often malnuin tbeit post throngh times of diaturbance and convDliion, and acquire itrength sufficient to resiit pillage and oppreation with aucceu. This union of the village communi lies, each one forming a separate little state in icaelf, has contributed more than any other caiue to the preservation of the people of India, through all the re- volutions and changes which they have auSered, and ia in a high degree conducive to their happiness, and to the enjoy- ment of a great proportion of freedom and independence (1832, Commons' Rev. Commillee, p. 29). It ia difficult to state the proponion of the produce of the village paid to Qovemment; the authorities know little of the precise property of any of the proprietors ; it is not the inte- rest or the wish of the village that the Government should fcmtlDiM and know their poasesBona r therefore, if any one of the brotherhood faila to pay his proportion, that is a matter for the vill^e at large to settle ; they will often come foraard to pay it far him, but thoae are all private arrangements kept (o themselves, and the mocuddim haa no power from the Govern- ment to enforce Che assessment ; what each man in the village haa 10 pay is an internal arrangement, which it is desirable for the Goverument not Co interfere in, the villagers settling among themselves what each baa to pay, the total assessment being calculated after inquiry into the state of prosperity in the vil- lage ; what it haa hitherto paid ; what it is capable of paying ; Che slate of the village lands, and what assessments they ought to bear with reference to the produce r and if the villagers are dissatisfied with their mocuddim, or bead man, they turn him c^t (1830, L. 401, 402, 404, 528, 583, 684). Surveys of con- siderable expense have been made by GovernmeoC, a minute account taken of the state of the land in each village, the Gdds examined in the presence of a surveying ofScer, with all the asaislance he can procure, not only from his own servants, bat from the village communities, the people themselves interested, and also the ryoCs and people of the neighbouiing villages, who are invited lo attend. The exact limits of the village -are put down, and even the detail of land within Ihe village, th« pro- ductions, houses, fruit-bearing trees, and soon: the assessment 122 BBNOAL, HADKAS, AND BOHBAT. i* grouDded upon tbese particulars (1831, C. 3493)- The Upper or Western Provinces of Bengal, the gremler part of the Bombay territoriei, the ceded territoriea on the Nerbuddsh and the province of Tanjore are bU assessed bj vilUges (1831, C. 311B, 3123, 3129, 3130). The Ryotwar Svbtew The peculiar principle of the third sort of assessment, termed Ryolwar, is (o fix a maximum of asBeaament upon all the lands of the country iu perpetoi^ (1831, C. 4666). The money rent of each individual culova- tor for the Selds in his occupation is defioed with as much per- manency as possible, the aggregate of such rents malting the total assessment, which varies each jear with the increase or decrease of cultivation. Another main principle of the ryot- war (yatem is to protect the rights of all ryots or cultivatois, as they now exist in every village, from iaMngenwnl, and to pre- vent all encroachment upon those rights (1831, C. SIM). Thus, in the ryotwsr system, the details of the interest of the respec- tive tyots are known completely, and not at all in the zemin- dary systemi and the former efTectually does what the latter prtrfesses to do, but never baa done, and never can do, that is, fix an assessment tipon all the lands in the country. Under the ryotwar system, the asaeaament goes from detail to the ag- gregate ; it respects property of every class, that of the largest landholder, and that of the smaileit i it measures aod anesses every portion of an estate, and tliua facilitates the traosfer of landed property, as the first question, when taken into the market is, what ia the amount of public demand upon the landr (1S31, C. 456S, 4567, 4e«8). The ryotwar ayxleiQ deals with the proprietor; if the Rqjah be the complete proprietor, be is the person with whom the Government deals ; it does not profess to interfere between him and his tenants, but in order to ascertain what the R^jah is to pay, bis latids are first assess- ed in detail, and then in the aggregate (1831, C. 4670). The ryotwar settlement is applicable, it la said, in every atate of things 1 where there are proprietors it may be entered inUi with proprietors ; where there are no proprietors it may be concluded with fanners or cultivators { it may be equally made for the largest or for the smallest quantity of land i for million! ..,_.,„Googlc FRINCIPI.KB, &C. OFBTOTWAK SBTTLEH SNTS . 133 ' ofacFea, orforonljafen. Tb« owowofasiag'lefieldinayiiiake his terms directly with the OoTernmenl, and turn to his culti- vatinn, knowing that he cannot be called on to pay more tban a certain sum. The proprietor of the larg:est district may do the same ; Cor, although the cess under this system vaties a*- oordiag to the value of the land, difference of soil, population, ntuatioQ, and other localitiee, and although inferior land, pay- ing the lower c«8s, becomes liable when sufficiently improved Id pay the higher cess, there is, neverthelets, a maiimum fbr the best land, beyond which all produce is for the benefil of the landholder, and there are remissions in cases of urgent dii- treBs(I832, C.R.P. No. 29.) Another advantage which the ryotwar system possesses over the zemindary, is in the creation of a givat body of indepen- dent proprietors, instead of a few who are proprietors only in name ; and there is an advantage to the revenue ioaamuch as all the Iruits of industry accumulate for the great mass of the people, but in the case of the lemindary they accumulate for the benefit of the few, while the ryotwar system lends also in a considerable degree to the accmnulatioii of capital (1831, C. 4577, 4578, 4579). Each of these systems (as detfdled in the Bnalyeis □f the evidence hefore Parliament just given) find spetnal and powerful advocates and arguments for the adoption of uniformity throughout India ; but into this qneetion it is not the author's province to enter ; ■uffice it to eay that the main pointe for consideration in any system of land asseBBment is the low amount of tie tax', and tiie preBervation of tbe manorial rights ' A Parliamentary document gives the amount of the land- tax per heed in Bengal, io 1827, at 22 pence yearly, in Madras 62 pence, and in Bombay 60 pence ; and per square mile, Ben- gal 23 pence, Madras 1? pence, and Bombay 19 pence ; the population per square mile in each presidency being, for Ben- gal 244, Madras 77, and Bombay 76. Land in Bengal ii valued at 67 years' purchase. L^„_,_, Google 124 BBNGAL, UADRAfl, AND BOMBAT. of the tyots or cultivatois. Adam Smith admits that a land-tax so managed as to give not only no dis- couragement, bnt, on the contrary, some encourage- ment to the improvement of land ; which rises and falla with general not partial prosperity ; that makes it the paramount benefit of the govenunent to pre- serve p^u)e foreign and domestic ; to augment by every possible means the quality and quantity of ter- ritorial produce : to provide easy, cheap, and expedi- tions transit by land and water to the most profitable markets ; — a land-taz thus managed, pressing fairly and lightly on each individual, and influenced by fixed and comprehensive principles of general utility, most beneficially unites the governed and the gover- nor by the least dissoluble ties of mutual self-interest. By Lord Comwallis's permanent settlement in Lower Bengal much good vras efiected, accompanied, however, with no small portion of evil. The fixing for ever the assessment on the land vraa admirable in principle and highly beneficial to the proprietors, but the government lost the advantage of increased pros- perity in the country in consequence of the tax being fixed at a money instead of a com rent : had the latter been adopted the tenant could not complain, and the resonrcefl of the state wonld not have suffered. The next evil arose from considering the zemindars as landed proprietors instead of what they generally were, mere collectors or farmers of the revenue : the interests and rights of the ryots or cultivating tenants of the soil were thus entirely lost sight of, and no measure has since been devised which would restore them without the allegation being rused of our in- ..,_..„Gooslc BXTEN3I0M OF A PIXBD ASSBSSHBNT. 125 fringing tiie eolemn compact of the permanent or zemindaiy settlement. With reference to extending the system of the last named settlementa to the npper provinces of Bengal, it seems neither prudent nor practicable eo to do on account of the Tillage corporations or communitieB described at p. 120-1. This much, however, might be accomplished, — the fixing of the government asseesment every ten, twenty, or thirty years, at a corn rent. The settlementa might be made with each village, leaving to the latter the choice of a longer or shorter lease. Thi3,plan might also be extended to the south of India, where the ryotwar system is in force ; ita advantages would be, that a stimulos would be given to cultivation and im- provement for ten, twenty, or thirty years without the government, like the tithe owner in England, stepping forth to reap the reward of skill and industry. The aaaesament being at a com rent, the government would not have a revenue fluctuating according to the lise or fall in the prices of gold or silver, and the rights of individnal cuLtivators, as under the Madras presidency, or of village communitieB, as under the Bombay territories, would be preserved, while the ne- cessity for annual ecratiuy and continual Texatious interference of the government with the farmers would be happily annulled. CBiii5dJ.Googlc BBNOAL, HADRAB, AKD BOUBAT. Salt. — The next main item of revenue in Bengal is derived from the manufacture and Bale of salt by government, the average annual produce of which is about 1,800,000/. a-yeat. It is in evidence before SALT KBVBNDE. 127 Pariiaiaeiit that the people are abundantly eapplied with salt, and the tax is lees than four farthingB a month on each individual. Efibrta have been made to authorise the Cheshire salt-makera to furnish the Bengalese with salt. When the Enghah Parliament remits or even lessens the duty levied on tbe Hin- doo's sugar being imported into Great Britain, then the Hindoos may receive Enghsh salt. Upper Ben- gal is supplied with salt partly trom the lower pro- vince, and partly from salt mines in Western India. Madras exports salt to Bengal, prepared by solar evaporation, in exchange for rice and other provi- sions, and Bombay makes salt enough for its own use. The revenue in Bombay and Madras ia trifling in amount compared with Bengal, being in the latter about 300,0001., and in the former not 20,000/. a-year, Mr. St. George Tucker, lately chairman of the East India Company, thus details the salt revenue for 1827, which he states to be a fair year for judging of the average revenue, FDimlMlDn oT Bengi], Bebar, uidOiisdi, compnUd UI 10,000,000 Qnantitj of akit amwinnoi bj this popolatifm, supplied &om Deduct cost uid charges, ' The charges on the salt revenue amounted in Ben- < It it now upwards of 40,000,000, which would, of count decreue ihe amount of ibe tax paid by each individual. ,., Google 128 BBNC ga], in 1828. to S. E. 7,121,183, or 826,037/., viz. advances to manufacturers, S. R. 4,291,768; conven- tion with the French government to prevent any in- terference with the East India Company's revenae, 400,000; ditto with the Danish government, 15,000; salariee, commission to agents on manu&cture, rent, establishments, and contin^ncies, 2,261,527 ,- build- ings, &c. 152,888. At Madras, the charge on the salt revenae for the same year was 85,495/., or S. R. ■ 752,021 ; of which the manufactarera' share was S. R. 250,542; the advances, 100,843; the compensa- tions, 25,842 ; and Moyen Zabitah and other chaj^^, 374.794. Opidu. — The revenue derived from opium, which is only second in importance to salt, is obtained in Bengal by government receiving the prepared juice direct from the cultivators, and offering it for sale at public auction to the exporter. No opium is allowed to he grown in Ben^ bnt by the cultivators who are under engagements and advances with govern- ment ; and in Bombay a transit duty is charged on the shipment of the drug to China, the opium being grown and prepared in allied states, Malwa, for in- stance. Under the head of commerce farther parti- culars will be found ; it is liere sufficient to say, that the incidence of this tax is difficult of ascertainment : on first view it appears to fall on the consumers in China, or other foreigners in the east archipelago ; bnt on a second view nf the question, it is evident, that if the British government did not levy the tax, tiie Bengal producer of the opium would be at liberty to reahze, if possible, the present price, and pocket CUSTOMS, STAHPB, &c. 129 himself the differeace which now goes into the Indian treasury. The charges in Bengal on the opium re- venae for 1827-8; the latest year laid before Parlia- ment, was 658.254/., or S. R. 5,674,606 ; of which the manufacturers received in ad vanceS.B, 3,879,974; and the salaries, agency eBtabliebments, and contin- geacies, were 726,024 ; and there was also a compen- sation to purchasers of inferior Bahar opium, in 1 824-5 ofS.R. 1,068,608. It may here be observed, that a chest or hale of the East India Company's opium is instantly purchased by a Chinese customer without any other examination than that of the Company's mark. The total number of chests of Indian opium imported into China (vide Commerce chapter) was in 1833, cheeta, 23,692, the value of which was Sp. dol. 15,362,429. Customs, whether derived by transit or other duties on land, or from goods exported or imported by sea, form the next item, and are yearly increasing. The collection of mlartd or turnpike -like duties is in coarse of final abolition (in Bombay totally abrogated) ; and the duties levied on sea goods very light in amount, and unaccompanied by vexatious restrictions. Stamps are an increasing source of revenue since their establishment in Bengal in 1797, and in Calcutta city in 1828. The instraments liable to the daty in Bengal are contracts, deeds, conveyances, leases, powers of attorney, policies of insurance, promissory notes, receipts, bail bonds, and legal proceedings ge- nerally; bills of exchange under twenty-five rupees, and receipts imder fifty rupees, are alone exempt. In Madras stamped paper was first introduced in 1808, 130 BkNGAI., XADKU, ASD BOUBAT. chiefly on leg^ proceedkigs ; mnd in 1616 the dntiea were exteoded to bonds, deeds, leases, mortgages, bills of exehange, aiul reoeipta. In- Bombay tbe tax was first introduced in 1815 ; Delhi and aome otiier territories are not yet sabjected to this duty, from the operation of which the small dealer and poor farmer is exempt, while the lai^ge capitdist or inreterate liti- gist is made to pay a portion of the government ex- penses, the nest productive stamps in India being those on money dealing and miscellaneous law papers. The ehat^ on stamps for 1827-8, was, in Bengal, 71,43U,or S.R. 616,782, viz. fees to native commis- sioners in Mofosail courts, S. R. 227,370 ; purchase (^ paper, 48,704 ; commission, salary, establishment, and contingency, 339,708 ; for Madras the total charge was 94377. The tttger and abkaree taxes include a variety of items, in some |daccs being irregular collectiona hy provinnal officers ; in others licenses on professicmi or on manufacture!, such as tbe distillation of spirits, which latter is collected by a »tiU-iead doty, manu- ^kctored after the English fiashion, at the rate of tax annas, or six sixteenths of a rupee per galltm, London proof, lliere is a tobaeco monopoly in some places, and extra ceases in others; but these and other nnstateaman-lilte sources of revenue are all in courve of abolition. The Mini reveiau is collected by a seignorage for eoining of two per cent, on tbe produce, after allowing for the difference of standard and deducting the charges of refining when such are chargeable ; that is, when the silver is helow the dollar standard, which ..,_..„Gooslc POST OPTICS AMD JDDICtAL HBVBNI7E. 131 is five or six times wone than the present rupee. Copper comage aleo yields to the gDTemiBent a large profit, the copper money being issued at the rate of 64 (weighing 6400 grains) for the rupee, which is about 100 per cent, above the value of the copper. The charges on the mint revenue of Bengal was, in 1827, 43,8382. or S. R. 377,867, viz. salaries, esta- blijBhmenta, and contingencies, 201 ,080; loss of weight in melting the precious metals, 176,787 ; for Madras, 20,406/. ; and Bombay, 3637/. Hie post-office tax is light in amount, and increas- ing aa fest aa can he expected from a post conveyed by runners on foot. The charges under this head of rerenne were, for Bengal, salaries and establiah meats, S.R. 125,994; Dawk establish ment, 642,293; total, S. R. 767,887, or 89,075/. Madras, salaries and es- tablishments, &c. S. R. 64.973 ; Tappal establish- ment, 191,744; total, S. R. 256,717, or 29,339/. Bombay, 18,148/. The charges for transmission of letters through the government post-offices of British India are — In Bengal, a letter it forwarded 1000 miles for 12 annas, or Is. Sd. ; in Bombay, ditto 1000 ditto for 1 5 ditto, or Is. lOJi. ; inMadraa. ditto 1000 ditto for 17 ditto or 2s. ly. Judicial revenue is raised on stamps requisite in causes of different amount in order to defray legal charges and discourage litigation, to which the wealthier Hindoos are much prone. In suits for sums not exceeding 16 rupees, the plaint or petition must be written on paper bearing a stamp of 1 rupee. If Oe suit exceed 16 rupees, and do not exceed 32 133 BBNflAL, HADKAB, AND BOHBAT. rupees, a stamp of 2 nipeeB is required. Above 32 rupees, and not exceeding 64, the stamp is 4 rupees. Above 64 rupees, and not exceeding 150, 8 rupees. Above ISOmpees, and not exceeding 300, 16 rupees. Above 300 rupees, and not exceeding 800, 32 rupees. Above 800 rupees, and not exceeding 1 600, 50 nqtees. Above 1 600 rupees, and not exceeding 3000, 100 ru- pees. Above 3000 rupees, and not exceeding 5000. 150 rupees. Above 5000 rupees, and not exceeding 10,000, 250 rupees. Above 10,000 rupees, and not exceeding 15,000. 350 rupees. Above 15.000 rupees, andnotexceeding25,000, 500 rupees. Above 25.000 rupees, and not exceeding 50,000, 750 rupees. Above 50.000 rupees, and not exceeding 100,000. 1000 ru- pees. Above 100,000 rupees. 2000 rupees. The other stamp duties to which the parties are subject, besides the institution stamp, are, all exhibits filed in court are required to be accompanied with an application praying the admission of the same, and that applica- tion must be written on stamped paper. If in the Zillah court, the stamp is one rupee ; in the provincial court and the Sudder Dewanny Adawlut, two rupees. So also no summons is issued for the attendance of any witness without an application in writing, pray- ing the attendance of such person, which application must he written on stamped paper, similar to that prescribed in the case of filing exhibits. Further answers, replicationa, rejoindere, supplemental plead- ingB, and all agreements of comprise and petitions, are required to be written on stamps of one rupee in the Zillah court, and four rupees in the provtaciol court in the Sudder Dewanny. Miscellansous peti- 1 JUDICIAL CHA&GEB. 183 tions and appHcatiooa preferred to public anthoritieB, either revenue or jadicial, are required to be written on stamps of eight annas, if preferred to a Zillah jndgv or magistrate or collector ; of one rupee, if to a court of appeal or circuit, and of two rupees if to the Sudder Dewanny or Nizamut Adawlut, or to the board of revenue. The appointment of the vakeels to act in each case is made by an instrument bearing; a similar stamp. Copies of decrees also are required to be stamped. In the Zillah court the stamp ia one rupee, in the provincial court two rupees, in the Sad- der four rupees, and all proceedings of the Sudder prepared for transmission to the Queen in connctl most be transcribed on paper hearing a stamp of two rupees. Copies of miscellaneous papers are required to be written on a stamp of eight annas, or half The judicial charges are exceedingly heavy, viz. in Bengal, the Supreme Court, sicca rupees, 432,337 ; justices of the peace and diet of the prisoners at Cal- cutta. 251,693; Court of Requests, 98,605 i Sudder Dewanny and Nizamut Adawlut, 638,869; provincial Courts of Appeal and Zillah Adawluts, 6,269,040 ; provincial Police. 1,789,377; extra and contingent charges, 370,318; Pensions, 38,455. Total sicca rupees, 98,991,694 or sterling 1,147,436/. In Ma- dras, Supreme Court, sicca rupees, 308,700 ; Police charges in town of Madras, 138,040 , Court of Sud- der and Fouzdary Adawlut, 253,557; Provincial Courts, 2,597,490; Pensions, &c. 7,342. Total, sicca rupees, 3,300,129 or 377,158?. In Bombay, Supreme Court, sicca rupees, 368,400; Police charges 134 BENGAL, MADRAS, AND BOMBAV. at Bombay PreBidency, 127,640; Court of Sudder and Fooaiary Adawlut, 262,891 ; Provincial Courts, 1,939,774; BuUdinga, &c. 76.701. Total, eicc* rupees, 2,775,306, or 312,222/. The grand total for the three preudencies being 1.186,8162. sterling. The Marine revenue ariaes from port and anchor- age dues, &c. in order to keep up the useful esta- blishments at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, in par- ticular at the former port. The foregoing items are the principal, if not the sole, sources of the govemment revenue of IS to 20,000,000/. a year, and they offer a strong contrast to the manner in which 50.000,000/. a year is raised in Great Britain chiefly on the necessaries of life, or on the comforts and industry of the people. MoNBTABS SiSTBU. — ^The bank of Bengal, (the only chartered bank in our Eastern possessions) esta- blished in 1809, by a charter from the Governor- General in council, under Act of Parliament, is partly a private, partly a government bank, regulated as a bank of discounts and deposits, on the principle of the Bank of England, and confined in its acconnts and transactions to Calcutta. The shares are in value 1000/. each, and in number 500 ; the govern- ment hold 100, with power to nominate three direc- tors, while the proprietors elect six ; the president is elected by the directors, and the proprietors can vote by proxy. Natives may become directors if chosen by the proprietors. The average amonnt of dividend of late years has been nine to ten per cent., and the shares were worth 5,500 to 5,600 rupees preraium. The accounts are public, and regularly laid before tjj,Googlc HONXTART arBTEif , 185 goveroment tvice a year, and of a pmd.vp capital of 5,000,000 rupees, part ia vested in government ae- caritieB, and the remainder employed in the trade of banking. It issues notes which vary in amount from ten rapeea to 20,000 rupees, there bein^ no maximum or minimum limitation, Tht largest proportion is in notes of iOO mpees upwards : the average amount of its ptq>er in circqlation is 600.000Z. which is all paya- ble on demand at sight. The notes circulate among the natives as for as Bahar, or wherever they are re- ceived in the government treasuries in receipt for revenue, &c. There are two restrictions opon the issue of paper money, the firat practical, namely a reservation of cash equivalent to a fourth of its en- gagements payable on demand, and the second, that the circnlation of notes shall not exceed 2,000,000/. bat there has scarcely ever been a demand for notes to half that extent. The bank of Bengal has no mo- nopoly, it is however the only chartered bank, i. e. it is a corporation, can sue and be sued under its com- mon seal, and individual proprietors are not liable beyond the amoant of their subscription ; its other exclusive advantage consists in government receiving its notes solely. I would here again strenuously urge the formation of an Anglo-In^an Bank, on a plan similar to the Provincial Bank of Ireland, as esta- blished by my able and plilanthropic friend William Medley, Esq. The following is the latest return shewing the balance of the bank of Bengal, 29tb Jane, 1833 : — CBiii5dJ.Googlc BBNGAL, HADKAB, A Cesli, ({orernlnml securities, ™enl .murine,, &c., ^ S. Rup.. 71 B 158 BsDk notes post Ulls Se 8. Rups. Doubtftil debts „ T„t.j D5r.s5i::::::r;.:;.::;.:::: I7«3iO. imSiOB Rates of business, on this date 6 per cent, for pri- vate bill discounts, and 4 per cent, for deposit loan ; on the 12tli March, 1836, the rate of interest was 6 per cent", on loans of government paper, — discount on government bills and salary 4 per cent., discount on private hiUa, 7 per cent. The hank issues are twelve million rupees, — a sum more than 50 per cent, in excess of the minimum of 1827, in which year the whole amount of hank notes, including those of the three private banks then in existence, was not greater than the present joint circulation of the bank of Bengal and the Union bank. The bank has lost con- siderably by bad debts and by forgeries, at which latter the natives are eatremely expert. There is an establishment termed the Union Bank at Calcutta which I took an active part in conjunction with the liberal Dwarkanaut Tagore in forming; it is sup- ported by the principal merchants, and quite uncon- nected with government. The shares are now worth 600 to 700 rupees premium. Madras has no bank precisely similar to that of Bengal, and Bombay has not, I believe, any European bank issuing money. 137 There can now scarcely be a^d to be any gold coin in circulation in Bengal, and the highest hUvct deno- mination is rupees, viz. those of Calcutta and Pur- ruckabad. The Furrnckabad mpee weighs 180'234 grains, troy; Calcutta rupee 191'916 grains, troy. For practical purposes the Calcutta rupee may be valued as weighing 192 grains, troy, with 176 d silver, and the Furruckabad 180 grains, with 163 of pure metal. The Madras rupee, as established in 1818, consists of 180 gr^ns, and contains 165 grains of pure silver, and IS grains of alloy. The gold coinage is of the same weight and fineness as the silver, but the ratio between gold and silver is liable to be varied from time to time by government pro- clamation. Bengal, Madras, and Bombay have each a mint, at which are coined rupees agreeing in standard and weight with the Furruckabad rupees, and the rupees of the three presidencies are issued to the armv at a nominal value, termed a Sonaut mpee. Ite gold coins that issuedfrom the mint can scarcely be reckoned among the currencies, because the mar- ket value of gold having ri&en considerably above the mint value, it has ceased to circulate at the pre- scribed, or at any fixed rate. The gold mohur of Bengal weighs 204'710 grains, of which the fine gold is 187'651 grains; the Madras gold rupee is of the same weight and standard with the silver, viz. 180 gnuQs ; and at both presidencies the relative value of gold to silver is fifteen to one, the Bengal mohur being reckoned equal to sixteen rupees. A copper coin, weighing 100 grdna is current through the Bengal territories at the rate of sixty-four to ..,_.,„Googlc 138 BKNOAL, UADIUI, AND BOUBAT. eeren rupees, but it is a legal tender only for thefroc- tional parti of the ropee ; cowries or sea shells still circulate, and to a considerable extent in some pro- vtQcee, but tbey ore disappearii^ with the proeperity of the coantry. A new copper coinage was declared by legialatiTe enactment at Fort William, 22nd December 1835, consisting of a pie weighing 33} grains troy, and nearly con^sponding to the piece of five cash or one pice of the Madras currency ; — a pice weighing 100 grains troy, about 1 \ doodee ; fifteen cash or j anna ; — a doable pice weighing 200 grains troy, thirty cash three doodies or half an anna. It is provided by the same enactment, that " no copper coin shall be a legal tender in any part of the Company's territories ex- cept for the fractional part of a rupee." A large mint has been estabhshed at Bombay for an uniform coinage, as there are a great number of different rupees current in the Deckhan, coined in different years, and having a marketable value, ac- cording to their value. The rates of exchange vary not only between Bombay and Foonah, but between district and district. Gold is not current in the Deckhan ; there is no paper circulation ; but native ' boondeeg,' or small bills of exchange, are numeroos. The circulating medium is silver and copper, the re- lative value altering in favour of the latter ; all their gold has been exported to England years ago. Ordi- nary interest of money with the natives, nine, and with the European mercantile houses, five per cent. At Calcutta from six to twelve per cent. The total coinage of the four mints (Calcutta, Be- COtNAOC. 139 nares, Fnrmclcabad, and Sogiir) for the period, of thirty-one years, has been 53,322,600. The bnlUon importation tit'if Calcutta, fi-om 1813-14 to 1631-32 is Tshied at sicca rapees, 355,837,644 ; from which, dedncting the exports of bollion for the same period, 65,396,344, leave ballion disposed of in the country, eicca mpees, 295,446.100. The coinage of the seve< ral mints for the above term of eighteen years was — Calcutta, sicca rupees. 203,615,962; Benares, sicca rnpees, 81,236,359; Fumickabad, 47.252,843; Sa- gnr, 4,324,779. Making a total of sicca rupees, 343,522,940, being an excess of one-fifth above the imports, or sicca mpees, 63,076,840. The coinage of the native mints is estimated at one half of oor own, which will give a total of 30,293,578, or three crores per annum for the Bengal presidency, being 150,000 per diem for 200 working days. The total coinage of copper pice since 1801, bears a value in silver of 50^ Ukha of sicca mpees, which in tale is 321 crores for thirty-one years — or one crore per annum ; thus adding 50,000 pieces to the duly work as above mentioned. By a financial regnlation of the Bengal government {13th May, 1833,) it is enacted that, the weight and standard of the Calcutta sicca rupee and its subdi- visions, and of the Furmckabad rupee, shall be as follows: — Wrf^t Fto». AIloj. Gnlnfl. Gralnfl. Gnina. OJcutU Sicca Rupee 192 176 16 DiRohsir. 96 SB 8 Dittoquarter 48 44 4 Furmckabad Rupe 180 165 IS and its fracCionB in proportioii being l-12th aHoy. ,jj,Googlc 140 BBMOAL, MADRAS, AND BOUBAT. The use of the sicca weight of 179-666 grains hiUierto employed for the receipt of bullion nt the Mint, being in fact the weight of the Moorshedabad rupee of the old standard, which was assumed as the «cca currency of the Honourable Company's pro- vioces of Bengal, Bahar, and Oriasa, shall he discoii- tinoed, and in ite place the following unit, to be called the tola, shall be introduced, which from its imme' diate connesion with the rupee of the Upper Pro- vinces, aod of the Madras and Bombay, will easily and speedily become universal throughout the British territories. The tola or sicca weight to be equal to 1 80 grains troy, and the other denominations of weight to be derived from this unit, according to the following scale: — 8 Ruttees — 1 Musha — 16 Troy grains. 12 Muahas— 1 ToU—lBO ditto. 80 Tolas (or sicca nelght)— I seer— 3} lbs. ditto. 40 Seera— 1 Mun, or Bazar Maund— 100 Iba. Troy. At Calcutta the monies of account are as follows : Fourcowriea'=il gunda= 16 annas=l sicca rupee (20 gundas — 1 punn — i punna — 1 anna) 16 sicca rupees — 1 gold mohur. The usual accounts are 4 punns or 12 picei=l anna — 16 annaa=l sicca rupee — 16 S. sicca nipees=l gold mohur. At Madras there is a considerable variety of coins in circulation ; accounts are kept thus 80 cash=l fanami 12 fanams^l rupee, and 42 fauams^l pa- ■ Cowrieaare a Btnall shell, plentiful on EaBternsIlotea, par- (iculsrly ibose of Africa ; ihey are, however, fast disappearing from coEDmercial traasacuoiia at the presidencies. ..,_..„Gooslc IN CIECULAIIOK. 141 gods, etar or current pagoda worth Ta, b\d., com- monly valued at 8s. The gold rupee, new coinage, \l. 9a. ^\d., according to the mint price of gold in England, Arcot rupee (ailver) and new ditto, 1«. \\\d. and Is. \\\d. Copper pieces coiaed in England of 20 cash, called'pice, and of 10 and 5 cash, called dodeea and half dodees, are also current. Bombay rupee divided into four quarters, each quarter being 100 reas ; there are two reas in an urdee, four in a doogany or single pice, six reas in a doreea, eight reas in a fuddea or double pice, fifty pice or sixteen annas in the rupee, five rupees in a pannchca, and fifteen rupees in a gold mobur. The ULoaa and reas are imaginary coins ; the double and single pice, the urdeea and the doreea, arc copper coins, with a mixture of tin and lead; the others are the gold mohuT and silver rupee, with their divisions. The following is the assay and sterling value of the principal gold and silver coinage of Calcutta and WelEhl. Pun SterUng i" lfs!s23 » 1 111 »M '"™'" {l^^'l'n'..;:::::::: A new bank has been established at Agra, and savings' banks are to be set on foot under the sanc- tion and superintendence of government ; and I would ,., Google 142 DBNQAL, IfADRAS, AMD BOUBAT. urgently recommend attention to Mr. Howell's plan for an Indian bank in Iiondon. For a long period the flon of the preciouB metals was towards India; the current has now, however, changed, and the ezportations from India to Europe of gold and silver has been yearly augmenting. For a complete view of the importatioiis and exportations of bullion at each presidency see Appendix. llie treasnre held in the fieveral treasuries of the Company, under the Bengal presidency amounts generally to 3,000,000/., and under the aubordinate preaidencies of Madras and Bombay, the amount fluctnatcB from 2,000,000/. to 3.000.00(U. sterling. Before the breaking out of the Burmese war, from 10,000,000/. to 12,000,000/. aterling, was collected by the Marquis of Hastings in Bengal, for the pur- pose of paying off the debt. The accumulation of such large balances in the hands of government has justly been objected to, as caosing sudden and exces- sive fluctuations in the currency of the country. The amount of remittances from India to England is very great; being, firat, the sum requisite to pay terri- torial charges in England, about 3,000,000/. ; second, a demand for remittance of private savings and fomily expenses, estimated at 1,500,000/.; and third, a return for the outward trade, 3,000,000/. : total, 7,600,000/. ' ' Tbe annual draio on India In remittances to England on account of govtrament, ia thought b; Mi. Milla, of the Audi- tor-general's department, to average 3,000,0001: a year for the laat thirty years. I have in the second Urge edidon shenn what this Bom amounts to at compound interest for that period. INDIAN OUT. 143 These retains are made through the commerce of India and Cbtoa, or of bullion from both cooQtrtes. The territorial charges of India, payable in Eng- land, consist of payments on accoant of passage of military (68,0001.), pay to officers, including off reckonings, (120,000/.) : political freight and de- mnrrage, (134,000/.); war office demand forQueen's troops serving in India, (220,000/,) ; retiring pay, pensions, &c. to Queen's troops, (60,000/.) ; politi- cal charges geneml (including the political charge for the establishments at the India House, 100,000/.) ; the Board of Control, (30,000/.) ; Haileybury, Addis- comb, (22,000/.) ; Chatham and recruiting, &c. (44,000/.) ; miscellaneous expenses on account of Prince of Wales Island, Singapore, &c. (140,000/.) ; charges of the Tanjore Commission, (4000/.) ; ab- sentee allowance, &c. to civil service, (30,000/.) ; territorial stores, (500,000/.) ; St. Helena charges (now terminating) (130,000/.); Lord Olive's fund, (33,000/.) ; political annuitants and pensioners, (58,0002.), &c. &c. A brief view of the Indian debt will next be re- quisite. In the early period of British connexion with India, the territorial revenues of the country probably aided commerce, in the latter period com- Bterce undoubtedly aided temtory, and lor fifteen years the presidencies of Madras and Bombay have bad an ansual deficit of the sum requisite to meet political charges. The Indian ^vemmeat was therefore obliged to have recourse to borrow a suffi- ciency to meet the deficit which the commercial pro- fits of the tea trade failed to supply ; and the terri- 144 BBNOAL, HADSAB, AMD BOHBAT. tonal debt of India waa, at fonr different periods. YMTi DeUstlniuest.' Flosling Ditto, t Total, 1809 27099831 £MI!r8« £9H u « a B D^„_,j., Google 146 BBNC Of the first or sir per cent, remittable loan, the principal when repaid, is demandable in bille on England at the rate of 2s. 6d. the sicca mpee, the interest I eing intermediately payable half yearly, ^ther in cosh in India, or if the proprietors re- aide in Europe, and demand it in that form, by bills at the rate of 2(. Id. Of tbe whole interest of the Indian debt, 927,0001. is subject to the option of having the interest payable in England, and in 1830 the sum of 450,000/. was actually demanded in England : the average rate of interest was six per cent, in 1814, and five per cent, in 1823. Tlie other loans, both principal and interest, are demand- able only in India ; but to the holders of the second (five per cent, of 1833) an option was given of re- ceiving their interest, (which is payable half yearly), in bills at the rate of 2s. Id., (subsequently reduced to la. lid.) during the pleasure of the home antbo' rities : the third and fourth loans have the interest thereon paid quarterly to all holders wheresoever resident, either in cash or in bills, at the rate of 2«., during the pleasure of the home authoritdea. "Die five per cent, loat) of 1823 is repayiible only by an- Boal instalments of one and half crore of rupees : the notes firat entered in the register having the advan- tage of being least liable to discharge, llie whole debt ia now fully recognized by the legislature, and the remittable loan paper bears a jweminm in the Indian market of from thirty to forty per cent., and consiste solely of tbe debt of 1822, viz. 74.738,700 ntpeea. The following is a detailed comparative statement of the Indian debt in 1809 and in 1827 :~ ¥ it !l i 1 » s !i J s B si 1 i 1 1 i y 1 1 : 1 1 i 1 It ii 1 i 1 1 -1 1 ^ 1 i 1 s : : I S I 1 i : 1 : III 1 1 D^„_,j., Google 1 mil ill l-i' 1 III ! i i 11.11 1 |=|S 1 Hi 1 3 1 IP 1 5 1 ,S| 1 1 J =1 » = 1 l-ii III _ 5|i P 1 II i! ill i s** i ,jj,Googlc INDIAN DBBT. Public Debt, bearing Interest outitaoding at tbe siTcral Preudenciea on the SOth April, 1832. DebU. lUtaof taitl' B«^ eesjDMt fl pet cent. 11 auto. Vsrloui. SSST-- e, B, & 4 ditto B,B,8!B ditto lfll«OSJ Do. do. I8SM179 ionmra ISSMOBS SIMM J ii CiTfl and mDitsry tmii do.... jiarm?3 ISriBBiO C.ni.tleftind,nip«> 366169 "^^^J f^vH uid inllitUT fundi do. .. l^mll 1")^ Bomb»7— Civllmdmmuuj fundi, rpi. 163508 ?180S a^lJJ 35330461 H;g4283 SWM2S The debts of India in 1833 were aa follow:— Debts bearing {Merest — Bengal, about 32,000,000/.; Ma- dras 3,000,000/. ; Bombay, 630,000/. ; not bearing interegt — Bengal, 8,000,000/.; Madras, 7 00. COO/. ; Bombay, 300,000/. The five per cent, loan is the 150 BENOAI., HADBAI, and BOMBAr. principal debt, it amaunta, in Bengal to 1 8,000,000'. ; and in Madras, to 2,500,000/. ; in Bombay none. The treasury notes issued by the Bengal govemment amoont to 700,000/. The home bond debt of the East India Company, amoonting to 3,400,000/. is composed of eecorities iBsned by the Company under th«r common seal, Pailiament having antborized their bnrowtng money to a certain extent, and limiting its subsequent re- daction to 3,000,000/. ; the rate of interest paid in 1831 on thta debt was two and a half per cent. It only remains to be added, Utat by the new East India cbarto* the Company's brade is placed in abey- ance, and their whole assets, amounting to upwards of 21,000,000/. sterling, appropriated to the India territory, excepting 2,000,000/. to be invested as a sinking fund for the redemption of the capital stock of the East Ini^ Company proprietors (6,000,000/.) on the tennination of forty yeare, at the rate of 5/. St. iar every 100/. stock; the remainder of the assets, as soon as realized, is to be appropriated, after pay- ment of pensions and other charges arising; out of the new arrangement, towards the liquidation of the sixpercent.remittable loan, which amounts to About 9,000,000/. sterling. CBiii5dJ.Googlc CHAPTER rV. IIA, Sec — ITAFLEB 0¥ HINDOSTAR, Thk commerce between Europe and India has ever been considered one of the moat important anT^ects which could engage the attention of a mercantile Matesman ; and the fertile regions of the eastern lumisphere are now anzioualy looked forward to as a rich field for the enjoyment of British capital, in- dnetry and dull; the result depends on the jnstice of England towards Hindostan. No two countries could be better adapted by Providence for the blessings of commerce than the parent (or governing) and de- pendent state ; the one a small and insulated kingdom in the western ocean, teeming with a hardy, indus- trious and ingenions population, two-thirds of whom are engaged in manipulating and vending the pro- duce of more genial climes; and from their numbers, compared with the area of habitation, pressing close on national sabsistenee, while peace and foreign competition are daily exclading them from the mono polized commerce heretofore possessed ; — Ike other an almost illimitable territory in the eastern world, connected, though separated by the navigable ocean, rich to overflowing with every bounty with which nature has enriched the earth, and peculiarly bo in those agricultural products necessary to the manu- fiictares, comforts, and luxuries of the more civilized nation. Heretofore the incalculable blessings to be ..,_..„Gooslc 152 BENOAL, NADKAS, . (kiived from two coantries thus fovourablv «ituktai have been wantonly or wickedly or inadvertently neglected ; let nie hope that a bettea' era ia now dawning for England ae veil as for Iadia,< — that tbe former has now begun to perceive the iojuetice and folly of beggaring the latter, — tbe temporary ad- vantages of which are as nought compared with tlu permanent injury received as well as inflicted; and that tlie merciful dispensatioiw of an all and ever-wiM Being who has made the interchange of aapecflaous or indigenous commodities one of the most powerful instruments for exciting and sharpening the inventive industry of man, and uniting tbe whole human race in bonds of fraternal connection and Christian chftrity, will no longer be spumed with an apathy or impiety which Eooner or later will receive its merited punish- Staples of Bbitibb India. — ^The products of Hindoatan are as various as they are valuable; I begin with one of its principal staples. Indigo, from time immemorial, has been cultivated and manufactured in Hindostan, and in 1665 it was one of the exports ^m India to England ; the East India Company's servants turned their attention to it about forty years ago, and its successful prosecution has been principally owing (after the circumstance of the destruction of St. Domingo, vrbich, previous to its revolution, supplied nearly the whole world) to the small duty levied on its importation into England, the duty at first being little more than nominal : in 1812, 1^({. perlb.; in 1814, 2\d.; and in 1832, Zd. per lb. Its importance to India may be judged of ..,_..„Gooslc vrxrLB. PRODUCTS. 1 53 from "the feet that i& the Bengal presidency the cnl- tiTatitiQ of indigo is carried on from Dacca to Delhi, ecmpying upwards of 1,000,000 statnte acres, yield- ing an annual prodnce worth from 2,000,000/. to 3,000,000/. sterling, whereof one-half, or perhaps more, is expended in India for rent, stoclc, wages, interest on capital, &c. There are from three to four haadred factories in Bengal, chiefly in Jessore, Kish- Bagur and Tirhoot. The factories are principally held hy Europeans, hut many natives have factories of their own, and in several instances prodnce mdigo equal to any manofectared hy Europeans, Tte low price which indigo now brings in Europe is diminish- ing the quantity produced, the exportation some years being 9,000,000 lbs. ; the recent feiSures in India will tend to hring the trade within more profitable limits. The cultivation of indigo in Madras is trifling, — there is little or none prepared in the Bombay pre- sidency. The indigo produced annually in the East Indies from 181 1 was : — "•"■ Cl..„. If MI. c™. x^ o,.„. Ye«.. CheiU. RI4 S§Mlft isie 13100 807*0 11 43900 11 3O00D 4SM0 The price of indigo per chest in London was in 1824, 111/.; in 1825, 140/.; and in (SSI but 45/.; the supply now exceeds the demand, at least in Eng- 1S4 BKNGAL, UADBAB, AMD BOUBAT. laud ; bnt die coDsumption of BeDgal indigo is fast {ragmenting in France, Holland, Germany, &c. Silk forms the next most important staple of India, and in conjonction with the former, its production in OUT own territories is of esseotisl advantage to atk and tabbinet manufacturers in England, "nie total quantity of raw silk imported into England for 1834 was 3,693,512 lbs. ; and the quantity Aimiahed by British India alone to England in the same year was 1,203,658 lbs. Three species of mulberry trees are cultivated in Indu, and two species of silk worm (the conntiy worm, and the annular Italian, or Chine worm) ; the latter feeds also on the castor oil plant leaf. IIk talk is produced in cocoons by the ryots or small cultiva- tors, to whom the East India Company's agents make advances, and the Company have eleven or twelve filatures or large factories for reeling it with machi- nery on the simple Italian principle. The Gonatea is the best, the Bauleah the worst. The price of silk has risen in India with the wages of labour, and some manu&icturers say the quality has deteriorated; probably quantity has been more attended to than quality. The silk districts of Bengal are, Radnagore, Unrripanl, Sautipore, Cossimbuzar, Bauleah, Comer- oolly, Sardah, Jungypore, Maiddah, Rungpoor, Sun- na-Meekhi and Gonnatea, all between the parallels of latitude 22° and 26°, and longitude 86° to 90°'. The superior quality of Italian silk does not de- ' The Company's factories are now, we believe, being sold to ptivale gpeoulatorB, PRODUCTS OF INDIA COTTON. ISS DlQDBtrate natuTs] ioferiority in that of India, for bales of East India to irUch attention has been p^d have sold equally well with Itahan silk. Kfibrta are now nuking^ in the Bombay preudency to extend the pro- duction of raw silk, and the commencement promieea ■uocess ; we may therefore look forward to a period irfien we shall be totally independent of erery other coontjy for the raw staple of this essential and bean- tifol branch of oar national mann&ctures. Cotton, a staple of Indian agricultnre and of British mann&ctarea, well deserve attention, were it onlyfor the important circomstance that our chief branch of trade is almost totally dependent on a riT&l, (and with little provocation) perhaps a hostile state. The importation of American cotton into Bngland is nearly 300.000,000 lbs. yearly, that of India not the cne-twentieth part of British consumption. If we can bo made independent of France and America for indigo and silk, so can we become also of cotton, lu^ producing in itself every variety ; the justly cdebrated sea island cotton is actoally in cultivation in several parts of India, but owing to ne^ect it de- geuQ^tes into an annual, whereas in America it is carefully cultivated as a triennial plant. The Dacca muslins, so celebrated all over the globe, (and of which the manufacture is now lost, owing to the in- undation of Manchester goods), were made from India cotton, and if the late duty had been kept on American raw cotton, sufficient encouragement woold have been given to the Hindoos to attend to its cul- tivation ; as it is we have not only ruined the Indian ,., Google 196 BENOAL, MADRA8, AMD BOHBAr. sutnnfaotorer, but in return we hare offered no en- cmiTBgement to the raw producer. .' Afi the BureBt meane of inducing a more careful at- teutioD to Indi&cottoDgbotli in the cultivation', oTeoning tutd packing, a removal of the entire duty on iiapor- tation into England would be most effectual, coupled with an absence of all transit dues in the east. Ofiuu ie the next important staple deserving CCTt- gideration, the value of which will be most readily appreciated, by looking at the quantity annually ex- ported from India to China for fifteen years. Here we observe a trade in a prohibited article, (opium is smuggled into China) to the amount of upwards of 3,000,000/. a year, and which promises yet further increase ! The quantity of opium shipped from Calcutta in 1795-6. was 1070 chests, and in 1829-30, 7443 cJiests. The total quaatity of opinm exported from Caloutta during the former year was 5183 chests, and during the latter 9678 cheats ; the grand total exported during the whole thirty-five years, was 162,273 chest);, which, at the average rate at -which it sold, 1200 dollars a chest, would give a trade in this stimulating drag of nearly two kuadred tniUim Spamsh dollars I Malwa opium is considered by the Chinese as having a higher touch, but not so mellow, nor so pleasant in flavour aa the Patna opium. The smoke- able extract which each quality of opium contains is ' I rhect onvTivATioN or svoab. 157 Utae ' intimitted by tlie Chiaeee, — (who nee opium as ' we do wine or spirits) Fataa and Benares opium'4S to50toach; «vera^48; MalwaTOtoTS; aremge 7aj; Turkey 53 to 57; average tonch 55. "Hie cvkivation of opium in India, as explniaed mider the chapter in revenue, is a monopoly as regards Patna and Benares in the hands of government ; and- a revenue is derived from the Malwa opium by a system of pastes on shipment from Bombay. Siiyar may be cultivated and manufactured to an extent in India sufficient to supply the whole world ; itt production at present is immense, as it forms an ingredient in almost every article of food or drink Dsed by the Hindoos, and where the manufacture is attended to as at Beuares, the gnun is large and sparkling and pure as the best Mauritius or Demerara sugar. The soil and climate of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay are peculiarly suited to the production of this eaaential nourisliment to man ; every village has its patch of cane, and a rough manufacture named Jaghery is extracted from the Palmyra and cocoa-nut tree. It is in evidence before Parliament that the sugar-cane of Bengalis as good as any of the West Indies, and some of a superior quality has been produced. The great secret of improving and extending the cultivation of sugarinlndia, is the redaction of tfaednty leried on it in England ; the coarsest kinds of Bengal sugar now pay a tax in Great Britain of 120 per cent, on the gross price, which, after deducting freight and charges, is equal to 200 per cent, on the proceeds in England ! ..,_..„Gooslc 1S6 BEKOAL, HADBkB, AKD BOMBAY. The BiiikU qnantity of sugar which Britieh India DOW sends to England, notwithetanding that is the former place it is exceeded only by rice in consmnp- tion, will be seen by the following recent retom of sugar imported into the United Kingdom. Yen lB3i. British PlanUtioD 3,844,343 arm. Foreign PUntadon 303,030 Mauridiu 666,800 East India British Poskes. 76,617 FoteigQ ditto. . 64,663 The quantity of sugar consumed in the United Kingdom, averaged so bigh as 4,000,000 cwta. would for a population of 24,000,000 (leavingaside 1 ,000,000 for yoang infants, many of whom, however, also con- some sugar) ^ve only 161bB. a year, or 5oz. a week, for each individual ; now, it is well known, that a child of one year old would consume more than 5 oz. a week ; that the workhouse allowance is frequently 341bs. a year, and the lowest domestic servant, lib. a week, or 521bs, a year. We might, therefore, fEurly conclude that, if the duties on all our colonial sugars were reduced and placed on a level, the con- smnption and revenue would be thus increased : — CouumpUDii. Ra>«Diw. West India PlaDistiaii Sugar .. Ciirtt. 4,000,000 Tuat](.(nowlL 4f.) per cwC. je4,000/M)0 Mauri tiui Sugar 600,000 Tax at it (now li. 4i.) per cwu .... 600,000 East India Possewions' Sugar 2,00U,000 Tax at U (nomr U lZi.)percwL.... 2,000,000 Foreign Sugar 600,000 Tax at 2J: (now SJ^ 3i.) per cm. 1,000,000 Total.. Cra. 7.000,000 £7,600.000 ,., Google stroAB AND corns. 159 Here we observe that, even at the moderate rate of consumptioii of 321ba. a year, or only 9 oz. per week, of sogar for each individaal, the reTenne would be aagmetited by 2,500,000/. and the commerce. health, and manufacturea of the empire wonderfully increased. There can even be no doubt, that if the duty were reduced to 12«. on West India, and to 16«. on East India sagara, similar favourable results would ensue ; for a few years (say two or three) the revenue would sufier, but a reduction and equalization to 20a. would instantly increase the revenue, while a prospect of eventual further diminution would prepare the way for greater national benefits. Coffee next deserves consideration as an Indian staple, and which, hke the last article, only requires just treatment in England to became one of the most valuable esports. In Malabar, Coimbatore, &c. the cultivation is extensive, and the berry of the finest flavour when attended to in the drying. Upper Bengal and the territories acquired from the Burmese are peculiarly adapted for the growth of coffee, and if the duty be reduced on it in England to Sd. while the West India is reduced to 4d., the commerce of England and the morals of the people will be sensibly improved. The fcdlowing retnme show the quantity of co&e in^rted from the East Indies into Great Britain, — re-exported and retained, for home use for fifteen years ; the return includes Ceylon, avg. 2,824,99S lbs. Singapore, 3,61 1,456 lbs. Mauritius, 26,646 lbs. &c. From Bengal, Madras, and Bombay alone for 1831 — 2,780,668 lbs. BBNGAL, MADRAS, AMD BOM BAT. Yean. i,.^d. K.«po™d. .».,». Lbl Lb. Lbs IMl S4»!T!1 1M757I) 2Wil/7 IS31 5760912 471S389 31351) i^s y^osH S6m77 791970 888198 r]8D4SZ IBM 6S3S64T 7474169 mirn ii! l(l5S70iB 89Mn97 iEs It will be perceived by the foregoing that of late years the importatioa of East India coffee is on the increase ; still there is a great de&lcation compared with 1815 and 1816, when the importation of coffee by the private trade amounted in two years to 43,381,478 lbs! Pepper is another valuable Indian staple, but its import from the East has considerably fallen off, the importations of 1815 and 1816 being 1 7,863,84 71b8. And in 18-27 and 1828 but 14,045,868 lbs., being a decrease of nearly 4,000,000 lbs. weight. The duty on it in England ia still too high ; a reduction of it woold be beneficial to all classes. Saltpetre is yielded by the Indian soil in greater abundance than any otlier country, its importatioa into England by the East India Company in 1814, was 146,000 cwt., bot the continuance of peace has TOBACCO, &.C. 161 macb lessenea botti the price and coneamptioii ; both are now again on the rise, but the price is still so low that the saltpetre collected in the East is now being brought to fertilize the fields of Albion, The import of late years of saltpetre from Bengal has been about 100,000 bags, but the total quantity exported from Calcutta has sTeraged 170,000 bags, while in the year 1795, it did not amount to more than 13,000 bags. The total quantity exported from Calcutta during the thirty-five years ending 1829, 1830, was 2,202,465 bags, of which the United Kingdom received 1,523,655 bags; North America 278,895 bags; France 101,237 bags, and China 133,615 bags. Quantities of nitrate of soda have recently been imported into England and France from South America, and the commodity is becoming an object of attention ; it is said not to answer so well as saltpetre (nitrate of potash) for making gun- powder, but to be equally applicable to the uses of most of the manufacturers and for the curers of pro- visions ; it is also stated to afford a greater pro- portion of nitric acid than saltpetre. The tobacco of Masulipatam, made into snnff, is much prized in England ; the quantity of tobacco grown in India is enormous ; every class, high and low, nse it, and if the duty were reduced in England, the variety of soils in India would aSbrd ao infinite variety of that feacinating weed for the British market. Very rich lands produce about 160 lbs. per acre of green leaf; excellent Havannah tobacco is grown in Guzerat, Boglipoar, Bundlecund, &c., and some from the Irrawaddy territories has been reported by the 162 BENGAL, HADR4S,,,AND SOU BAT, . , brokers in I^ndon aa eqnal to the best AmericaB. The want of proper attention in the caring has been a great obstade to its arriving in a maricetable state in England after a long E^ast In five years, 1 ,730,998 bags ; and the export to France is yearly increasing. It would be tedioas to particularize all the varied and valuable products of India, whether in reference to ginger, cardamoms, lacdyes, camphor, drags, oil»^ essential and non-essential — -timber, hemp, grain, &c. &c., all'of which form important items in the trade of England ; suffice it to say, that nature's choicest treasures are lavished in SDperabnndance on the British poesessions in Asia ; and if man remains in BXTEMSION O^ )n6iAN COHMXILCS. f63 poverty «nd dbetittititfn, While the riches of the eirfli ftffe at TiiS feet, andTeqtiireonly to be^thered, he tfts 'HO' tight to braign the wisdom and benefi- ctbee of bia Cfeator: When we reflect that there are the aMoSt bnomerable multitude of 100,000,000 Btkish sUbjecte teftdy and eager to receive our manu- factuf eii if wte win only receive their produce, whether cotton, sugar, coSet, tobacco, saltpetre, &c., it seems ^tttoet insanity to think that we only carry on a com- merce of 5,000,000/. value with euch a vast, rich, and civilized territory. Under a jnst system fhe MtBh Commerce with India ought to be 50,000,000/. a year, yielding employment, wealth, and happiness to myriads upon myriads of the human race, making the trackless ocean a connecting link instead of a se^Htrating boundary between botii hemispheres, and giving Unto maritime trade that steadiness and per- manence which it is always void of when cramped aad checked by fiscal laws and exactions. CBiii5dJ.Googlc CHAPTER V. THE ntm BUBOfEAN AMD HtDl r BEHOIL, IIADRM, Thk Pbbsb. — ^The mighty engine vhich has effected snch an extraordinary revolution among the inha- bitantB of the earth, and which by its powerfol operation and almost unseen influence prerente any just parallel being drawn between ancient and mo- dem nations, is being esteaded with sure and certain steps in British India, unshackled by stamp duties, undepressed by taxes on paper or on advertiaements, and unimpeded by penalty bonds and secorities, devoid of all censorship, and practically free for every legi- timate purpose which a good citizen can require. The state of the press will be seen by the following authentic and official returns. Bbnqai.. — In 1S14, there existed bnt the Calcutta Gorerument Gazette. In 1820, there were in ad- dition to the foregoing, the Bengal Hnrkaru, (Mes- senger) tbe Indian Ciazette ; the Calcutta Journal ; and tbe Monthly Journal. The following was the return for the year 1830. CBiii5dJ.Googlc PKIM (aNfiLin) DAILY, 1TBKKLT, &C. 165 18. Columbisn Preu. 19. Bengal Chronicle. 20. Oriental Observer. 21. Indian Maga^e. 22. Literary Gazette. 23. Calcutta Chronicle. 21. Gospel Inveatigator. 25. Commercial Chronide. 26. Bengal Herald (4 lang.) 27. Calcutta Gazette. 2ti. Kaleidofcope. 29. Calcutta Renter. 30. Mirror of the Preaa. 31. Annual Keepsake. 32. Calcutta Magazine. 33. Commercial Guide. 1. Calcutta Gov. Gazette. 2. Bengal Hurkani. 3. Indian Gazette. 4. Calcutta Moatbl; Joamal. 5. John Bull. G. Asiatic Observer. 7. Quarterly Oriental Rev ien. 8. B. Indian MiL Repositcfry. 9. Unit. & Christ. MisceUany. 10. Trifler. 11. Oriental Mercujry. 12. Calcutta Monthly Miicel. 13. Bengd Directory. 14. Spy. 15. Bengal. 10. Weekly Gleaner. 17. Scotsman in the EasL By a recent calculation the following is the uamber and circul^og etate of the Calcutta press. Political Circulation. Bengal Hurkani ....... 726 India Gazette 378 John Bull (now Engliah- tnan) 306 Calcutu Courier 175 Three limti a VKek. Circulation. Exchange Gazette c Daily Advertize! | Tulloh's Do M Loll Bazar Do. U Twice a teeek. SSJo^i^'f S {£iS}""»»<^''«- ^ Palitical. Bei^ Herald 3421 Beformer 400 Inquirer 200 Indian Registrar 3O0 Qffieial Calcutta Gazette (Unknown.) COmmereiai. Commercial Price Current g Calcutta Exchange Do. . . S Domestic retail Do. S Exports and Imports Do. O ..,_..„Gooslc 166 HADRAB, AKD XOURAT. UOMTHLi:, Bengal Registrar I Asiatic Society Jaurnal., 200 Sporting Magazine 270 j CalcuttaChrUtianObserv. 380 Monthly Jonrnal | K I. United Serv.Journd 180 Calcutta Quarterly Re vie V 200 I Qaarterly Register Bengal Army List 260 | (tiame unknowiii) 4NNUAL VOLUMES. Bengal Annual 360 I Calcutu Directory .... 1200 Oriental Pearl Bengal Do.&< Atmanaoli 1200 Bengal Souvenir | Proportions of Claseea who aubscribe to the daily papen at Calcutta. Hnrksm and Chnnicle s 1 1 IE 1 1 1 1 1 li e» Ti 40 'SI " ■• IM i sea 41! =« ... <0« » „ 178 imi In addition to tbe foregoing, several Knglieh news- papers and journals have been established in the pro- vinces, — viz. the Meerut Observer, Meerut Universal Magazine ; Cawnpore Elzaminer, Cawnpore Omnibus, Cawnpore Free Press, Central India Free Press, the Delhi Gazette, the Agra Acbar ; the Mofussil Acbar, &c. &c. Of the daily English newspapers, the Bengal Hurkani may be taken as an example ; it is as la^ W (NATITh) past AMD PKKBENT. 197 tks the London Morning Foat, circulates now more than a. thousand copies, hae generally a page, if not more, of veil payings advertisements, and its cost (inde- pendent of postage,) is twenty rupees a quarter '. The Bengal, or rather properly speaking, the Calcutta Native Press '. was in — 1814, Nil. 1820, Nil. In 1834. Bamochnr Durpun, (Bengallee with English, trans- lations). Bunga doot, or Bengal Herald, (Bengallee, Persian and Hindostanee). [Established by the Author.] Britant Bauhak, (published at Bowanipoor) English and Bengallee. Jami Jhan Numa, Persian ; Gyananneshun and Unnoobadika, Bengallee ; Sumachur Chundrika, do. ; Ooodnnt Maitund, ditto ; Sumbad Coomuddy, do. ; Rutnebulli, do. ; Subha Rajendra, Persian ; Shumsal Acbar, Bengallee ; Subha Rajendra, do. ; Sumbad Soodbaker, do. ; Sungbad Tumul Nausack, do. ; Sungbad Sarsungroho, Bengallee and English. Of these papers some are published twice or thrice a week, (one, I believe daily) and the remainder weekly. Before leaving India, arrangements were put in progress by the Author for the establishment of a Scientific and Literary Monthly Magazine (n the native languages. ' The Bengal postage of a nenspaper if sent to any plaoe within 600milesi8aboullirf.,and from 500 lo lOOd miles 3rf. • Tliereare a great variety of AcbarsornewapaperB through- out the provinocB, at the diflerent courts, of which we do not know even the naines. ..,_.,„Googlc 168 SBIMA-L. HADKAS, ACTD MHBAT/ ; It should be obserrod that two of the newBjftpeWf ^iven ifr the Eo^lish list, (the RefbrmeT ftud laqniiw) are the property of and conducted by nattvei theid' selves with extraordinary ability. TTie general tone of the Enghsh prese, aa alao that of the Native joom&ls,' is liberal, hat some of the Bengdlee newspaptft are of a high orthodox nature ; their prejudiced are, however, ably met by their own countrymeb ill thi Sungbad Coomuddy, (or Moon of Intellig«Dce) and other Hindoo journals. The Reformer is, it is said, under the management of a distingnished, irealtiiy, and highly talented Hindoo, PrasBunn Cocmar l^gore. But to no individualB is the Indian press nndet greater obligations than to the late Rauunohnn Roy, and the munificent Dwarkanaut Tagore. The Madras and Bombay press is less extensive than that of Bengal, and it has been shifting so much that we possess lees accurate details of its actual statel Madras. — English Periodicals — Giazette, Courier, Times, Standard, Conservative, Hurkaro. Advertizer, The Plain Man's Friendly Visitor, Carnatic Chronicle, Literary Gazette, The Seventh Day, Commercial Cir- cular, Oriental Magazine, Army List, Register, Al- manack, and the Mirat Ulkhb&r in EngUsh and Hin- dostanee. BoMBAT. — English Periodicals. — Gazette, Conner, Iris, Guide, Commercial Advertizer, Orental Chris- tian Spectator. Sporting Magazine, Price Current, Calendar, Registrar and Directory. Native Perio- dicals — Na Sumachur, Persian Huckba, Manibnjeka Hurkaru, ChabrookGuzarattee, (Commercial Journal). One Newspaper is in Mahratta and English, one it ..,_..„G„oslc PBRiemoALS, Mmrmoarncia, &c. 160 iaeiied daily, and orrangesientB w« in progress for pabUahin^ new |ia{)CrB at Bomba;f as well as at the other 'Preudeaoiee. Aa-he&yte obsemd, there is no stamp duty on the nerwpftper pres< of India, and it is bnt justice to add, tbttt when the East India goverDinent recently and very propeiiy extended the stwnp laws from the Mt^ussil into Calcutta, they did not put any stamp on newspapers. The censorship throughout India has been finally abolished, and the enactments on est^Usbing a new journal are — the name and re- sidence of the proprietor, &c. to be re^tered, and the following regulation complied with — ' The editors of the newapapers or other periodical works in the English Ungoage are required to lodge one copy of every aewspt^er, regular or estra, and of every other periodical work published by them respectively, in the office of the chief secretary to the govern- ment ; and the editors of newspapers, or other perio- dical wM'ks in the languages of the country, are in like manner required to lodge one copy of every newspaper or other periodical work published by them, in the office of the Persian secretary to the government. For these copies they receive payment at the usual rate paid by regular subscribers for such pablicatious respectively.' The number of printing offices in difierent parts of India is considerable, but they are difficult to enume- rate, a great many of them being managed entirely by natives. The noble establishment of Mr. Samuel Smith, at Calcutta, is a fine specimen of bow much may be accomplished by the spirit and talent of a I ..,..., Google ■170 BSN«AL, HADmAB, AND BOUBXT. single indiridual; this gvDtleiniii'G Eobscription Ktirsiy and reading rooms are more apadons, and eariebed witb a more numeroaa and valuable cdlectioil of books, &c. than any circalating library in this ^lendid m^jvpolis ; indeed, I may venture to say tk«t it U ettperior to Ebere', Bull end Ghurton'B, and Saouders' and Otley'B combined. The library alao of Mewrs. Thacker and Co. is only inferior to Mr. Smith's in aize, the collection of books being exceedingly valuable. In the native as well as in the English joamals/ -a free discussion of the measures of government talide place, and the improvements suggested by the press, or the complaiots made through Its colomua, receive the ready attention of the government, which aeefes or wishes for no disguise. If no injudicions effisrt be made to obt^n premature circulation for any speculative journal, the press of India will become as useful to the rulers as to the ruled ; and if kept fiee from licentioQsnesa, and private malice or scandal, it will indeed be a boou and bleaaing to the natives of the eastern hemisphere *, into every part of wbi^, from Feraia to China', it ia now slowly but snreljr ' Lilho^aph;, eo adm[rab1y 'suited for the Oriental cha- laiKers, haa come to the aid of its elder Biatei t;pDf(raphy ; there are several establish meotB in Calcutta ; one at Cannpoor even, and, I bplieve, one haa recently been set up in Persia itselt ' There are two English newapapers, a monthly joDinal, and, I believe, a quanerl;, and two annua! periodicals poblisbed in China, at Canton and Macao ! D^i,itjj,Googlc XBDCAnOt^^BIlITlSH LITKBATl. 171 finding a footing, and paving the way for tbe final .^Bolution of HocoutFolled despotism. < BnircATioN. — Let us now torn to the important sabject of edocation ; and althoogh the proofs of its progress may not be so easy of demonstration as that of the public prees, yet it would be unnatnral to sup- pose that aoeh distin^ished An^lo- Indian literati as VsrelBt, Vansittart, Haetings, Orme, Halhed, Glad- win, Wilkins, Law, Paterson, Jones, Harrington, Wilford, Hunter, Colebrooke, Leyden. Scott, Baillie, RoBBr EUis, Franklin, Erskine, Roebuck, Lamsden, Gilchrist, Malcolm, Marsden,ElphiDStone,BBbington, Garey, Vans, Kennedy, Parker, Macnaghten, Marsb- iTOD, Wilson, Herbert, Frineep, Tod, Maokintosh, and a host of others whom it would be tedious to meotioii, would not make every possible exertion for die diffusion of that knowledge of which many were, and many still are, tbe richest posBessors. It was ^polated at tbe last renewal of tbe charter, that 10,000/. should be annually devoted from tbe surptas territorial revenue of India, to the purpose of educa- tion ; by the following extract from a parliamentary retnm in 1832, it will be seen that the Company have doubled, and in some years trebled the amount laid down in the Act, although there was no surplus revenue in India : — 1824 £21,88* 1828 ^£35,841 1826 66,503 1829 38,076 1826 27,412 1830 44,330 1827 45,313 As an instance of the efforts mining for tbe dif- 172 BKKOAL, HADKM, AMD BOHSAT. fosioD of intdligeDce tbronghont the Britirti dotni- uioDB, I may quote the teatimony before ^rKunent of the Honourable Holt Mackenzie, who states thai since the renewal of the last charter, the BeSgsl government have established a college at CalentM for the Hindoos, and reformed very mvch thtfold Moslem college ; that colleges have been estahlielwd at Delhi and Agra, for both Hindoos and Uorieibfl-; the Hindoo college at Benares has been Feformedn at the several institutions it has been the object of government to extend the study of the £nglish>Iaii> gnage, and good books have been supplied, &c. ; that seminaries have been established in difierent parts'Of the country, and achoola established by individiula have been aided by government '. With respect to Bombay, Major-General Sir Lionel Smith, a veteran and distinguished Queen's officer, obeervea in hia evidence before Parliament (Gth Oct. 1831), ' Educa- tion is in snch extensive progress, that I hardly think it could be more extended — education is also going on in the Deckan ; the encouragement given by goTemmcnt consists in a very liberal establishment, under the direction of an officer of very great attain- ments in the native languages. Captain Jarvis.' ' The Calcutta School Book Society, from 18a4-2» up to the 30ch April, 1833, printed 13,000 copies of twenty-four Sanscrit works ; 5,000 copies of aeven Arabic worki ; 2,600 ditto of five Persian authors ; 2,000 ditto of four Hindu ditto and several other works were then io the press. The printing charges of the Society for the foregoiug period waa 100,426 CBiii5dJ.Googlc 173 For tte tamy,. aleo, the Cocapany have established ■ciiaoU. and libmieB have been sent out to India, for the nee of the troopB ; and it i& in frequent endeace before I^rltament, that great pains are token with the native regineatal seminarieB. I might quote similar testimony with respect to Madras, but pwibape the best proof that I could adduce is the Btatenent nuide by that indefatigable friend of India. Sir Alexandw Johnson, in his late able report laid before the Royal Asiatic Society, namely, that in Madras, ' the proportion of the inhabitants who have been taught reading, writing, and the rudi- ments of arithmetic, in their own langua^, amount to one in five ' I' Kow if we take the Madras popidation to be no better educated than that of Calcutta or Bombay, we shall actually have a higher range of education in India than in any other country on earth : — Education tn prt^toriim to popKiation, Id India ... 1 scholar to ever; . . 6 iahabitsnia. England . . 1 ditia 15 ditto France ... 1 dilLo 17 ditto United States . 1 ditto II ditto Austria ... 1 ditto 19 ditto PriMtiB ... 1 diito 7 ditto TheNethetlandsl ditto 9 ditto ' Bir Aleiander also states, that the Board of Education at Madras have lecenlli; circulated an almanack, on similar prin- ciples to ibe British Altnanack published here, among the native population of the Madras presidency, Ht the trifling expense of 48i. i and that the late Colonel Mackensie received from the East India Company 10,000;. for his collectionB on the history of the Hindoos of the Southern Peninsula. Tlie mouej' paid by the East India Company for Dr. Morrison's Chinese Dictionary, was 13,000'. sterling 1 ..,_..„Gooslc 174 BBNQAL, MADRAS, AND BOMBAY. Frcmikbm of Education im BBNaAL.>— The Ck\- cntta Madrissa, or MahonedMi College waa fduoded- in 1 781 , by Warren Hsstii^, irho provided^ building for it at his own expense, amounting to 57,745 rapeu, but which was afterwards charged to the Compaay, The Bengal government also, at the rocammcBdatiok of Mr. Hastings, assigned lands of the estimated Talue of 29,000 rupees per annum, for the aupportof the institution, to promote the etady of tha Anbic and Persian languages, and of the Mahomedan law, with a view, more especially, to the production of vitll qualified officers for the court of justice. In 1791, the govemmentof the college was pUoed in the hmids of a Committee of Superintendence, consisting of the acting president of the Board of Revenue, the Persian tranBlator to govemmeat, and the preparer of reports. The stadentB were divided into classes, and the following sciences to be taught ; — natural philosophy' theology, law, astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, logic, rhetoric, oratory, grammar. Not more than two months' vacation allowed to tiie students in one year. Every Friday to be set apart for parifcations and religions worship. The salaries of the preceptors and officers to be, head preceptor, 400 rupees per month ; first aasistant, 100 ; second ditto, 80 ; third ditto, 60 ; fourth ditto, 30. Each student in the five classes to receive an allowance of fifteen, ten, eight, seven, or six rupees per month, according to his class. The number of students to be regulated by the committee, and all eorplus funds to he employed in the purchase of books. ..,_..„G„oglc BBNARRB HINDOO SAMBCBIT COLLNK. 175 la & Tolnminoaa report in 1819, of a retrospective vietr of the resoaroes and expenditure of the instita- tna, the latter amoimted, from the year 1794 to U»e yew 1818, a period of twenty-five years, to the earn of-t^iia? rnpees ; 30,000 rupees per BDnnm, ie now gWTsakteed'to the college oat of the public treasury, iBetead .of the inetitntion depending upon the iin> certBHt produce of the lands which were originally gnated to it as an endowment. The public exami' nations which take place every year demonstrate the pr<^rea> of the college. In 1827, the study of Arabic, Mahomedan law, ind TaathemBtics was extended, and a Medical Claaa institated. The examinations were in Arabic, logic, rhetoric, philosophy, Euclid, arithmetic, algebra and medicine. In 1828 an English class was esta- blished ; skeletons and anatomical models and sur- gical works provided . All applications for law ofGcers nnder government were to be accompanied by cer- tificates from the college, and a preference given to those who had acquired the English language and produced testimonials of good conduct in the college, la 1830, number of students ninety-nine ; examined eighty-five. Bdjiares Hindoo Sarucrtt College, established by Jonathan Duncan, Esq. the resident at Benares in 1791, Bfl a means of employing, beneficially for the conntry, some part of a surplos which the public revenues yielded over their estimated amount. The expense for the first year was limited to 14,000 rupees. In the following year it was augmented to 30,000 rupees ; at which amount it has been con' ..,_..„Gooslc 176 BBMOiJ., UASKAS, AND BOHBAT. tinued dowu to the present time. The object of this inBtitution was the preeervation nod cultivation of the laws, literature and religirat of the Hindoos, (more particQlBrly of their laws) in their sacred city ; a measure which it was conceived would be equally advantageous to the natives, and honourable to the British g-ovemment among them. The establishment originally consisted of a head pundit or rector ; eight prc^essors ; nine students who enjoyed salaries ; with book-keepers, writers, peons, &c. The Governor- General was constituted visitor, and the resident his deputy. Besides the scholars on the foundation, and a certain number of poor children who were to receive instruction gratis, the institution was open to all persons who were willing to pay for instruction : the teachers and students to hold their places during the pleasure of the visitor. All the professors, except the professor of medicine, to be Brahmins. The Brahmins to have preference in succession to the ofGce of rector, or to professorships. Four examioations in the year to be held before the resident. Each professor to compose annually for the use of his students, a lecture on his respective science. Elsaminations into the most sacred branches of knowledge to be made by a committee of Brahmins. Courses of study to be prepared by the professors. The internal dis< dpline to be in all r^pects conformable to the Dherma Shastra, in the chapter on education. The prescribed course of stndiea in this college to comprehend, — Theology, ritual, medicine including botany, &c. COLUTON. 177 iQuic, mechanic arta, gnimmBT, prosody, and aacred lezkograpby, mathematica, metaphysics, logic, law, history, ethics, philosophy, and poetry. The Calcutta HindM SaJtscrit College, dates iti estftblishment from 1821. For the support irf this institation, the aimiud sum of 30,000 rupees has been allowed by government, and 1,20,000 mpeee baa also been allotted for the erection of a college. Tite eatsbliahment consists of fonrteea pandits, a librarian and sonants, 100 scholars on tike foand&> tion, and a secretary. The sum of 1,200 rupees is reserved for distribu- tioB in prizes at the pnblic examination, and a school for Hindoo chfldren is connected with the college. In 1823 the Bengal goremment formed a General Cominittee of Public Instruction at Calcutta, for the promoting of edacation and of the improvement ot the morals of the nativea of India. The anniul sum of one lac erf rupees, which, by the 53 Gieo. III., c. 165, was {q)propriated to the pnrpoHes of education was placed at their disposal. l^e schools at Chinsnrah, Rajpootana, and Bhaugul- pore, were placed nnder the control of this com- mittee, and the separate grants which had been made to those schools, amounting together to 16,800 rupees per annum, were discontiaued from the 1st January 1824. The total amount placed at the disposal of the General Committee of Public Instmction in the years from 1821-22 to 1825-26 was, 8. R. 4,78,400. Agra College. Id 18i2, the Govemor- General in conncil sanctioned the iustitntion of a college at ..,_..„Gooslc 17& BSNC Agra ; tiie Sam of 42,501 its. was for the erectten of the College ) an expenditure of 15,420 Re. SRiUio- rieed, and ^e number of students in the college was m 1826—117; 1827— 210; in 1630— 203; of whom 73 received ettpendiary allowances. > DelM College, Himilar to the foregoing by its adap- tation to nsefol instruction. In 1827 the -niunber'af students was 204; in 1828 — 199 ; and in 1839— 152; die reduction being owing to a discDuragement of pecuniary or stipendiary grants to pupils. Vidalaya or Artglo-lTtdian College. " This highly interesting and promising institation," it is st^ed, " owes its origin to the intelligence and pnbUc spirit of some of the opulent native gentlemen of Oaleutta, who associated together in 1816, and subscribed a capital sum of Re. 1,13,179, to found a seminary for the instruction of the sons of Hindoos in the European and Asiatic luig^ages and scienoes." It was placed under the superintendenoe of the General Committee, as the condition of pecuniary aid, to the amount of 300 rupees per month, for honsc' rent, aflbrded to it out of the Education Fund. This institution has a growing popularity, and decided superiority, on ita present footing, over any other Hording tuition to the natives in the English lan- guage ; a select library of books has been sent from England, and some additional philosophical apparatus. The number of scholars, all male, is stated at 200; "and so lon^," the committee add, " as such anumber, all respectably connected, can be trained in useful knowledge and the English language, a great im- provement may be confidently antirapated in the ..,_..„Gooslc COUiKQIS. 179 inteUectoal character of the principal inhabitants of Calcutta." In order to secure the continued at- tendance of the more promieiag ptqiila, and to enable them to complete their couree of stady, a limited number of scbolarships haa been endowed bj the government. TTie number of pupils were in Jantiary 1836—196 ; in 1827—372 ; July 1826— 280 '; 1828 — 137 (of whom 100 received gratuitoue educa- tion.) The number is still on the increase. jEnglish College. The government sanctioned the establiabment of a distinct English college, for the admiBsion of a certain number of the more advanced pupils from the Hindoo and Mahommedan colleges, for gratuitous instruction in literature and science, by meana of the English language ; for which pur- pose the Education Fund could afford an income of Rs. 24,000 per annum. Tie BUhop'a College near Calcutta. A grant of land, of about twenty acrei, was made by the govern- ment in India, fo« the purposes of tbe college, to whioh a farther grant has since been made. It stands about three miles below Calcutta, in a fine situation, on the opposite bank of the river Hooghly, which is there much wider than the Thames at London. "The spot is peculiarly favourable for privacy and retirement : and the scenery is such," Bishop MLddleton observes, " as to gratify and soothe the The foundation stone of the college was lud, on 15th of December, 1820, by Bishop Middleton. The Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, transmitted to Dr. Middle- N 2 ..,..., Google ISO BENG ton the snm of 5,000^. to enable htm to commence the wort ; 5,000^. were contributed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge ; 5,000i, more were voted by the Church Misaionary Society ; and the British and Foreign Bible Society had added 5,000i. This sum of 20,0001. was augmented by collections in all the churches in England and Wales, in consequence of a " King's Letter," which amounted to 4S,000^ with which the buildiiig has been completed. Ihe college consists of three piles of buildings, in the plain Gothic style. These buildings form three aides of a quadrangle; the fourth, or south side, being open to the river, which in that part fiows nearly from east to west. The pile which fronts the river consists of the college chapel to the east, divided by a tower from the hall and hbrary on the west. The buildings on the east and west sides of the quad- rangle contain the apartments for a principal and two professors, with lecture rooms, and rooms for the students. The whole is formed on the plan of combining comfort and convenience vrith an elegant simpUcity. Bishop's College is under the immediate direction of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel ; but the statutes are so framed as to afford oppor- tunity both to the government in India and to the religious societies connected with the Church of England, of obtaining, under certain regulations, the benefits of the college for such students as they may place there. For the regular supply of students, the Society for ISl ttie Propa^tion of the Gospel, has adopted the measure stated in the following extract from a late report ; — " Ten theological scholarships and ten lay scholarships have heen formed hy the society, for native or European youths educated in the prin- ciples of Christianity ; and the sum- of 1000/. per annum has been appropriated to this special purpose. The ordinary age of admission is fourteen." The Christian Knowledge Society ftasists in this plan of scholarship ; having placed the sunt of 6000/. at the disposal of the Gospel Propagation Society, for the purpose of endowing five scholarships, to be called in memory of the founder of the college, •' Bishop Middleton's Scholarships." This grant ia also intended to provide a salary for a Tamul teacher in the college, that being the language chiefly used in the Society's missions. The Church Missionary Society voted a grant of 1000/. per annum for several years, on account of the importance of the institution, and of the co-operation it afforded in their department of labour in India. In 1830, the directors of Bishop's College had up- wards of 50,000/. in the three and a half per cents., aa a fund towards the support of that institution. Tliere are upon that foundation a principal, two pro- fessors, eight missionaries, two catechists, and a The College Council consists of three professors, and attached to the college are fom* European mis- sionaries. The foregoing abstract of the colleges in Bengal u sufficient to convey an idea of the good intentions 182 BENGAL, MADUta, AMD BOMBAY. of the goveroroent in fnrtiering edncadon. There are various primary and elementary schools, viz, at Chinsurah (where there are 1200 scholars); at Ajmeer (in which school there are 200 hoys) ; Bo^li- poor Bchool (134 pupils); Cawnpore (76 scholars) ; Allahabad (50 Bcholare) ' ; Dacca (25 schools and 1414 pupils): MjTipoory College, Etawah (40); Bareilly' (131 schools, 300 seminaries, with 3000 pnpils); and an established college, with fifty students. ' It is prDpowd to etcabliih an Engliah College at AIlahB- bad. ' In 1827, the local agents in Bareilly, reporled that in the town of Bareilly ihere were 101 schools in which Persian wu taught, and twcniy in which the children of the Malinjims wtre taught accounts ; besides which there were eleven per- sons who taught Arabic, and two who taught the science of medicine ; that in the Tillages round about Bareilly there wer« nine Hindoo schools and ^irteen Persian ; and in other parts of the district I U Persian and 111 Hindostanee schools. ' Id ihese schnola,' the local agents observe, ' science of any sort is rarely studied. Works in the Persian language, such aa tbe Bostan, Gflistan, Zslicka, Madhooratn Aboolfuzul, Secundernameh, Tusha Kheeteeta, Babardanisli, are read, with s view to facility \a writing Persian ; besides this, the Bcholars are instructed in the simplest rules of arithmetic In the col- leges, the works read are in the Arabic language. The course of study includes Surf, Nebo, Mauiick, Laws of Composition, ■pikha, Kikmut, under which are included medicine, mathe- matics, end natural philosophy, the Buddus, and the explana- tions of the Koran ; besides these, there are schools in which the children of Mahajani and those intended for putwarries are taught accounta ; those who study the Hindoo sciences read the Vedaa, the Shastrea, the Poorana, Beakam Jotuh Chelura Naiyul, Ojoosh Bed, Memansa, Neari. We have nol ,., Google BI.KHENTARY SCHOOLS. 183 In' Delhi dietrict there are about 3U0 elementary mKooIb, in several of which the preceptors receive do heard thai there ar« an; estabttshmeQts for such icholan in tbe villages. ' In the Bchooli in which Persian is taught, the ba;g read manuscript copies of ihe different Ijooks, and learn to write on ' Hindoos and Mussulmans have no scruples about reading together. The teachers are almost always Syeds, Sheika, Moguls, Patans or Kails. ' The teachers are paid from tliree to aeven rupees a month ^ the person at whose bouse theysii; tbey also get (heir meals twice a day, and surance, that is, a kubba. razaee, (oshak and bolaposb. Kubba and razee are regularly given every year, whether the old one be worn out or not; the lushak and bokposh are aometimee given, sometimes not. Summer clothing is also sometimes given, but rarely. Those who da not pay a teacher for attending at their own houses, send their children to the housee of ihose who entertain one, and pay the teacher from four annas to one rupee monthly, according to their lofians ; besides this, the master gets other perquisites, Bucb ai ' jutnmajee' offerings, presented on Thursday evenings hy each boy, from four gundaba to one and five annas ; ' agha- zee' offerings, presented on beginning a new book, from five annas to one and a half rupee; ' eilic,' presented on holidays, Iiam one anna to one rupee. The boys begin to study at six years of age sometimes, but seldom till twenty ; ' in the col- leges, from fourteen to twenty-five, sometimes thirty, some- times much leas, it depending on the talents and inclinations of the students. Those who learn Persian, viz. boys till the age of fourteen and fifteen, never remain under the roof of the master ; on the contrary, he generally attends at the house of ' It is thus in the official documents. CBiii5dJ.Googlc 184 BKNOAL, MADRAS, AND BOHBAT. pay, but teach ' gratis in ht^ of Heaven.' There are a great variety of other colleges and echods in Kidderpore, Burdwaa, Moorebedabad, Hoogbly, Nuddea, Rajisbaye; Calcutta Benevolent schools (250 pupils of both sexes) ; In&nt schools in various districts, under the committee of management at Calcutta ; Sylhet, Chittagong, Beaspoor, &c. inde- pendent of regular schoob, and private or miesionary seminaries. The Missionary Societies oiaintaiQ schools at their respective stations. The following are maintained by them under this presidency. By the London Societt/. — At Calcatta, and out stations, BengaUee schools, for boys, II ; for girla, 4 — 15. At Chinsurah — BengaUee, for bo5^, 2. At Berhanpore — Bengallee, for boys, 1 ; for girls, 1 — 2. At Benares — Hiadui, for boys, 4. By the Bigtlwl Society. — At Calcutta, and ont stations, for boys, 2 ; for gixla, 22—24. At Cutwa, for girls, 4. At Sewry, for boys, 4 ; for girls, 4 — 8. State or Education at Madbas. — The reports in detail from this presidency are not aiunerous, bat ■ome person or other, where he insCnicta the children of the msster of the house, and those of others. Schools in which accounts are (aught differ in no material reapecC from Persian ones. Those nho teach Arabic have soroetimes pupils who come from a diatance residing under their roof; but those who live in die lame tonn remain in iheir parents' houie. It is considered improper to talte an; thing from Arabic students, unless trom necessil}!. The schools in the towns are well at- tended in comparison with those of the Tillages i we have heard of no school supported bj public grants.' ,jj,Googlc STATB Cr EDVOAnON AT HADEAS. 185 to Dompeneate in sora« meuore, we hftve a more complete return than imra any of the other president des relative to the males and females at each school, dietiiiguishiiig the Hindoo from the Mussulman scho- lars. This return is as follows : — CBiii5dJ.Googlc Sute of education under die Madras presidency, dutinguiihing " ' Q wboUrs, And tbe male from the fejfMle- Vliagspatun .... Rljlbmundry . UuuUpatAm .-. OUDtlMC Oiddapih ^t^.. Chtn^lopue ,....., AnM, K. IHtIiIc Arm, B. DIvtilo T[lebiiu>i»l7 .... lUdm Tinnaielly Cinm KaStibai ,.. 6tTijigMfatMm ... . MmOiu .Collen.. 'km::!;: '8Ch»ii .CoUmi.,.. I ttutDMnt of Ihs Dim ..,_.,„Googlc the number of CoHegra and Schools, the Hindoo from Ihe pupib. (From the latest Goiemiacnt returns in 1826.) TOUL tl>)e. Female. 10,^ Mai.. Pemale. Total. !7 none 2? ms 12 2977 "« »ne "ii am MS ti'is ■S »one iVi \m 'is i08S 251 ■■■» ieo ism "m 7724 Ml .i i mi i 1 iu nrais is6 Visj 118 7!43 i'ii "ii i'ea iesi "m 774* 292 n^ile 211 iMig i'04 loi'is «s ■« M9 1592 "h «io noj". none 933 i74:s lU 17542 690 *SS 7« io"i "i™ lOSM m? no»' 1U7 13679 1«5 13781 7M a™. '!' 92S8 ■;^ Bioe none 2 "^1 «1! SIRO 14113 10 none 'lo 'j;j '« tea IG80 "•"" 1600 26446 S17 26963 113S4 1 IBS? IJ«1 184110 4540 1 1860S0 1 D^„_,j., Google HADBA9, A A nimmuy of the report atates, that the Bchools are for the most part supported by the people who send their children to them for inHtniction, the rate of payment for each scholar varying in diflerent dis- tricts, and, according to the circumstance 8 of the parents of the pupils, viz. from one anna (three-half- pence) to fouT rupees (eight shillings) a month, the ordinary rate of the poorer classes being generally four annas, and seldom exceeding eight aanas. There are endowed B4:hods, or teachers, in the following districts : — Bajamuttdty — sixty-nine teachers of the sciences, endowed with land, and thirteen receiving allow- ances in money. Nellore — several Brahmins and Mussnhnans, re- ceiving 1467 rupees per annum for teaching the Vedas, Arabic, and Persian. Arcot — twenty-eight colleges and six Persian sdiools. Salem — twenty teachers of theology and one Mas- Bulman school. Ta«;ore— seventy colleges and forty-four schools, supported by his highness the Rajah. Trichiru^oly — seven schools, Malabar — one college. Endowments for purposes of education in other districts have unfortunately been appropriated to other purposes. The Missionary Societies maintun the following schools under this presidency : — The London Society. — At Madras, and out stations, Tamil, for hoys, 14; girl8,2; boys aud girls, 2 — 18, ,., Google STATS OF BDUCATIOK AT BOHBAY. 189 At IVipassoor — Tamil, boys and girls, 2 ; English, boys and girb, 2 — i. At Vizagapatam — Teloogoo, boys and ^Is, 11. At Cndapah-— Teloogoo, boys and prls, 8. At Chittoor — ^Teloogoo and Tamil, for W*' ' i girfa. i — 8. At Belgaam, and out sta- doos, Msibratta and Tamil, for boys, 7 ; for girls, 1—8. At Bellary— Canarese and Tamil, for boys, 12; for girls, 1 — 13. At Bangalore, with oot sta- tioDB — Canarese, Mahratta, Teloogoo, and Tamil, for boys, with a few girls, 7, At Salem — ^Tamil, Teloogoo, and English, boys, 7, At Comboconum — Tamil, for boys, 12 ; for girls, 1 — 13. At Coimba., toor— Tamil for boys, 5. At Nagercoil, with out stations — Tamil for boys, 46 ; for girls, 4 — 50. At Neyoor, with out stations — Tamil, for boys, 50 ; for girls, 1 — 51. At Quilon — Malayalim, for boys, 14; for girls, 10 — 24. The Wesleyan Missionary Society, — At Madras, 14. At Bangalore, 6. At Negapa- tam and Melnattam, 8. A committee of public inatraction has been formed at Madras on the model of that of Bengal, and much good has already been effected by the same. State of Education at Bohbat. — The govern- ment of this presidency has not been behind hand iu promoting the blessing ofedncation. In July, 1828, a circular letter was issued to the several collectors under the Bombay government, calling upon them to report annually to the Foujdarry Adawlut the num- ber of schools in their collectorates, the number of boys attending each, and the mode in which educa- tion was conducted, also the mode in which printed 190 BXNOAl, I1U1IU8, AND BOMBAT. tracts were sought after and diiposed of. In Octo- ber, 1829, these reports having heen received, the registrar of the Adawlut was instructed to forward to the government a general report of the state of edu- cation in the provinces of the Bomhay presideocy, framed from the information conveyed in the state- ments of the several collectors, and suggesting the means which, in the opinion of the judges, were most likely to promote and improve the education of the natives of India. First, by a gradual extension of schools on an im- proved principle, either by affording the patronage of government to native schoolmasters, on cotiditioni of their improving their system, or by the establishment of new schools in populous places at the expense of government : and. Secondly, by the gratuitous distribution of Dsefnl books, such as ' books of arithmetic, short histories, moral tales, distinct from their own false legends, natural history, and some short voyages and travels.' Periodical examinations the judges recommend to be held with caution, as likely to excite alarm, and when voluntarily submitted to by the schoolmasters, to be accompanied by liberal rewards to tbe scholars for proficiency, ' as showing the interest the govern- ment takes in the proceedings, and as a mode of en- couragement which would seem upon common prin- ciples likely to be attended with a good result.' This report is accompanied by the following ' Statement of the Schools and Scholars in the dif- ferent Collectorehips.' CBiii5dJ.Googlc MATIYS XDVCATION SOCIBTt AT BOHBAT. 191 Native Education Society. The committee of this coble iDstitution (voluntarily formed in lSt5, and composed in neariy equal preportions of Europeans audnatkves) at a meeting, 12th April 1831, stated that its aggregate receipts and dishoraements within the year amounted to between 70,000 and 80,000 ropees; that it has constantly on sale more than forty publications in the -native langnagea, many of them the produce of the Bombay lithographic and other presses, of which former mode of printing favourable specimens are appended to the reports ; and that it has under its controul and management the several schools and establishments described in the following paragraphs. In the central school 250 boys have been through a course of study in the English language ; fifty have left it with a competent knowledge of the langoage, consistingof an acquaintance with geography, mathe- matics, and geometry. In Bombay, the boys in the Mahretta school have amounted to 954, and in Guz- zerattee to 427. At present, there are altogether66 of the Society's schools, eacb containing about 60 boys, amounting in the whole to 3000 boys under a course of education. This report contains the following further par- ticulars: ' Your committee observe that the boys who have made the greatest progress in the English schools are the Hindoos ; they are left longer in the schools by their parents than other boys, who, though equally intelligent and quick, are more irregular in their «t- 192 BRNQAX, MADRAS, AND BOMBAY. tendance. Few or no Mahomedan boys ever enter the schools.' In 1826, there were in the Society's school at Bombay, 367 boys, boarders, and 228 girls ditto ; and there were of day scholars 268 Christians, and 472 natives. In Sural sdiool, three CbristtEins and forty-eight natives, and the regular schools 183 >■ There is a Hindoo college at Poona, at which premiums are awarded to the most deserving atu~ dents. An admirable Engineer College has been formed at Bombay, at which, according to the latest return, there were eighty-six students entertained and instructed. Schools and Schofara a( Bombay. CBiii5dJ.Googlc SCHOOLS AND SCHOLABS. 193 Id May, 1830, the EJducation Society reported twenty-five schoolmasters, eleven Mahrattas, and fourteen Giiu«rattees, ready to commence their duties as teachers in the various schools in the Deccan, in Guzzerat, and in the two Concans. They had acquired an accurate knowledge of their -own languages, and were so far acquainted with the higher branches of the mathematics as to entitle them to he considered teachers of the second order. Stations were proposed for them by the Society, to which they were sent hy the government '. In 1829, there were forty-four students quitting the institution to enter on professional employment, of whom they were — Europeans, seven ; Mahratta, thirty-two ; Guzzerattee, five ; mathematical instru- mente, &c., are suppHed hy the East India Company. The following very condensed abstract relative to the number of the acboola under the Bombay Presi- dency (according to circular queries in 1825) and the mode in which the teacher is remunerated, will he perused with much interest. ' It is much In be regretted that the noble college founded >,t Calcutta bf the Marquesa WellesUy, was abolished by the short sighted policy of the Court of Directors of the East India Company in 1803 ; it would have been Che parent atone for the exten^oo of educacioa over the greatest part of Asia. „^„_,jj,Googlc i 1 1 ^1 |lli liifiiili mm liiii If :■- = i 1 1 2 ill ailliili 1 y 1- 1 i ti ■i CBiii5dJ.Googlc iPMi I 1 D^„_,j., Google 196 BBNOAL, UADRAS, AND BONBAT. Under tHs presidency the Loudon MisBionary Society maintains the following schools. At Surat — Goojurattee, for boys, 4 ; girla, 1 — 5. At Darmm — Tanul.a. The Calcutta Education Press (now the Baptist Mission Press) has been productive of much good ; between July, 1824, and February, 1830, the num- ber of native works produced at this press were — ElDiihcd. In Hind. SanicTit IS 3 Arabic 3 S Hindi 3 FeniBQ 4 1 The total values of the works was mpees, 58,890. The Calcutta School-Book Society had pabhshed thirty- eight volumes on important subjects, in the several Indian languages, as follows : — laSanicril.. 3 Peruan S AnglO'FeniaD 3 Ben(^llee 9 Hindoitanee .. 1 Anglo- Uindiwtail«e 2 Hindee.. 3 Anglo-Beng;altee 3 English 6 Arabic .. 3 Aacrlo- Hindee . . 1 — 38 Of the foregoing elementary and standard Tolomes, there were 28,671 copies circulated in 1828 and in 1829, as follows:— orReporta 651 Arabic 117 Sanacrit Boolu . . . . 177 Persian 1907 Bengallea 10074 HindoBtaneB .. 1173 Hindee 24S2 Eogiisli 9616 Ooriya 300 Anglo-Aaiatie.. 33W Total 28671 uiaaioNAB.iB8, 1 97 Of the Serainpore MUaionarieB (particularly Drs. Csrey' and MarebinaD) it ia impossible to speak in sufficiently laudatory tenns, without baiting the feel- ings of those amiable pioneers of civilization. They have twenty-seven miaaionary stations, containing forty-eeven miasionariea, spread over an immenae extent of country. It ia truly observed that ' the missioiiaries sent from Scrampore are prepared for their laboars at a moderate expense ; they are gene- rally content with a style of living which persons bronght ap in Europe conld not endure ^thout loss of health, and every member of the miasion is taught, not only that it is lawful, but desirable, for him to secure the means of his own support, by any employ- ment which does not obatruct his usefulness.' Shortly before leaving India, I visited the College at Serampore, and was really at a loss which to ad- mire most, the active industry, skill and intelligence pat in operation, or the profound and unaffected piety which pervaded the whole establishment. In one part of the College types in every language were being cast; in another a capital steam-engine was plying its powerful machinery for the manufacture of excellent paper; in a third place were numerous compositors employed on books, pamphlets, news- papers, school tracts, hymns, catechisms, &c., and in a fourth spot printers, ink-makers, binders, &c. &c. — ' Since the first edition nf this work went Co preas, Dr. Carey hai deeoended, full of honours, lo the grave. An in- tereating memoir of this venerable charwiter will be found in the ' Gendemao'a Magazine' for April, 1826, written by Mr. Fiiber. ,., Google 198 BENGAL, UADRAB, AND BOMBAT. • all, in feet, was peace, harmony, and holiness. It ie stated in the Serampore acconnt, that, unce 1825, from 40.000 to 50,000 volamee or pamphlets (not copies of them) have been thrown into circnlation by the native preu ! The English language is making rapid strides in every part of India ; a recent Bengal newspaper, the Stmachur Ihirpun (which has been established by th« Serampore missionaries, one half being in the Eng- lish, and the other half translations into the Ben- gallee) states that. wiOi the view of encouraging the study of this langnage. Lord W. Bentinck has adopted it in his correspondence with Fyz Mahomed Khnn, one of the native chiefs in the west, which has created a considerable sensation in Delhi. Ademand for English tutors and secretaries is already percepti- ble. The teacher who recently resigned bis situation in the Delhi College, said he could easily get a tator- ahip and secretaryship under a native prince. Mr. Rennel, of the collector's office, having been dlB- charged, has also the offer of a sitaation from a na- tive prince. Kishenlall has already engaged an Eng- lish teacher for his two sons, whom he intends to make secretaries to Fyz Mahomed Khan. Lord William's letters in English to the native chiefs, are likely to draw their attention to the acquisition of English. As soon as the chiefs be^n to study the langoage, or make their sons do so, the use of English will become general. Prom the Bombay Dnrpun, we also leam that the Ekigliah language is much more generally Bou^t among the natives than at any former period. Be- ..,_..„Gooslc SOCIBTIES. 199 sides the school at Poona, the Central English Bchool of the Native Education Society has 100 etudentg, and to this namber the school is limited. (The mia- sinnaries, with the aesistauce of , the government, have recently established one Enghsh school, and the go- Temmeat are about inBtituting another.) There are, however, nmneroas private Bchoolg oa the island, in which the total nnmber of youths learning English, will be found to be several hundreds. Another journal subsequently observes — ' We leam that his Majesty of Oude has recently eatabUshed an English school at Lucknow, and placed it under the controul of Major Low ; the number of scholars that now attend daily, amounts to from thirty to forty, the Doajority of whom are the descendants of Christians, the rest Hindoos and Mahomedans.' It rests not ou my individual testiioony, but it is in evidence before Parliament, that the natives have not only shown a great anxiety to obtiun a know- ledge of the EngUeh language, but that they have also evinced considerable proficiency in the same; the truth of the following extract from the recent Parlia- mentary Committee on the East India affairs, can be attested by hundreds of peraons now in Europe. Some of the students, who have completed their education in the Hindoo College and other institu- tions, are in the habit of holding debating societies, where they discuss topics of considerable importance in the English language, and read lectures and essays of their own composition, upon various literary and scientific subjects. At one of the meetings above mentioned, the question for discussion was, ' Whe- 200 BBNGAI., HADBAB, AMD B0MBA7. ther posthumous fame be a rational prm(npie of ha- man action or not.' It is tnie that the debate soon branched off into a conBideration of the possibility and probability of human perfection ; but the oratora spoke with remarkable fluency, quoting Gibbon, Hume, Reid, Bolingbroke, Voltaire, Shakspeare, Milton, &c. llie forms of similar meetings in Eng- land were imitated; and the chairman having in- quired the reason of the secretary's absence, a loud cry of ' Persecution !' was raided, and it was ex- plained that he was prevented from attending by his &ther, who was afraid that hie principles of paganism should be corrupted, iu consequence of the other members being deists. In corroboration of the foregoing, I may mention that I have found many of the Hindoo youths more accurately acquainted with English standard authors than is readily to he met with in England ; they have now got up English playhouses, in which Shakspeare and the productions of the best British dramatists are acted with astonishing spirit. A Literary Society has been recently organized by the learned Hindoos at Madras, and placed in communication with the Royal Asiatic Society of London ; by late arrivals I am informed that an Horticultural Society has been formed at Agra -. — other institutions will doubtless spring up rapidly. CBiii5dJ.Googlc Thb government of BritiBb India poggeBses a. feature which has rarely or never been found in any nation or in any age, I allnde to its toleration of every mode or form of religion in which difiereat aects may choose to adore the Creator ; to ita protection against hos- tility, forcihle opposition or oppression by one rival Kct against another, and to its auxiliary pecuiuB)*y aid when solicited by any congregation or community. The Hindoo religion is of course the creed of the vast majority of the people ; although now a gross gystem oi polytheism adapted to the rudest capacities and appealing to or exciting merely sensual passions, there are various evidences in proof that it was once an almost pure system of monotheism, on which was Bubsequently engrafted the Hindoo trimvrti or Triad. Thus B&ABM, (God), is among almost innumerable definitions acknowledged in the veiaa, or sacred writings of the Hindoos, as ' the Almighty, infinite, eternal, incomprehensible, self-existent Being : He who sees every thing, though never seen : He who is not to be compassed by description : who is beyond the limit of human conception, and from whom the universal world proceeds : whose 'work is the uni- verse, and who is the Lord of the universe : He who is the Light of all lights, whose name is too sacred to be pronounced, and whose power is too infinite to be 202 BENGAL, UADBAS, AND BOMBAY. imagitied : the ooe unknown, true Being, the Crea- tor, the Preserver, the Destroyer of the aniverse !' These sublime ideas of the Deity (Brahm !j who amidst the multitudinous worship of 330,000,000 of gods, has never been desecrated by an image or even temple, and whom the Hindoos dare not even name;) have been often mentioned to me by the late dis- tinguished Rammohun Roy, who in conjunction with a few of his brethren in Calcutta, endeavoured to ' restore the pure and ancient form of Hindoo mono- theism, by the establishment of an institution de- voted to the simplest worship of the one, indivisible, invisible, omnipotent, and omnipresent God; the re- gulations for the conducting of this worship the wri- ter of this work drew up, and the following is part of the trust deed prepared at the suggestion of Ram- mohun Roy, in Calcutta, in 1829 '; it is a singolar instance of a desire to discard the gross idolatry of a once primitive form of religion. Trvet Deed. — ' Upon trust and in confidence that they the said [here follow the names of the tmateai] or the survivors or survivor of them, shall, at all times, permit the said building, land, tenements, hereditaments, and premises, with their appurte- nances, to be uBed, occupied, enjoyed, applied, and n was opened by the \»te Rajah RwniDahan Roy, accompaaied by the writer (the only European preseacj, in 1830. There were about 600 UiadooB preaent, and omnng them many BrahminB, who after the prayers and iiaging of hymns had been cancluded, received gifta !□ mooey to a con- •iderable exteoL— R. M. H. TRUST DBKD. 203 appropriated, as, and for a place of public meeting, of all sorts and descriptions of people without distinc- tion, as shall behave and condact themselves in an orderly, sober, religious, and devout manner, for the worship, and adoration of the Eternal, Unsearchable, and Immutable Being, who is the Author and Pre- serrer of the universe, but not under, or by any other name, designation, or title, peculiarly used for and applied to any particular being or beings, by any man or set of men whatsoever ; and that no graven image, statve, or sailptvre, carving, painting, pictmy, portrait, or the likeness of any thing, shall be admitted within the messuage, building, &c., and that no sacrifice, offering, or oblation of any kind or thing shall ever he permitted therein ; and that no animal or living creature shall, within or on the said mes- suage, building, land, tenements, hereditaments, and premises, be deprived of life, either for religious pnr- posea, or for food ; and that no eating or drinking (except such as shall be necessary by any accident for the present preservation of life), feasting or riot- ing, he permitted therein or thereon ; and that in condncting the said worship or adoration, no object animate or inanimate that has been, or is, or shall hereafter become, or be recognized aa an object of worship by any man or set of men, shall be reviled, or slightingly or contemptuously spoken of, or alluded to, either in preaching, praying, or in the hymns, or otiier mode of worship that maybe delivered, or used in the said messuage or building ; and that no ser- mon preaching, discourse, prayer, or hymn be de- livered, made, or used in such worship, but such as 204 BBNC have a tendency to the promotion of the eontempU- tion of the Author and Preserver of the Univeree, to the promotion of charity, morality, piety, benevolence, virtue, and the strengthening the bonds of union between men of all religious perBuaaions and creeds : and alio that a person of good repute, and well known for his knowledge, piety, and morality, be employed by the said tmstees, as a resident snperintendent, and for the purpose of superintending the worship, so to be performed as is hereinbefore stated and ex- passed ; and that such worship be performed daily, or at least as often ae once in seven days.' What a contrast does the foregoing description of a Hindoo place o' worship present to the establish- ment of the temple of the Idol of Jugnnnauth, in Orissa, which the East India Company have now forbidden their government to meddle with, in any manner, as respects the collection of taxes ' from the pilgrims thereto, although levied for the purpose of defraying the expenses incurred for the maintenance of peace and order; it was well, however, to with- draw from the levy of taxes on such idolatry. Etlabliihmenl of the Idol .fugunnaufA at the Temple in Oriita. 1. MiAa Raja Ramchundra Deva. — Honorary servant (o iba idol, to drive Ihe flies fcom off the idol witli B chamur, aweep the great car, and place flowers on llie idol. S. Moodee Jtttl'li, aliai Plenipoleniiary. — This officer u atoto- oomer to the idol, and perfoima the other duties in the absence of the Maha Raja. 3. Kaguk, or Head of Ike order iff lEruonli attending NfWM the ' The degpatch is dated from the Court of Directon, 20th February, 1833 . ,., Google IDOL OF JUanKNAVTB IN ORISSA. S05 uM. — This offlMi adorns the idol, and perfomit oth«r service*, and supcrinteDdg all the other officers. 4. Punrfit— Performs the ceremonies during ihe preeenta- lion of the ofieringB. fl. Puioo-Falali, — Adorns the idol. 6, Choakiya.—Kee'pa watch at the ^me of presenting (he 7- PurtcAa.^-This officer accompanies the idol to the tank, and purifies the temples. Neab PurieluL — In the absence of the Puricha, these act in his stead. 9. Mahar Shoohar, or Head Cook. — Brahmiin cooks, who carry the curings info the presence of the idol. ID. iSKKwart.— Brahmuns who assist the head cooks. 11. GvrahaTQo. — Persona who give water to the priests at the time of their perfbrminf; the ceremonies of worship. 12. Paf'ire*.— Clear the sacred Tesaela, and carry the flow- ers, sandal-nood, &c. to the olBcialing priests. IS. Tunehee. — Brahmuns who place the boiled rice and split peas in silver and gold dishes, before the idol. This is called sirkaree bhoge, or that allowed by the government. 14. Saaar. — These persons distribute proper quantities of the offerings to different temples and officers, according to the appointed rules. 15. KhoBtiya. — Warns the idol at the time of the festivals. 16. 3feer*i^.— Master of the wardrobe, that is, of the jewel office ; and Chaagra Mttrkap, master of wearing apparel. 17. Doita. — Removes the idol from the throne, and puts him on the car, and replaces him again. 18. Pb tee.— Brahmuns who dress the idols. After the bath- ing festival, the idols are uken into a room, stripped of their old clothes, and swaddled with new ones. During the fifteen days of this festival, the offerings are presented by these people. 19. Mytma. — These officers rub and clean the idols, and convey the smaller idols to tanks and other places, and afterwards place them in tbe room allotted for them. 80. Burwp Naftili. — After the offerings are removed, these 206 BBNOAL, UADHA8, AND BOHBAT. officer* bring pawn, snd but spices, and place them before the idol, and which Jugunnauth miinchea at his ease. 21. dukwid Meerkap. — Lamp-lighter. W. Kat Meerkof—ljOTA of the bed-chamber. 23. Puhurte. — Watchman at the time of presenting the offerings. 24. PooronPiTOii.— Reads outof one of the PooTOKMi every afternoon near the idoL 85. MttAkiqaikhal. — A person who attenda with a clumaj tooth-brush and water, to waah the (ace of the idol in the morning. 26. Deitana—^Kna ihe idol of the time fbr the performance of the ceremonies. 27. Porkaaaah. — Watchmen of the wardrobe. 28. Chaiooa-~\ person who carries the umbrella. 29. Tarasiya. — A person who carries an enugn in the form of a half-moan. 30. Deooliya.—A torch bearer. 31. Dvnde Chatre. — A person who stands by the throne with an umbrells, at the lime of a feast occurring, on the 1 1th and aeth of the moon, and at other testiials. 32. Kalialiya.—(iae who blows the Itahal, a sort of trumpet. 33. Ghimtoaa. — A perBOn who sounds the ghuntr, or brass bell. 34. GhuUiiaret. — A person who prepares the sandal-powder. 35. Zinia.— Peons. 36. Pru&am — Persons who give the golden rods of office to (he Purichas. 37. Dotaret. — Doorkeepers (porters.) 38. SumiUa.— Grinder of pulse. 39. Z>et« Datte. — Dancing and other jraung and beautiful ^rls, with a band of musicians. Besides split peas, milk, curds, fruit, Tegetables, &c. Ac, it is ssid that not less than 124,800 pounds of rice atone are of- fered to this god eiery year. The servants of the idol are paid out of grants of temple lands. On extraordinary occasions, (but not of late ^ears) not less than twi millien of people have THB B1NDO0 TRINITY. 807 uaemblei] at tliia temple i aod if tbe neatber were lerj wet Hud inclement, nearly half of them perished! The largest of the cars of Jugunnautli and his sisters is forty-three feet high, and has a plalform of thirty-fonr feet square : their iaIUneu and size gives them an Imposirg air, but every part of the oroamenla is of the most mean and paltry description. The enthiuiasm of the people is decaying, and soon tires ; and it is indispensable to avail of the assisCance of a multitude of the inhabitants of the vicinity, who hold their land rent free, on condiiion of performing the service of dragging the three cars at the annual ceremonies. No person of late has thrown hizDBelf beneath Che wheels of the idol's car, the East India Company's authorities have taken care to pre- vent such bnaticisni, and indeed it is to he hoped that in a few years more the ceremony will be very trifling. When it ie considered that the religion or idolatry of the Hindoos ie the creed of upwards of 60 or 70.000,000 of British subjects, a very brief analysis of some of the Deities wonhipped will, doubtless, be acceptable to the English reader. The most learned Brahmins, while asserting and advocating the an- cientnesB and correctness of the form of worship establiehed by the late Rammohun Roy, maintain as an excuse for the present idolatries, that ' It is easier to impress the minds of the rude and ignorant by intelligible symbols than by means which are incom- prehensible.' Acting npon this principle (says Mr. Coleman in his emdite work on the Hindu Pantheon), the Supreme and Omnipotent God whom the Hindoo has been taught to consider as too mighty for him to attempt to approach or even to name, has been lost sight of in the multiplicity of folse deities whose graven images have been worshipped in his place. The Hindoo Veda (Bible) inculcates the belief in and SOS BBNGAL, HADBAS, AND worehip of one great and only God, omnipoteat, om- nipresent and omniscient, nhoee attributes are alle- goricaUy (and only alkfforically) represented by tbe three personified powera of Creation (Brahma), Pre- servation {Viihau) and Destruction {Siva) who form the Hindoo triad without beginning and without end, destruction and reproduction being one — the same — indivisible. Comprebendable as these attributes are, it ia but natural to suppose that the Hindoo sages having once entered on allegory in an endeavour to explain tmmateriality, by materiality, there were no hounds to invention, but the fertihty of thought and the credulity of their followers ; thus on a simple and ,subhme monotheism there has been grafted a trinity, and thence a polytheism, accompanied by the most diagnsting of abominations, while the imaginary deities most honoured (as the goddess Kali) are of the most cruel, hloodthirsty and bestial character. Let ns now ghmce at the mythological history of the princi- pal Hindoo deities, in which it is not a tittle remark- able we find sncb a close approximation to the Greek Pantheon, while the ox so venerated by the Egyptians is held in such sacredness by the Hindoos. History AND attbiboteb of the Hindoo dbitibb'. Brahm ! the Supreme Being created the world and formed the goddess Bhavani (Nature) who had three BODS, Brahma, Vishnn and Siva; to the first was assigned the duty of continuing the creation of the worid ; to the second its preservation ; and to the ' The reader ilestroiig of a more detailed account will find it in Colemao'B elaborate Hindoo theolog;. ,., Google AITKIBDTBS OP TBB HINDOO DEITIES. 209 third its destruction : in other words these three presided over the three great operations of nature — production, prfeservation, and destruction. Brahma (Saturn) the grandfather of gods and men ; creating power dormant until again required to be ex- erted in the formation of a future world on the total annihilation of the present one, which is expected in the kalki avatar (or tenth incarnation on earth of Vishnu) : represented as a golden coloured figure with four heads and four anns. Power being dormant, eeldom worshipped; his heaven excels all others in magni- ficence, containing the united glories of all the heavens of the other deities. His earthly iocarna- tiona are (1) Dakaha— (2) Viswakarnia (Vulcan) architect of the universe, fabricator of arms to the gods, presides over the arts and manufactures, and represented as a white man with three eyes. Many temples dedicated to this god — one at EUora, hewn 130 feet in depth out of the solid rock, representing the appearance of a magnificent vaulted chapel, sup- ported by vast ranges of octangular columns, and adorned by sculptures of beautiful and perfect work- manship. (3.) Nareeda (Mercury) messenger of the gods, inventor of the lute, and a wise legislator. (4.) Brigu, who appears to have presided over popu- lation, since he caused the wife of King Sugmu, heretofore barren, to produce 60,000 sons at one birth ! The Brahmadicas, Menus and Rishis, are »ageB descended longo mtervallo from Brahm^, whose wife (some say the daughter), Suraswatty (Minerva), IB the goddess of learning, music, poetry, history and the sciences ; her festival is highly honoured. 210 BENE and offerings made to her in espiatioo of the sim of lying or having given false evidence. We now come to the second of the Hindoo Triad, VisHND — the preserver of the universe — repre- sented of a black or blue colour, with four arms and a club to punish the wicked. He is a household ^od, extensively worshipped, and on his tenth (nine are passed) avatar, when the sins of mankind are no longer bearable, he will appear as an armed warrior on a white horse adorned with jewels, having wings, holding in the one hand a sword of destruction, and in the other a ring emblematical of the perpetually revolving cycles of time. His heaven is described in the Mahabarat as entirely of gold, 80.000 mileB in circnmference ; aU its edifices composed of jewek and precious stones, — the seat of the god is glorioos as the meridian sun ; — Sri or Laksbmi, the goddess of fortune, and favourite wife of Vishnu, shining with 10,000 beams of lightning, sits on his ri^t hand ; there is a constant sin^ng of hymns and diaunting his praises. His various avataia or earthly iacamationa were for the purpose of saving the world, restoring the lost Vedaa or sacred writings, to destroy the giants, punish the wicked, &c. His first avatar was in the f^nm of a fish, to save a pious King Satyavrata (by some supposed to mean Noah) knd his family, when the earth was about to be overwhetmed by a deluge on acotHmt ftf ttie wicked- ness of the people. Vishnu at first appeared before the devout monarch as a Uttle &h to try hia {ttety Agialic Researches. FIRB WOMHIPPKRB. 219 &c. have one pecu}iarity which it would be well if Cb)*istiaDS would rival them in, — their leord it tacnd — their promite unimpeachable. The religion of the inlmbitantB of the TenaMeiim coast is Buddhism, but it does not appear that they are such pious worehippers as the Fegoera and Siamese. It cannot be doubted, however, that the doctrines of Buddha have had great influence in softening and refining the manners of the people*. Previous to its intra daction, these nations must have been savage in the extreme, for they have left no- thing to show that they cultivated the arts, or were acquainted with letters. Captain Low considers, that the Burbman pagodas ore highly deserving attentdcm and respect, and that they materially tend to confirm the supposition of Maurice, that the circular temples in Ekigland, the remains of which attract notice to this day, particularly that of Stonehenge, were ori- ginally dedicated to Buddhist worship. Before proceeding to notice the Christian sects, it will be well to say a few words on that singular and exemplary race termed— Pakskes, or FiRB WoKsaiFPBRs, who form one of the most valuable classes of the subjects of the Bri- tish crown. This sect preferring liberty to slavery, and the exercise of their pure religion to the degrad- ing heresy of Mahomet, emigrated from Penoa in the seventeenth century, soon after the conqnest of the Persians by the Mahomedana, carrying with them that sacred fire (emblematical of the Sun, and thence ■ See tbe Volume on Ceylon, for a de>cr[ptioD of Buddbbm. 220 BEMOAL, HADBAS, AND BOMBAY. of the Almighty) which they religiously venerate. A number of these p^aecuted Guebers found their way to western India along' the coast near Danoo and. Cape Sejan, and were admitted by the Hindoo Rajah to settle in the neighbouring- country, principally at Oodwara (still the residence of their chief priests, and the depository of the sacred fire brought with them). They may be termed the Quakers of the east. The opulent among them are merchants, brokers, ship-ownere, and extensive land-owners. The lower orders are shoplceepere, and follow most of the mechanic arta, eKcept those connected with fire : thus there are neither silversmiths, nor any workers of the metals among them ; nor are there any soldiers, the use of fire-arms being abhorrent to their principles ; nor are there any sailors. Their charities are munificent and unbounded, relieving the poor and distressed of all tribes, and maintaining their own poor in so liberal a manner that a Parsee beggar is no where seen or heard of. The Parsee population is divided into clergy and laity (Mobed and Bedeen). The clergy and their descendants are very numerous, and are distinguished from the laity by the wearing of white turbans ; but they follow all kinds of occupations, except those who are particularly selected for the service of the churches, though they have no distinction of castes. A recent innovation, respecting the commencement of their new year, has formed them into two tribes, one celebrating the festival of the new year a month before the other, which causes their religious cere- monies and holidays to fall also on different days. PABBEIS, OK riKB WOHSaiPPXRS. 221 The raodeni, like the ancient Farsis or Parsees, have ao statnes of the Deity, no temples, no altars, they treat auch as folly ; they reverence the whole vault of heaven, the aon, the moon, planets, stare, earth, fire, water, and the windH, but do not sacrifice to them as Herodotus describes the ancient Farsis to have done. The Zend-Avesta, or sacred writings (ascribed by some to Zoroaster), are principally a series of liturgic services and prayers. Light is regarded as the best and noblest symbol of the Supreme Being, who is without form. They delig-ht to worehip the rising sun, the rays of which are never allowed to fall direct on the sacred fire within the temples, or rather repositories of the fire. The Parsees suppose a con- tinued warfare between good and evil spirits', which fill all nature, and besides a heaven and a hell, which latter is not eternal ; they have a middle state (hanu- stan) where the souls of those whose good and evil actions are eqnally balanced remain till the day of judgment. They have no fasts, as God delights in the happiness of his creatures ; all birds and beasts of prey, with the dog and the hare, are alone forbid- den food. Folygamy is not allowed, unless the first wife be barren; concubinage strictly forbidden; priests marry, and marriage being laudable, every season is good ; unlike the Hindoos, they admit converts, and the planting of trees is esteemed among their good works. Most of the ancient ceremonies have been preserved inviolate, and particularly those concerning the rites ' Tbe dog and cock are reipected for their guardian walcli- 222 BENGAL, HAD&AS, 1 of sepoltnre. No person of a difierent sect is allowed to approach, or any stnmger allowed to witnesB the obsequieB ; the bodies are exposed to the elements and birds on the terraceH of towers or aepulchrea. They have a few plain and unomamented churches, where they assemble for the purpose of prayer ; they are crowded erery day by the clergy, but the laity only attend on cert^n days. Jews, black and white, exist in various parts of India, in particular a very ancient colony of black Jews reside in Cochin, who, it is traditionally said, arrived in India soon after the Babylonian captivity. Mr. fisher, the learned and indefatigable searcher of the records at the India House, in adverting to this circumstance, says, that ' this tradition derives coun- tenance from the circumstance of their possessing copies of only those books of the Old Testament which were written previously to the captivity, but none of those whose dates are subsequent to that event. The library of the late Tippo Sultann con- tained some translations from these ancient Jewish scriptures ; and there are copies of them in the pos- session of Jews in Malabar, which are remarkable for this peculiarity. Some of the Jewish manuscripts which are in the hands of native Jews are described as exhibiting an appearance of high antiquity, and as written on roUs of a substance resembling paper, and in a character which has a strong resemblance to, but not an exact agreement with, the modem Hebrew.' The eastern Jews, like their western brethren, are astute traders ; they have several synagogues, and are remarkable for a zeal to diffuse the tenets of the &ith ..,_..„Gooslc in which they believe : they are eaid to be very nu- meroos in China, but afraid of being confounded with the Christians, who are zealously watched in the celestial empire. CaniBTiANS. — The most ancient of the secte who believe in the divine incarnation (or as the Hindoos would term it, avatar) of Christ are the Syrian Chris- tians, disciples of St. Thomas the Apostle, who, it is ■aid, after establishing Christianity in Arabia Felix, and in the island of Socotra, landed at Cranganore, on the Malabar coast, A.r. 51, where he found a colony of Jews living- under the protection of a power- ful Hindoo sovereigo. St. Thomas, it is said, rapidly spread Christianity along the coast and throughout Southern India, but one of the kings having become a convert to the faith, St. Thomas was subjected to much peraecntion, and ultimately stoned to death on a mount, which still bears the name of the martyr. The following interesting account of this primitive church has been handed me by Mr. Fisher, late of the India House, and it is hoped the statements thus given win lead to further investigation into so excit- ing a subject. 8(. Thomas'a Maunt, as well aa ihe ancient city or town, to which oIbo tbe Christian inhabitaata have ^ven the name of St. Thomf, are now, and bale been tor Beveral centuries plaoes of pilgrimage and annual resort of Christians, who came from ■II pam of India, tlie interior of Armenia and Syria, crowding to the town, and covering the mount, in order that they may kin the ipot where the apoalte suffered martyrdom, there also depositing their offerings, and praying over the place of his sepulture, which they are repreaenled as holding in such high veneration, that they carry away with them small portions of S24 the red earlb, and, conceiving it to posseu miracuJouB proper- tie»> administer it with great solemnity to the aiclc and 4y>t>S' The Syrian Christians Buffered persecution from heathen rulerg during the three lirEt centuries. Early in the fourth century they obteined aid from Alhanaalus, Bishop of Alexan- dria, who JB represented as having come to their auccour, and appointed a bishop to rule over and protect them. In the ye»r345, Mar Thomas assumed charge of them, under the authority of Eustathius, bishop of Antioch, and introduced amongst them several bishops and priests, as also ' many Chris- tian men, iromen, and children From foreign countries.' This man, Thomas Cama, or Mar Thomas, was an Armenian mei- cbiint, in creed an Arian, who first came to India with com- mercial views only ; butbeingavirluoua and upright man, and having amassed great wealth, he obtained the friendship of the kings of Cranganore and Cochin, at the same time eiyoying the veneration and respect of the Christians of S(. Thomas, far whom he is staled lo have built many churches, to have eatablished seminariea for the education of their clergy, and to have founded a town called Maba Devapatam, in the neighbour- hood of the city of Cranganore, whereio he planted the foreign colony of Christians he had imported. He also, assisted by Syrian teachers, introduced the Sjro- Chaldaic ritual, and successfully exerted his influence with the native princes to obtain for the Christians on the Malabar coast exclusive privileges ; such as independence of the native judges, except in criminal cases, and a rank in the country equal to nobility, by which (hey were placed on a level with the superior castes. These privileges were osleaaibly granted lo the Christians, in cousideration of their virtues, and they were enjoyed uninlenupledly through several succeeding cen- turies, having been confirmed by formal grants in different and now unknown languages, engraved on tablets compoaed of a mixed metal. The inscription on the plate supposed lo con- tain ihe oldest grant is in the nail- beaded or Fersepolitan cha- racteri anolher is a character which has no affinity with any oifting knguagein Hindoatan. These tablets were [oat during several centuries, and were recovered a few years since by the 8TBIAN CBKISTIANa. 226 ezertbM of Ccdoael Maoxale;, the British reiLdent in Tnivan- coi«, to tbe great loj ol the Sjnitn chnrchea ; by Hhom the; were deponted, and an still preserved in the Syrian college, which bal been erected at Caltayam. In lettling the ecclesiistical coastitution of the Syriiiii churches, it wa> determined Chat the right to rule over tbem ■hould vest in those bmilies only out of which the apoitle had himaelf ordained prieils. The offices of bishop, archdeacon, and priest were accordingly for many yeara confined to these lamilies, and persona were chosen from them who were reci^- nized aa the natural judges in all civil and eccleaiastical causes, and as baring audioiity over all temporal aa welt ss eccleuas- tical afiairs. In tbe ninth century the Syrian Christiana were much de- pressed, and sought the aid of the Nestorian patriatch, who commissioned two ecclesiaatica of that church. Mar Saul and Har Ambrose, to proceed to Malabar and rule over them. These prelates, 00 their arrival at Quiton, were received by the Christiaiis with great thankfulness. By their presence they soon commanded the respect of the native princei, who allowed them to moke converts, and to erect churches wherever they pleased, for which also they obtained endowments from the noble and wealthy part of the community. From the HiodoD prilices they moreover obtained the formal renewal of ancient privileges by xrants, which were engraven, as those of higher antiquity bad been, on plates of metal. These grants are still preserved, and are in the languages of Malabar, of Canara, of Bisnagur, and in Tamul. The Syrian or Nestorian bishops, Mar Saul and Mar Am- brose, are still held in high veneration by tbe Syrian Chris- tians, who mention them in tbeir prayers, nod dedicate churches to their memory. Between the ninth and fourteenth ceo turies these Christians are described as having attained to their highest state of er.- temal respectability, if not of purity. They were enlightened by the inslruccion of a succession of able teachers from Syria, who spread tbe blessings of the gospel with leal, btegrity, and honour; receiving such only to their communion as could ..,_..„Gooslc approach with unblcmiahed character, and rejecting all and every one who could not appear with haadii uadefiled, and with minds thoroug-hly convinced of the abomination of heathen worship. All falee miracles were then rejected, and the Chris- tiana were diFtinguished hy intelligence end decency of man- ners, which recommended them to the native princes, bi; (riiom their teachers were invested with the firat offices under the government. At length tliej entirely shook off the yoke of the Hindoo princes, and elected a chief or king of their own religion, raising one Baiiarte to the throne, who assumed the title of > king of the Christians of St. Thomas ;' hut thi« stale of independence did not long continue. The regal power, through default of succession, passed to the rajah of Cochin, and that chief, while he professedly respected their rights, per- Bccuted them through hatred of their religion. In this state the Portuguese found them, encompassed on all sides hy enemies, and bowed under the yoke of tlie Hindoo princes. The account which the Portuguese gave of them was, that they ' were in a stale of decadence, and amouuted to about 200,000 Christians, the wreck of an unfortunate people, who called themselves Christians of St. Thomas, and after the example of their ancestors, performed pilgrimages every year lo the place where the apostle consummated his mBrqrrdomi whose history and miracles, extracted from their annals, bad been composed into a species of canticles translated iulo the language of the country, and sung hy the iohaliilanu of the fishery (the Manaar pearl fishery), and of the coast of Ma- Their subsequent history is a good deal interwoven with that of the Roman Catholics in Indis ; — it may suffice to ob- serve, that ivhen the Syrian Christians placed themselves under the direction of the Portuguese missionaries, and, as the latter assert, ' voluntarily requested that they might be adopted as good and faithful subjects of the king of Portugal,' they amounted to 1500 Christian churches under the Syrian pa- triarch, retaining their martial ctiaracter, and assaclating nilh the higher castes of Hindoos, who deemed themselves honoured by the associatioD. On the part of Ibe Syrian churches, it is ..,_.,„Gooslc 227 suied that tbey proposed their union with (be. western church, ' having full coalidence in its piely and trulii, and no know- ledge of i(B corruptionB ;' that in particular the Bacramenta of confirm ation, of extreme unction, of auricular confeeaion, and (he wor«hip of imagea, were unknown to them ; thai the title of ' Mother of God' was, when they heard it, disgusting lo them, aiHt that when her image waa first presented to them, Ihey rejected it with indignation, exclaiming, ' We are Chris- tians, and not idolaters.' To induce (be Syrians to conform lo (he idolatry of the Roman Catholic Church, the missionariei resorted first to artifice and then to force. They ibunded col- leges and BchooU for youth, whom (hey proposed to instruct in the rites of the Lalin church, sciU employed the Syrian Ian- guHge, and it is believed that (heir schools did Gome service j but these measures not effecting their main object, which ap- pears to have been the establishment of the Pope's supremacy, together with the erroneous tenets and particularly the idol- atry of his religion ', the missionariea resorted to the inquisi- tion about the middle of the sixteenth century. Division, con- tention, and confusion were the natural consequences of this step ; in which state the churches continued till the year 1599, when a fresh attempt was made to effect a compromise between the Latin and Syrian ChTistiang, at a conference called the synod of Udiamper, a town in the neighbourhood of Cochin- Here the parlies met ; but the Roman Catholic missionaries, the Jesuits, had bribed the civil power, which was in the hands of the Cochin rajah, so effectually, as lo destroy the freedom of discussion, and eventually to obtain the means of subjecting the Syrian bishops lo persecution, for their faithful adherence to the truth. Two of these confessors. Mar Symeon and Mar Ignatius, were embarked on board of Portuguese vessels for ' They professed to have found the remains of S^ Thomas the apostle and martyr, and a skull and bones, called his, were kept aud worshipped in a church at Goa, dedicated lo the bleued Virgin, mother of God. One friar Emanuel is reported to have dug up these remains at the command of Don John, King of Portugal. « 2 D^„_,j., Google 228 BSNGAI., UADKAB, AXD BOUBAT. LuboD, where they wete treated ai hcreiici, and oerer more heard of in India. Id this Mate of depression and aufimag undei Popish iotolerance, the Syrian ChrutiaiiB concjaued more than aiity yean, until the capture of QuUon by the Dutch, in 1661. By that event the ponn of the Portuguese wag destroyed, and the Cbrialiana of Si- Thomu reitond to liberty. In 166It, the Jesuits quitted India. Froia tbeic ex- pulsion to the year 181S, the Syrian churcbn continued a ae- parate branch of the IndiaD community ; although divided into lects, and impaired in energy and parity of doctrine, by their unhappy connexion with the Roman nus^ionaries. In 1810, on the demise of their patriarch, they obtained the aid of the Company's goTennnent, exerted through Colonel Mscaulay. the Company's resident in Travancore, who havii^ recovered for them their ancient grants and evidences of no- bility, assisted them to found a collie at Cattayam £>T the education of a clergy, and for the Syrian youth genenllj. Colonel Macaulay effected several other arrangements for tbe general improvement of their conditjaru A considerable grant of land wa* obtained for the collc^, t<^ther with a douatioa of 30,000 rupees from the Rannee of Travancore, and three English missionaries were attached to the college at the in- stance of the resident The Syrian Christians now exist under three denominatiMU. First, The Syrian churches, of which there are fifly-seven in Quilon and the neighbouring districts, comprehend aChriatian population of 70,000 persons, who are governed by a metro- politan, and retain a comparatively pure doctrine, altbough its professors are in general in low condition. Second, The Syro-Roman Churches, who had adopted the Roman ritual with its coimplions, but still perform their woi- ship in the Syrian language. These are in number 97 churches, with a population of about 96,000 ; viz. 62 churches, with a population of about 49,000, under the Archbishop of Cranga- nore; 38 churches, with a papulation of 40,000, under the vieat aposloliqnc of Verapoli ; and 7 churches, with a popula- tion of about 7000, under the Bishop of Cochin and Quilon. Third, The Latin churches, which have fully conformod to BOHAN CATHOLIC HISSIONARIBS. 229 the Church of Rome, and use a ritual in tbe Latin language. These sre in number 40 churches, with a population of about M,000, fix. 21 chuichea, vrith a population of about 39,000, under the vicar apoatolique of Verapali; and 19 churches, with a population of about 35,000, under the Bishop of Cochin and Quilon. In addition to theee churches, and dependent on them, there are numerous chapels of ease scattered over (he conntry, in many instances four to each principal church. The Syrian chnrches keep quite distinct from the Latin churches, and do not intermix with them. Such of these churches, and they are numerous, as are within tbe Company's territory, have enjoyed not only that general protection for persons and property which is common to alt classes of natives, but many grants or loans of money, and grants of land for the erection of churches and for cemeteries have been made to them. A volume might be filled with the details of these grants. The claims of the Christiana for pro- tection against Mahomedans and Hindoos are also not unfire- quent. The folloning ia a aomewhat remarkable instance : — In one of the villages within the territories of the ex-peisbwa, lately transferred to the Bombay presidency, there appears to have been a body of these native Christians, who immediately, on the estahliahment of the Britiih power in the district, ap- plied to the magistrate to relieve tbem from the disagreeable obligation of drawing the Hindoo idol's car on his festival day. The Hindoos put in a formal answer to tbe claim of exemp- tion, pleading that tbe practice had continued for more than eighty years, which amounted to custom beyond the memory of man to the contrary. The cause was duly, and it may be presumed ably, argued by native vakeels, before the British msgistrate, who decided that no custom, of however long con- tinuance, could justify a practice so monstrous, as that of com- pelling Christians to draw the car of an idol. The decision was linal, whether it gave universal satiabction the record does RoutH Catholic Missionabigs. — The establishment of these miaaionaries at Goa, early in tbe sixteenth century, has already been adverted to, and their most oppressive conduct 230 BBNOAX/, MADRAS, AND AOUBAT. tawacds the Syrian Clirisliiana. Ttie Itarnii^ and science of Europe, which they carried ta India nith them, contributnl, it miiy be presumed, aa much at the military poner of the For* lugueae, to give them an influence and ascendancy among the native princes, which they might have ei^oyed as long and as beneficially as the East India Company have enjoyed theira, had they used it as temperately, as wisely, and as justly. How they did use it is now matter of history, and if any of your readers are not sufficiently informed upon the subject, they may be referred to the history of the inquisition of Goa, or ta the several other Portuguese accounts of their mission. The East India Company's dominion, as it spread in India, extended of course over countries and places which contained churches, religious housea, and other eststJishmenta of Kajnaa Catholics, for the most part of Portuguese origin. These Ro- msn Catholics have received, and stilt receive, the same pro- tection for their persons and propeny, religious as well as civil, as hag been extended to every other claas of inhabitants. The Padreea, for they were known by that name in the seventeenth century, have been allowed the fiee exercise of their religion to the extent of building and consecrating churches, and per- forming worship therein, according to their own views. They have also been allowed peaceably to carry the Host in proces- sion, but have not been permitted to compel either Papists, Protestants, Mahomedans, or Hindoos to kneel before it. En- deavours to exert force have occasionally brought them in can- tact with the Company's government, and at one time the re- fractory conduct of the congregation De Propaganda Fide caused them to be excluded from Madras, and the Capuchins to be preferred and allowed, as the only body of Roman Catholica which the government could at that time with safety to the peace of the settlement permit to reside in it. But this and any other similal' restraints which may have been imposed have been temporary, and withdrawn when the occasions have ce^ed. There is not, that I am aware o^ any regulation of the Company's government which wtnild prevent one of the bishops -of the Church of Rome, now resident in India, from receiving and wearing a cardiaal's hat, were it the pleasure ij nOHAH CATHOLIC CBDKCH IN INDIA. 231 hia holiness the Pope to Knd him one. The law of pritmu- •lire, the famous conlriiance of Henry the Eighth, hy which bt deprifed his minisier Wolsey of all his goodi, and John Fisher, bishop of Rocluster, of his head, is unknown in India, except as a piece of English history. The Roman Catholic Bishops of Indis do in bet correapond with the several states of Eu- rope, such as Iu]y> France, and Portugal, to nhich they acfcnonledge ecclesiastical allegiance, and haie often obtained assistance from the Company in conducting their correspon- dence with those states, and in remiiiing and receiving funds- Still further, they enjoy at the present time large pecuniary support, vhich has fram tia:ie to time been freely granted to them, in every instance where a case of necessity and of useful applicalJOD has heen clearly made out. In such cases, the Company have either granted plots of ground, or sutni of money, to erect ehurches, or the loan of such funds or stipends for the officiating priests, of whom there are at the present time a very considerable number in the monthly receipt of auch stipends. The Roman Catholic eatabliehmentg wbich now enjoy the protection and support of the East India Company, include four apoBtoIical vicars, with autho- rity direct from the Pope ; nominated by the Society De Propaganda Fide, and stationed at Pondicheny, Verapoly, Bombay, and Agra. There is also a pre- fect of the Romish mission at Nepaul. These apos- tolical vicars have under them in their several dioceses a number of priests ; most of whom are natives of India, and have been educated in Indian seminaries by European ecclesiastics. There are also two Archbishops and two Bishops, presented by the King of Portugal. The arcbbisbops are of Goa, who is the metropolitaji and primate of the Orient ; and of Cranganore, in Malabar. The 232 BBNaAi^ bishops are, of Cochia in Malabar, and St. Thomas at Madras. The latter includes Calcutta in his diocese ; where he has a legate, who has under bis superintendence fourteen priests and ten churches, viz. in Calcutta, one; in Serampore, one ; in Chin- surrah, one ; in Bandel, one ; in Cosimbazar, one ; three at Chittagong ; in Backergunge, one ; and in Bowal, one. The priests and churches under the presidencies of Madras and Bombay are very namerous, exclusive of those which were formerly Syrian chnrches, and have been, as already mentioned, incorporated with that of Rome. The Roman CathoUc bishop of Bombay, who, vith his vicar-general, resided on the island, has onder his jurisdiction there five chnrchea, inclusive of a new church on the island of Colaba, and two chapeb. There are connected with these establishments thirteen priests, exclnsive of the bishop and his vicar. All the churches, except Colaba, have sufficient endow- ments for their mpport, and that of their priests. The principal chorch, which is dedicated to N. S. da Eaperan9a, formerly stood on the Esplanade ; hat in the year 1804 it was removed at the Company's expense, and a new one erected by Salliah Mahomed Fuzeel. This building cost about 4,000/. In 1831 it was discovered that the work had been badly exe- cuted, and the church was then ready to fall, in con- sequence of which the Company made a fiirUier grant of 14,000 rupees, nearly 3,000/., towards its At Snrat there are two churches under the ROKAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IK INDIA. 233 diction of the Bishop of Bombay. The oldest was erected in the year 1624 ; and it is a remarkable circamataiice that for many years ihie church enjoyed a monthly income of 126 rupees, two annas paid hy the Nabob of Surat, by virtue of a Stmnud from the Emperor at Delhi. This endowment ceased to be paid when Surat came entirely under the controul of the Company ; but the church is Still in possession of freehold property, yielding a monthly sum suf- ficient for its support. The second church is wholly supported by the Company, who pay the priest his monthly stipend of forty rupees. The stated wor- shippers in these two churches somewhat exceed one hundred. The other Roman Catholic churches under the presidency of Bombay are as follow ; one in Broach, which was erected, and is still supported, by volun- tary subscription, excepting a monthly stipend of thirty rupees to the priest, paid by the Company : one at Baroda, supported in the same way : the church of N. S. los Remedies at Bassein, to the re- edification of which, in the year 1832, the Company contributed liberally; a church at Poonah, with two priests, who enjoy stipends paid by the Company : one at Malwa ; one at Vingorla ; one at Yiziadroog ; one at Rutnagherry, erected in 1822, with the aid of a grant from the Company, and one at Hurree. Notwithstanding the forms and ceremonials of the Roman Catholic church approximate so closely to tie Hindoo worship (as often observed to me by the late Rammohun Roy), there have been few converts to the Creed of Rome, and those who have become. 234 BBNOAJ., HADKAS, AND BOMBAY. nominally, converts to the Catholic church, have re- linquiehed, it ie tme, one faith, but without adopting another, while the principles of moralitv were too loose to stand as a substitute for religion. By a Government regulation of 1831, any Hindoo who may become a convert to Christianity does not forfeit rights of caste or inheritance, or any temporal advantages connected with caste. This is but just in a Christian government acting on the broadest principles of toleration. Tlius when litigations for property or personal services appropriated as endow- ments for the support of the Hindoo or Mahomedan religion arise, the interference of the magistrate amounts to a direct recognition of rights connected with or growing out of the several religious distinc- tions of the party, British India can scarcely there- fore he said to have a state religion, — it is tolerant, protective and auxiliary to each and every creed, allowing the light of reason and the convictions of truth to operate in every direction, unaided by phy- sical force and unmolested by bigotry or fanaticism. Protestant Church. — We may now proceed to observe how for the Established Church extends, pre- mising that in this as in the foregoing instances, every aid has been faniished by the East India Com- pany's government which could promote the cause of true religion and its concomitants— charity, peace, and happiness. The following detail shows, first, the state of the Kstablished Church in Bengal, according to the latest return in 1830, and the expenses in- curred there, from the date of Calcutta being made a bishop's see in 1814 to 1831. ,jj,Googlc PftOTBBTANT CHCECB. SUllOH. ClvU. MllllMy. Tiro ChMfMaa : m 300 UBWruin. m 100 100 !0 TO M M ' W l,6SJ 1«0 110 iriid«lCli.i*iin; i?-Civ ■■ "r'"^.;^ u'™reui^=- — OyiA....™. Under lCh.plidn; Under ICk^lVln: BneUl; UnflSlCli^lain: JN-po" "-■ VnieT^ti^vMn, L0C-11.1.1U. Cull«l. ,., Google 336 BXNOAL, HADBAE, AMD BOHBAT. The retoma of the congregattons attending the churches at Neemuch, Boglepore, Cnttack, Futtyghur, Saugor, HuwiBh, and the chapel at the European Bairacks, are not given. luawqitpima Si'sslSsS'^ls' ' I ICi 9>IIU[pil3llT3 Ml ftlHsii;iif jiiiiif S£Sh nSoise3"3 ! -""ass" s=iss~ S5* "■"'■ plJIi rill 15 1- 1, li IJllllllll: CHUECS RTATIONB AND COMOKXaATIONB. 237 The foregoiog tablea'are given (as are also sereral others in the large Second Edition of this Work) partly in order that more complete returns may in intare be kept or prepared in India, ia the statistics of which we are sadly deficient, the present being the first public effort to afibrd a complete view of Indian statistics. An official letter from the Archdeacon of Bombay (10th Nov. 1831) thus det^ls the state of the Pro- testant Chnrch under that Presidency ; en patsant, it may be remarked that the number of chaplains allowed is fifteen, but in 1832 ten only were present, owing to sickness, &c. StStilHll. ! SCUIdiu. || II Church BomteT... S. Bomba; QurJson. . 3. Colabth wLUi Bom- i"^ l,Olt 30 |i Buods '■SS.'^.:i B. Malcoml^, MaUi^um In the above statement, four chaplains are assigned to the islands of Bombay and Colabah, in conformity with the opinion of the late bishop. Dr. Turner. CBiii5dJ.Googlc EcclefiiaHticBl Estsbliehnient of (he Three Preaidencies. Bengal. Madiai. Bombay. anion furioiigh.tc.&c Thg Biihop. The Blehop. senrtirisaci, iiirai''sb-»eiirta™8aO,™*s''«h- In a retnrn before me of tie espenses of the Bengal Ecclesiastical Establiehment for the year 1832-1833, and which only arrived in England 5th Feb. 1835, I find that there were chaplains at Meernt, Meaeeerabad, Agra, Bareilly, Dacca, Kur- naul, Barrackpoor, Patna, Gawnpore, Chiniurah, Par- nickabad, Saugore, Benares, Dinapore, Mhow, Gha- zeepore, Neemuch, Berhampore, Allahabad, Dnm Dam, Futtyghur and Chunar, all out stations from the Presidency. There were also four Roman Catholic priests paid by government for ministering to the soldiery, viz. at Calcutta, Patna, Berhampore and Cawnpore ; the total salaries of the bishop and clergy for 1832-33 was, 262,059 S. rupees ; of four Roman Catholic priests, 4,474 ; and of four ministers of the Scotch Church, 7,413 rupees. The following statement exhibits the several mis- sionary stations formed in India by the London, Bap- tist, and Wesleyan Societies, with the date of the yearwhen the mission was established at each station, and the number of missionaries resident at each. London Society, May 1835. — Calcutta, founded a.. o. 1816, Missionaries, 2 ; Kidderpore, 8 ; Chinsnrah, 1813, 1 1 Berhampore, 1824, 2 ; Moorshedabad, 1 ; Jurat, ii Benares, 1820, 3; Madras, 1803, 3 (and riOKB IN iKDiA. 239 9 aative asaifitantB) ; Travancore, 1826, superintended by the Madras Missionaries ; Vizagapatam, 1803, 1 ; Cuddapah, 1822, 1 ; Chicacole, I ; Chittoor, 1827. 1 ; Belgaum, 1820, 2; Bellary, 1810, 4; Banga- lore, 1820, 1 ; Salem, 1827, 2 ; Combaconum. 1825, 2; Coimbatoor. 1830, 1 ; Nagercoil, 1806, 2; Ne- yoor, I82S, 3 and 19 natives; Quilon, 1821, 2 and 9 natives; SurKt, 1815, 3; Darwar, 1829, superin- teoded by the Belgaum Missionaries. Baptist Society, 1835.— Calcutta, 1801, MiBsiona- ries, 7 ; Chitpore, 1 ; Honrah, 1 ; Tabpore, 1 ; Patna, 1832, 1 -. Digar, 1809, 1 ; Monghyr, 1816, 2 ; Sewry, 1807, 1; Cutma, 1804, 1; Luckyantipore, 1831, 1; Kbane, 1831, 1 ; Boastollab, 1829, 1 ; Mirzapore, 2. The above is CEclusive of the mission &mily at Serampore, which is in the Danish territory. WeeUyan Society, May 1835. — Madras, 4 Euro- peons, with native assistants ; Bangalore, 3 ; Nega- patam and Melnattam, 1 . I should be glad to see the Moravian Missionaries settling themselves in India. R. M. M. It would be impossible to close this chapter on Christianity in India without referring to the trans- lations of the sacred Scriptures into the several lan- guages written and spoken on the peninaala of Hin- dooBtan. The late Dr. W. Carey, of Serampore, was the most distinguished labourer in this field, the sur- prising extent of whose labours I will give on the authority of a memoir of this eminent missionary and philologist, by Mr. Fisher. The following is an ac- count of Dr. Carey's philological works, from the same authority : — ' The Mahratta Grammar was his ..,_.,„Gooslc 340 BBNOAL, UADBAB, AND BOHBAT. first work, and mas followed by a. Sungekrit Gram- mar, 4to. in 1S06 ; a Mahratta Dictionary, Svo. in 1810; aPunjabee Grammar, 8to. in 1812; aTelinga Grammar, 8vo. in 1814; aleo between the years 1806 and 1814 be published tbe Raymayana, in the origin nal test, carefully collated with the most authentic MSS. in three volumes, 4to. Ui^ philological works of a later date are a Bengalee Dictionary, in three volumes, 4to. 1818, of which a second edition was published in 1825, and another in 8vo. in 18'27-I830; a Bhotanta Dictionary, 4to. 1826 ; also a Grammar of tbe same language, edited by him and Dr. Mar- sham. He had also prepared a Dictionary of the Simgskrit, which was nearly completed, when a fire broke out in Serampcve, and burnt down the print- ing office, destroying the impression together with the copy, and other property.' I refOT, as below ', for some interesting particulars of Dr. Carey's life and labours. ' The versions of the Sacred Scriptures which have issued from the Serampore press, and in the prepara- tion of which Dr. Carey took an active and laborious part, are numeroos. They are in the following lan- g\tages : — Sungscrit, Hindee, Brij-Bhassa, Mahratta, Bengalee, Orissa or Ooriya; Telinga, Kumata, Mal- divian, Gujarattee, Buloshee, Pushtoo, Pimjabee or Shekh, Kashmeer, Assam, Burman, Pali or Magadba, Tamnl, Cingalese, Armenian, Malay, Hindoathauee, and Persian ; to which must be added tbe Chinese. Dr. Carey lived to see the Sacred Text, chiefly by his > See Gentlenum's Magazine for May 1835. D^„_,_, Google TRANSLATIONS OP THX SCEIPTVRES IN ASIA. 241 instrumentality ', translated into the Temacular dia- lects of more then 40 different tribes, and thus made accessible to nearly 200,000,000 of human beings, excluaive of the Chinese Empire, in which the labours of the Serampore Missionaries have been in some measure superseded by those of Dr. Morrison.* In addition to the versions of the Sacred Scriptm-es in the languages of India, published by Dr. Carey, translations of the Otd and New Testaments in the following languages have been completed by Mis- sionaries sent out by the London Society : — In the Telinga or Teloogoo, by Messrs. Cran, Bes Granges, Pritchett, Gordon, and Howell, between 1812 and 1S34. In the Canarese, by Messrs. Reeve and Hands, between 1818 and 1832. In the Mahratta, by Messrs. Wall and Newell. In the Goojurattee, by Messrs. Skinner and Fyvie, between 1820 and 1832. In the Hinduwee and Urdee, some books of the Old Testament, by Mr. Robertson. Of many of these versions of the Scriptures very large editions have been printed and circulated ; and it is impossible at the present moment fully to esti- mate the extent to which they may subserve that Missionary enterprise, the evangebzation of India. ' To the Marquess Wellesley ws owe the encouragement given by government (o well-conciucWd missioneries in India ; and under his lordship's auspices the Scriptures aeie iranc- lated by aueh good men as Dr, Carey (aided by learned Pun- dits) into almost every Oriental laDguage. ,jj,Googlc CHAPTER VII. POETKt, LAW, DBIUA, HATHEMATICS, ftc. ■Oa THEIK AICHITECTUae, SCULPIUBE, C, &C— COUESnC ABTB, S(C Tbb antiquity of the Hindoos is demonstrated by the ancieotness, and in many instances the purity of their hterary compOBitions, Religitma Works. — The Vedas {signifying know- ledge) are, in every respect, the most important work of their ancient literature. They are the basis of their religion, and are appealed to as the founda- tion of all their Bocial and political inatitutjons. Only a small portion of them baa hitherto been drawn to light, and, up to the present moment, the principal source of our information respecting them ia a dissertation by Mr. Colebrook, printed in the eighth volume of the ' Asiatic Researches.' "Hie Vedas are four in number : each Veda con- sisting of two parts, denominated the Mantras, or prayers, and the BHibmaaas, or precepts. The com- plete collection of the Mantras (or hymns, prayer?, and invocations) belonging to one Veda ia entitled ita Sauhita. Every other portion of Indian scripture is included under the general bead of divinity (Br&h- mana). This comprises precepts which inculcate religious duties, maxims which explain those precepts, and arguments which relate to theology '. ' Asiatic ResEarchea, vol viiL p. 387, 3S8. Compara Tniu- aclions of the Royal Astatic Society, vol. i. p. 448, 419. ..,_.,„Googlc LITBRATURZ OF THB HIN1>OOS- The whole of the Indian theology is profesBedly founded on trecta, likewise considered as parts of the Vedas, and denominated Upanishads. The proper meaning of this designation is doubtful : it is usually snpposed to signify • mystery ;' but neither the ety- mology nor the ueual acceptation of the word seems to warrant this interpretation *. The Mantras, or prayers, are the principal portion of each Veda, and apparently preceded the Br^hma- nas. Those of the Rig- Veda are metrical, and are recited aloud ; those of the S&ma-Veda are chaunted with musical modulation; those of the Yajnr-Veda are in prose, and are inaudibly recited. A table of contents, appended to the several Sanhit&a, states the name of the author of each prayer, that of the deity or being invoked, and if the prayer be in verse the number of stanzas and the metre. Indra, or the firmament, fire, the sen, the moon, water, aJr, the spirits, the atmosphere, and the earth are the objects most frequently addressed. The following is Mr. Colebrooke's literal transla- tion of a single prayer from the Rig- Veda : — ' Aaiatic Researches, vol. viii. p. 472. The UpsDishads were translated into Persian by Sultan DiLrS-ShekAli, ihe eld- est son oC the Mogul emperor, Sh&h-JehSn, and brother af Aufungzebe ; who was born a,d. 1615, and was kQled by Au- rungzebe's order in 1659. Thia Persian translation was agsin translated into Latin by Anquelil du Perron. {Oupnekhat, id til, Seereiam legesdam, &c. Paris, ISOl, 2 vols, jto,) A Tree translation from the Sanscrit original of four of the shorter Upanishads may be found id Ramtnohun Roy's ' Translation of several principal Books, &c. of the Vedi.' London, 1832, 8vo. 244 LiTSKATUKS or tbb aiNSOoa — bblioiom. ' Gaardian of thia abode ! be acquainted with us ; be to ua a wboleBome dwelling ; afford as what we ask of thee : and grant happiueeB to our bipeds and quadrupeds. Guardian of thJB hoase 1 increase both us and our wealth. Moon ! while thou art friendly, may we, with our kine and our horses, be erampted from decrepitude : guard as as a fother protects his ofispring. Guardian of this dwelling; may we be united with a happy, delightfiil, and melodious abode afforded by thee : guard our wealth now nnder thy protection, or yet in expectancy, and do thon defend us.' ' Every line,' obBerves Mr. Colebroolte, in speaking of the prayers of the Rig- Veda, ' is replete with allusions to mythology ; not a mythology which avowedly exalts deified heroes (as in the more recent legendary poems of the Hindoos), but one which personifies the elements and planets, and which peoples heaven and the world below with various orders of beings.' Mr. Colebrooke proceeds to say, that he has not remarked in these hymns any thing that corresponds with the favourite legends of those sects which warship either the Linga or Sacti, or else R&ma or Krishna '. The difference of style alone would be euSdent to prove that in the Vedas, as they are now before us, books, treatises, and fragments belonging to different ages are put together. At what period the present oiraDgement was made we are as yet unable to deter- mine, since our total want of authentic information > See Aslalic Researclies, vol. uL p. 398. LITBBATURB or THB HINDOOS LBOBKDS. 245 respectiD^ the bietory of India renders it altogether extremely difficult to aacertain the epoch of any - of the ancient monniaenta of Sanscrit literature. From a passage stating the position of the solstitial points, which occurs in a sort of calendar appended to the Rig- Veda, Mr, Colebrooke has drawn the conclusion that this calendar must have been regulated daring the fourteenth century ' ; and part at least of the h3'mns in honour of the several deities, whose festi- vals this calendar was destined to regulate, now em- bodied in the Rig- Veda, must then have been already extant. Legends.— The class of Sanscrit writings, next in importance to the Vedas, are the Pur&nas, or legen- dary poems, similar, in some respects, to the Grecian theogonies. The Furdnaa are said to be composed by Vyftaa, the compiler of the present collection of the Vedas. Each Fur&na treats of five subjects ; — the creation of the universe, its dcBtruction, and the re- novation of worlds; ibeavatdraa, or manifestatioiis of the supreme Deity ; the genealogy of gods and he- roet ; chronology, according to a fahulons system ; and heroic history, containing the achievements of demi-gode and heroes. Some of the PurSnas, being less obscure than the Vedas, ore now very gene- rally read and studied, and constitute the popular, or poetical creed of the present Hindoos. The prin- CJpal Pur&nas are eighteen in number ; their names are the Brahma, Padma, Brahm&nda, Agni, Vishnu, > Asiaiic Rejearches, vol. ill. p. 491, &c. 246 LITBRATUEB OP THB HINDOOS POBTET, Garuda, BralimavaivBrta, Siva, Linga, NSradiya, Skanda. Markandeya, Bhaviahyat, Matsya, Varftha, Kdrma, VfijDaaa, and BhSgavata Furlua. They are reckoned to contain 400,000 stanzas. (Wilson, Mackenzie Collection, vol. i. p. 48.) TTiere are also eighteen Upapurftnas, or similar poeme of inferior sanctity and different appellations. Poetry. — ^Two great epic poems, the TUm^yana and the Mahibhftrata, are nsaally classed with the Fur&oas. The Rimiywa, comprising 24,000 stanzas, divided into seven books, and written by the ancient poet Vfllmiki, records the adventures of BAma, an incarnation of the god Vishnu, who was bom as the son of Dasarat'ha king of Oude. Tie Mah^bh^rata is said to contain no less than 100,000 stanzas. VySaa, the supposed compiler of the Vedas and Purftnas, is said to be its aothor. It records the actions of Krishna, the last and most celebrated of the avatftrs of Vishnu. Law. — Books on law conrtitute another important branch of Sanscrit literature. The treatises coming under this designation may be divided into two classes : some consist of maxims or precepts, usually expressed in verse, put together into codes of greater or less extent, and attributed to various andent sages, as then- original and inspired authors ; others consist either of comments on these traditional texts, elucidating and amplifying their import, and solving such difiicalties as arise from apparent contradictions in different passages ; or of systematic treatises, in which the several topics of Hindoo jurisprudence ..,_.,„Googlc LITBRATVRB OF THB HINDOOS LAW. 247 are diacassed according to logical arraagement, and passages from the ancient law-givers are adduced in sapport of the doctrines advanced. The moat distinguished work extant of the first class is undoubtedly the code genendly known nnder the title of the Institutes of Menn. Numerous com- pilationa of a similar nature exist, which are attri' buted to GAtama, N^rada, Sanka, Likhita, KfLty^yana, Yfijnawalkya, and other ancient sages. Among the commentaries on their codes, we shall here only mention the gloss of Kullfikabhattfi on the laws of Menu, and the ample commentary of Vijn&nfiswara on the Institutes of Y&jnawalkya, known in India under the title of the Mit^shara : the latter work is the principal law authority, now followed by the Hindoo lawyers officially attached to the courts of justice in the Dekkan, and in the western provinces of Hindostan '. Among the works on juriaprudence arranged on a free system, independent from the accidental succession of topics in the ancient com- pilations of legal precepts^ we may notice the Vir- amitr6dayn of Mitramisra, the Dftyahh&ga of Jimfita- T&hana, and the Digest of Jagann&t'ha, as some of the most generally known •, Epic Poetiu, — The two great epic poems of the Hindoos, the mm^yana and the Mahfthharata, are written in a remarkably easy and natural kind of verse, and in a language which though sometimes highly expressive and energetic, generally bears the ..,_..„Gooslc 248 literatuhb of the Hindoos — thb deama. charscter of the simplest DitrratiTe, and the tone of common conversation. There are, however, other Sanscrit poems, evidently belonging to a more modern age, and written in a style of artificial re- finement, both as to language and versification. The Drama. — The dramatic literature of the Hin- doos became first known to the literary public of Europe through the translation of one of its greatest ornaments, the play of SacontalS., by Sir William Jones. The translation of the dramatised allegory, called Prab&dha ChandrMaya, or ' Rise of the Moon of Intellect,' by Dr. Taylor of Bombay, was published in 1812, more calculated to throw lig^t on the meta- physics than on the scenic literature of the Hindoos. In 1827, however, Mr. Wilson's English translation of six new plays appeared >, accompanied witli a dissertation on the dramatic system of the Hindoos, and with some account of other extant Sanscrit dramas. Independently of other undeniable poetic merit of many parts, at least, of these compositions, they are highly interesting, as the most genuine pictures of Hindoo maoners, and of the condition of society in Hindoostan previous to its conqoest by foreign invaders. It deserves to be noticed, as a sbiking peculiarity of the Hindoo dramas, that different forms of speech are employed for different characters: the hero and the principal personages speaking Sanscrit ; hut women and the inferior ' SeleclSpecimenB oftheTheafreofthe Hindoos, by H.H. Wilson, Calcutta, 1827, 3 vols. Svu. A new editioii of tbi« work baa just been published (London, 1635, 2 vols, firo.) ..,_.,„Googlc F TBS BiNSOOS — rax dsama. 249 chctracteTB oeing the various modificationa of that language, which are comprehended under the term Pr&crit. None of the Hindoo plays at present known can boast of a very high antiquity, and nearly all appear to have been composed at a period when the Sanacrit had ceased to be the colloqnial medium. ' They muBt therefore," observes Mr. Wilson, ' have been Quintelligible to a considerable portion of the audience, and never could have been so directly ad< dressed to the bulk of the population as to have exercised much influence upon their passions or their tastes. This circumstance, however, is perfectly in harmony with the constitution of Hindoo society, by which the highest branches of literature, as well as die highest offices in the state, were reserved for the privileged tribes of Kshatriyas and Brahmins.' To the unities of time and place the drwnntic poets of India have paid but little attention : they are not however, destitute of certain rules ; and many Htn* doo writers have endeavoured to reduce to a system the tedmicalities of dramatic composition. The Hin- doos had no aeparate edifices appropriated to dramatic representation a, nor do theyappearto have possessed any complicated scenic apparatus. In the palaces of kings there was a hall or saloon, in which dancing and singing were practised and sometimes exhibited, and this room was fitted np on purpose for dramatic entertainments'. Flays were only occasionally en- > At the En^isli theatre at Chourin^e, Calcutta, a lai^ part of the audience i> compoied of the moit respectable of the Hindoo gentry. 250 LITXRATURK OY TBB HINDOOS FABLES. acted &t seasont peculiarlj sacred to K>me divinitf, or at royal coronations, marriages, and other pablic occasions ; and this circnmetance accounts partly for the limited number, and partly for the great length of those Hindoo dramas, which have been preserved toue. Fabka. — The popnlar collection of fables, com- monly known in Europe nsder the name of the ' Fables of Pilpay,' are of Indian origin. The Sanscrit original has now been ascertained to be the Pan- chatantra, a work so called from its being divided into five tantras, or sections, and probably compiled in the fifth century of our era. It consists of stories told in prose, but interspersed with moral maxims, and other sentences in verse, many pf which have been borrowed from other authors, and can be traced to their original sonrces '. The Arabian Nights were long considered to have been originally composed in the Arabic language ; but, latterly, some at least of the roost enchanting tales embodied in that collection, have been discovered to be of Indian origin, and the Sanscrit to which they have recently been traced, is a voluminous col- lection of stories known in India under the title of the Vrihatkat'hft *. Magic and conjuration is prac^ tised in several parts of India. During the Marquess Wellesley's equally splendid ' See Mr. Wilson's account of ihe Fanchatantra, Tram, of the Royal Aaiat Sncieljr, Tol. i. p. 16fl, &c. ' See ihe (Calcutta) Quarterly Oriental Magazine, /unr, 182S, p. 860, &c. I and Harch, 18S4, p. 68, &c. WiUon'i Tbeatreof the Hindoos, vol. ii. p. 138. tDBAL. 25 1 and beneficent government of British India, his Lord- ship, with his usual attention to every point, how- ever minute, ordered an inquiry into the state of the gaols. From the manuscript report to the Governor General, I derive the following account of the con- juror's ordeal, and subjoin it, as various kinds of ordeal have been in use in every age in different countries. The reporter appointed by government thus proceeds : — ' When any property is Btolen, and the theft is supposed to have been committed by the servants, or dependants of the bouse, in which the robbery has taken place, it was formerly the general cuatom, and the practice still prevails, to send for the conjuror. As this man's own account, is not only charac- teristic of the manners and customs of the natives, but also curious in itself, a translation is given from his own words. My name is Sheikh Kbymlla ; my profession, to detect thieves, and bring them to punisbment. My uncle was employed under Mr. Playdell, and was called the ordeal priest, I am not employed as a monthly servant, but occasionally act, by order of the justices of the peEu:e. I receive a pension of twenty rupees per menseo from government : but have no settled fee, neither do I always receive a gratuity, for my trouble. Formerly there was only one mode of ordeal used; it was the enchanted rice. T seldom resort to tbis, as there are several others, which I prefer to it. ,., Google 2S2 ORtBMT&L COMJDROK S OKDKAI.. ' The enchased arrows. — When I &m sent for, to detect a robbery, I first have tJl the pereona of the house drawn up in a line before me, and examiQe their countenances, in which, from long- habit, I can general]}' trace marks of guilt, and form some opinion who the ofiender is. The eyes of the guilty peniOQ become flushed. The vein on hi* forehead, becomes dilated, his polae irregular, the palpitation at his breast great, and accompanied by a kind of fever. The coneciousnefia of guilt, and the dread of de- tection, prevents the offender from looking np. Near the artery nsnally felt by medical men, is a small one, over which the emotions of the mind produce a more sensible influence. Terror afiecta its motion. The presence of the person robbed, and of several other spectators, adds to the confusion of the criminal. Having fixed my suspicions, 1 take down bH the names, and hint that I have hopes of ascertaining the thief. If he does not come forward, I commence the ceremony of the enchanted arrow. I take four arrows, and lock the notchea of the shafts in each other. Two men standing face to face, hold die opposite ends of them, passed under thdr arms. A text of the Koran is then uttered, and the arrows are breathed upon. The genii, whose department it is to watch over the baman species, are invoked, and each of the persons present, is invited to put his hand between the arrows. They close on the hand of the offender, who upon this generally confesses his guilt, and delivers up the stolen property. tjj,Googlc OBtBNTAIi OONJUKOR'a ORDKAL. 253 But if the crimmal is cjd, and hardened, I am obliged to have reconrae to other operations, viz. The ceremony of t/te enchanted vase. — I write the names of liie foar angeli, Gabriel, Michael, Israfeel and Azraeel ^, on a new earthen vase, and place it with its moDlJi upwards, on the closed hands of tvio indifi^ent persons, and perform certain religions ceremonies over it. The names of all the accused or the suspected, are written on slips of paper, and thrown one by one, into the vase. When the name of the thief is put in, the vase will turn round. If he does not confess, 1 must resort to. The ceremony of the enchanted «Aoe.— I take an old shoe, which has tain in the public road, and been stepped over by persons bom nader the different signs of the Zodiac. A shoemaker's awl is stuck into it, on the point of which it is suspended ; while the handle of the awl is held between the fingers of two indifferent persons, standing face to face. I utter a text of the Koran, and breathe upon the shoe. When the name of the thief is placed npon the shoe, it will drop down. The enchanted razor. — ^The accused and suspected, are forbidden to shave their heads, they are or- dered to bathe themselves, and to range themselves in a line, sitting. I utter a text from the Koran, breathe upon the razor, and with it, sliave my thigh. The thief's bur falls off his head, and he is detected. ' This is according lo the Koran, Gabriel is called the holy spirit, Michael the angel of reielation and friend to the Jews ; Isnifeel the ange! of the resurrection, and Azreel tlie angel of death. — Montg. Martin. 15 254 The enchanted bag. — I utter aa many verses from the Koraii, as days in the week ate passed, and blow a oew leathern bag, until it is tight. The thiefs belly swells in proportion, and he roars out with the —I take a new wicker basket, which I place upon the ground, and put fresh rice in the huek into it. On that I put an unbaked earthen platter, and over the platter, a large stone. An indifferent person stands on the stone, and re- ceives one by one, the names of the suspected persons written as before on slips of paper. When the name of the guilty is put into his hand, the stone turns round with him. The enchanted staff. — A China shoe flower and some earth procured at the excavation of a welt, are pre- pared by a text from the Koran, and by breathings upon them ; after which they are introduced into the hollow extremities of a piece of bamboo, containing three or five knots, and cut about three inches from the exterior knots. The bamboo thus charged, is put into the hands of an indifferent person (the parties suspected being present), and called upon to do its duty. If the thief be present, the bamboo becomes much agitated, and notwithstanding the exertions of the holder, proceeds by short springs towards the guilty. The enchanted nails. — On the day previous to the performance of this ordeal, I take to my own house some linseed oil, over which I utter a text, and blow upon it three times. I also fiz upon a boy, who lives near the person robbed, knows the jiTROR'g OBOBAL. 255 names and persons of the suspected, and was born when tJie sun was in Libra. Thus prepared, I assemble on the next day all the suspected, and a spot is cleared away and washed. The boy who has been kept fasting, and has bathed, is seated on the spot so cleansed. I born incense, and invoke the genii. The boy is directed to join his fists, keeping bis thumbs upwards. His thumb naiis are smeared with the enchanted oil, taken up on a glass called Doorbha. Red coloured flowers are placed under his thumbs and he is desired to declare what he sees in his nails. After many strange sights, he says, that he sees a person with his hands tied behind him : the boy names hiiu, if be knows him ; if not he is directed to look among the persons present, and fix upon the thief. The enchanted basin. — A totenague or brass basin containing two pounds, is filled with one pound of barley, and the same quantity of pease, placed for a night in a clean spot, in the house of the perscn robbed, where a text from the Koran is uttered eleven times over it, and another text is written upon it. On the morrow the suspected persons are as- sembled before the basin, and a person bom when the sun was in Libra, is desired to hold it. If the thief be present the basin moves towards him , if he refiises to confess, it proceeds to the spot where the stolen property has been placed. Another mode of usinff the basin, — The person robbed, must on a Tuesday or Saturday go to the temple of the goddess Cali, and after presenting an ofiering, bring away five, seven, or nine flowers. ,., Google 256 OHixNT&L conjukok's ordbal. from the neck of the goddess. The flowers are placed in the basia, as the barley and pease were ; rice taken from the hnsk, by beating it, without steeping, must be placed round the basin, and mustard seed, prerionsly consecrated by a text, be sprinkled over it. The same operation is to be observed on the morrow, as in the foregoing in- stance, and the effect ie similar. But this method can be practised on no other day than Sunday. The enchanted stick. — A bamboo of a partictilar class must be cut below the lowest knot, which is usually double, and ia called the unele and nephew, and split 'without hurting the eyes on each knot, from whence twigs spring out. TTiese dissevered parts, are to be shaved to a moderate thickness, and reduced tu nine or eleven knots. On the evening previous to the trial, the bamboos must be taken to the water side, and placed upon two brass vessels filled with river or pond water, of which vessels one has the figntes of Raam and his brother Lacshman, drawn upon it. The bamboos are then rubbed with a particular kind of grass, replaced on the vessels with a text uttered over them, and besmeared on each knot, vnth red Banders oil, and a Toolsee leaf; after this they are immersed in water for the night. In the morning I take the bamboos and the vessels to the house of the person robbed, place the former under the arms of two indiflerent per- sons facing each other, and desire them to hold them asunder in their dosed fists. I stand near the bamboos, one hand containing a sprig of OKIENTAl. conjuror's ORDEAL. 257 Tooleee, tbe other holding a brass vessel filled with Ganges water, copper, and Toolsee leaf. With the water, I moisten the sprig, and besprinkle the bsmboos and their holders, saying to the bamboos, " Close together if a theft has been committed ; teparate if it has not." They act accordingly ; I then call npon them to attest the veracity of their deed, and they move towards the Gianges water. I order them to proceed to the thief; they do bo : they carry their holders along, and seize the criminal by the neck. Tf he does not confess, the bamboos advance with hie neck still confined between them, until they arrive at the place where the ' property has been concealed. If instead of the text oaed above, a verse from the Koran is uttered, and the bamboos employed without shaving them, danger frequently follows, and the thief is strangled. ' 7^ enchanted rice. — ^The accused being assembled, are placed at a distance from each otKer, a certain text from the Koran is to be pronounced eleven times, and another particular text, three times over rice, taken from the husk without boiling. It ia then to be weighed with a rupee, hearing the names of AbubekuT, Omnr, Osman, and Alii, and given to each of the accused to chew and spit out. The guilty cannot chew it, the rice becomes dry, the criminal's tongue parched, and if the property be still in his possession, blood flows from his tongue. I never use the rice without previous trial of other methods. If the rice confirms my suspicions. 3SS oBiBNTAi. conjurok's ordbal. drawn from the other ordeab, I do not hesitate to conclude that the thief b found. Although these methods generally ancceed, yet there are instances of fiulnre, either firom venality in the performer, from want of confidence in his art, or misplaced pity towards the offender. The hardness and subtilty of the gailtj, will also Bometimes deieat the skill of the ordeal priest, who although convinced by repeated triak, that he has fixed upon the real thief, cannot always trace the property to the place of concealment, as he baa it not always in his power to obtain snch leading' circumstances as wiU support bis suspicions, and carry inquiry to conyiction. Instances of success in detecting thieves. — About the year 1780, Quarter-master Gillespie missed 120 gold mohurs. I was sent to discover who had com- mitted the theft. The money was kept in an escrutoire, and locked up in a large chest, of which the key was in posses- sion of one of Mr. Gillespie's servants, named Meenm. I examined one hondred and twenty persons be- longing to the family, and conld not discover goilt in any coimteDHnce. I inquired if any other persons came to the house, and learnt that a hoy called Rowshun came occasionally. I discovered by the vase that he had committed the theft, but knew not who he was. I informed Mr. Gillespie that I sns- pected Rowshun, and that he had taken the keys from mider Meerun's pillow while he slept. Mr. Gillespie seat me with a letter to Sir EUjah Bdj,Googlc OBIBNTAL CONJUROR a ORDBAb. S39 Impey, in whose serrioe Rovsbtia was, and ordered Meenm to accompany me. I went, delivered the letter, was abused by Sir Elijah, and woald have been horae-whipped by lady Impey, if Mr. Newman and her ladyship's brother had not prevented it. At last the boy was called; I observed gnilt in his comitenance. I taxed faim with the theft ; he accused me of injming his cha- racter ; I examined his chest and found no money, and was orderad into custody. After this Sir Elijah asked the boy if he had ever been at Mr. Gillespie's ; he rephed, " Never," this convinced me of his guilt, as it assured the chief justice of his innocence. I was sent under a guard to Mr. Gillespie's ; Mr. Newman, accompanied by Bowshim and many others, attended me. It was proved that the boy had been there often ; I was set at liberty and engaged to produce the property in three days. If a certain text of the Koran is pronounced one hundred and oiie times over the name of the thief, and the name is then thrown into the fire and burnt, the guilty person will experience great distress of mind, and he will unbosom his secret to somebody. I performed this ceremony over Rowshnn's name, and he confessed the theft, saying that he had spent twenty gold mohura, and had buried the rest in a place he described. I went to the spot, and in the presence of Sir Elijah, and Lady Impey, of Mr. Gillespie, and several others, took out the money. Tht boy acknowledged his crime, was privately punished, and sent to Eogland. About the year 1782, a shawl belonging to Mrs. HaslingB, was lost oat of the room in which she bad been sitting. I was sent for, and found that a woman who waited on Mrs. Hastings was the person most tilceljr to have committed' the theft. "Die woman denied, a search was made, and the shaWl found concealed in some dirty linen, rolled up as if pre- pared for delivery to the washerman. Upon this the womui confessed her guilt, and Mrs. Hastings ordered me to be invested with a robe of honour, and gave me ^e pension of twenty rupees per mensem, which I now enjoy. Mr. Speke lost forty-three gold mohnrs, and was induced by some circumstances to suspect his head and mate bearers of the theft ; I was sent for. All the bearers were assembled, and I found all innocent. I requested, and obtained leave to examine all tiie other servants, though not without difficulty, on Mr. Speke'a part, who was apprehenstve that I might charge the guiltless, and especially as particular cir- cumstances made him think I had overloc^ed the guilty. Among the servants was a boy named Hackim, the son of an old and favourite servant, on whose death, Mr. Speke had taken charge of the boy, and allowed him eight rupees per month. I observed this lad retire from the line, I called him forward, he trembled, I felt his pulse, it was irregular, I put my hand to his bosom, and found his heart in extreme agitation. This was mentioned to Mr. Speke, who would not beheve that the boy, whom he had treated in the kind- est manner, could prove so ungrateful as to rob him. I went home, p^ormed the usual ceremonies with conjuror's OBDKAi.. 261 Hackim's rtsme, and was convinced of his goilt. On the aext day 1 went to Mr. Speke's, and leamt that thirty-nine and a half gold niohurs were found. On seeing me, Hackim fled ; he was followed, and con- fessed the whole aflyr. I was sent for to Mr. Bria- tow's, who had lost a gold aurpoosh, worth eighteen gold mohoTB. I discovered the thief, and found the property buried in the garden . Fifty gold mohure, not stamped, were stolen out of a hag, kept in a cheat under four locks. I was sent for by Mr. James Miller, the Mint master, to discover the tiiief. I discovered the thief by his look and gestares ; I b^ian the ordeal of the enchanted sticks ; they were approaching him when he confessed his guilt, and disclosed how the robbery had been committed. A shawl, and a shawl handerchief, were atolen out of Colonel Hardy'a quarters in Fort William. I was aent for. The «nchanted sticks caught an Aubdar;he would not confess ; his house was searched by the' colonel's people, who returned aaying, that they had found the property, and that the Aubdar who had accompanied them waa run away. A pearl necklace belonging to Lady Shore waa miaaing. I discoyered it to have been stolen by a woman who waited on her Ladyship, and by means of the enchanted sticks, found it under a chair cushion.' Remark by the reporter '. — Several oSendera have ' This paper hat been given at great leagib, that theaystem adopted in India may b« compared with those ordeals used in I, and aa an illustration of tbe effect of con- -R. M. M. 262 LITBRATURS OP THB HINDOOS ARITHMETIC. been brought to trial in the preeent Besuons by meane of this conjuror, who is a ehrewd, intelligent Arithmetic. — The decimal iyatein of the rotation of numerals, now generally in use among oa, ie an Indian invention, which was probably commonicated to the Arabians through the Hindoo mBtheniati Colebroohe's Algebra, &c., DiaaeTt. p. 24; Whiah, on the Ori^u and Antiquity of the Hindoo Zodiac, in the transactjana of the Literary Society o! Madras, part L p. 63, &c. ' See Davis on the ABtroDomical ComputationB of the Hin- doos ; Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. p. 226—286. ' Asiatic Reaearchea. vol. vi. p. 586 ; Colebrooke'a Algebra, from the Sanscrit, &c„ Dissertation, p. 6. * Asiatic Researches, vol. xii. p. 221, note. ..„_..„Gooslc 264 LITSBATUBB OF THB HINDOOS — ASTKONOUT. (ligiouB velocity round the earth, in the compass of a day.) The winds or currents, impelling the several planets, communicate to them velocities, by which their motion should be equable, and in the plane of the ecliptic ; but the planets are drawn from this course by certain controlling powers, situated at the apogees, conjunctions and nodes. These powers are clothed by Hindoo imaginations with celestial bodies invisible to human sight, and fur-- nished with hands and reins, by which they draw the planets from their direct path and uniform pro- gress. The being at the apogee, for iostance, con* stantly attracts the planet towards itself, alternately, however, with the right and left hands. The deity at the node diverts the planet, first to one side then to the other, from the ecliptic ; and, lastly, the deity at the conjunction canaea the planet to be one while Stationary, another while retrograde, and to move at different times with velocity accelerated or retarded. TTiesefanciedbeings are considered as invisible planets, the nodes an& apogees having a motion of their own in the ecliptic. This whimsical system, more worthy ' of the mythologist than of the astronomer, is gravdy set forth in the SHryasiddhtlBta ; and even Bhftscani gives it, thongh not without indications of reluctant acquiescence. To explain on mathematical prinnples the irregularity of the planetary motions, the Hindoo astronomers remove the earth from the centre of the planet's orbit, and assume the motion in that excentric to be reaUy equable, thongh it appear irregular as viewed from the earth '.' Mr. Colebrooke, after a > Colebrooke, Asial. Res. vol xii. p. 233, 234. UTKRATURB OP THB BINDOOS PHILOSOPHY. 265 miiuite iayestigatioa of the Dotione of the Hindoo astronomers, concerning the precession of the equi- noxes, arrives at the conclueion that on this subject, the HiudooB had a theory which, though erroneous, was their own ;_ that they had a knowledge of the true doctrine of an nniform motion in autecedentia, at least 700 years ago, aod that they had approximated to the true ratio of that motion much nearer th&n Ptolemy, before the Arahian astronomers, and as near the truth as these have ever done since '. ' Their calendar,' both civil and religious, was governed chiefly, not exclusively, by the moon and sun, and the motions of these luminaries were carefully observed by them ; and with such succees, that their determi- nation of the moon's synodicel revolution, which they were principally concerned with, is a much more correct one than the Greeks ever achieved'.' PhiloMphy. The varions systems of Hindoo philo- sophy are in some instances considered orthodox, aa consistent with the theology of the Vedar ; snch are the two Mimdnad schools : others are deemed here- tical, as incompatible with the sacred writings of the Hindoos; such are the Nydya and the Vats&Mka ' AbUE. Res. vol. xii. p. 220, &c. ' Some of the most cele- brated Hindoo aanooomen, ua Brahmsf^upto, hive been ailenC on the subject of a change in the places of the colurea, or have denied (heir regular periodical motion. Others, as Miinjaia and Bhascara, have asserted a periodical revolution of the colures ; but the greater number of celebrated writers, and all themodtm Hindoo astronomers, hjve affirmed a libra- tion of the equinoclial points.' Ibid. p. 217. ■ Colebrooke's Algebra, Kc, Dissertation , p. 22. 266 LITBRATDRB OF TBE HINDOOS — ] aystem ; othere agaia are pEutty heterodox, and partly conibnnable to the established Hindoo creed ; etteb are the Sdnkiya and Ydga. The two Mtnditgds (for there are two Bchoola of metaphysics under this title) comprise the complete system of interpretatioit of the precepts and doctrine of the Vedas, both prac- tical and theological. The prior Mtmdnsd fp&rva MlnansA, or Karma M(mdnsd), which has Jaimini for its founder, teadies the art of reasoning, with the ex- press view of aiding the interpretation of the Vedas : its scope is the ascertainment of daties and religions observances prescribed in the sacred books. ' It is not directly a system of philosophy, nor chiefly so ; but, in course of delivering canons of scriptural in- terpretation, it inddentalty touches upon philoso- phical topics ; and scholastic dispntajitB have eliated from its dogmas principles of reasoning applicable to the prevtuling points of controversy agitated in the Hindoo schools of philosophy ' .' The latter Mimdmd (TItfara Mtvutasd, or Brahma Mimdtudj, which is Bttribated to Vydsa, is usually called VedUtita, i. e. ' the conclosion, end, or scope of the Veda,' and con- sists in a refined psychology, dednoed chiefly from the Upanistiads, which goes to a denial of a material ' The Nydya, of which GAtama is the acknowledged > Colebrooke, Traiu. R. AnaC. Soc vol. i. p. 19, 439, &c. ■ See Colebrooke, Trans. R. AtiaL Soc. vol. ii. p. 1, &c RamniahuQ Roy's < Translation of an Abridgment of the VedanI,' in his ' TranslaiioD of several Books, &c. of the Veda,' p. 1—22. F. H. H. Windischmann, Sancarasive de Theolo- gumenis VedaDticorum. Bonn, 1833, Rvo. LITXRATimB OF THB HINDOOS — PRILOSOPBT. 267 author, fmniihes a philoaopfaical arrangemeDt, wilh strict roles of reaBoning, not unaptly compared to the dialectic of the Aristotelian school. Another course of philosophy connected with it bears the denomination of VauAhika. Its reputed author is Kanftde, who, like Democritug, maintained the doctrine of Btoms. A difierent philoeophicol system, partly heterodox, and partly conformable to the established Hindoo creed, is the Sdttkhya ; of which also, as of the preceding, there are two schools — one nsnally known by that name, the other commonly termed Y6ga^.'_ The former was founded by Kapila, the latter by Patanjali. The two schools difier upon one point, which is the most important of all — the proof of the existence of God. The school of Patanjali recognises God, and is, therefore, denominated the thostical S&nkhya ; that of Kapila is atheistical, inas- much as it acknowledges no Creator of the Universe, nor Supreme Ruling Providence. The gods of Kapila are beings superior to man ; but, like him, subject to change and tranamigration *. Hie preceding remarks have reference to that por- tion of the literature of the Hindoos which is writ- ten in the Sanscrit language, partly because it is the most important and classical branch of it, and partly because the literature, extant in the various vonacn- lar dialects of India, has not yet sufficiently been explored. As fer as our present knowledge extends, ■ CoUbrooke, L c vo). i. p. 19. ■ Colebroiike, Trans. R. Atdat. Soc. voL L p. 19, 26, &t.; Linen's Gymnosopbista, ftscic L Bonn, 1833, 4ta. ,., Google the majority of the works written in the Hindi, Ben- gali, Mahratta, Tamul, and Teloogoolanguagee con- siets in translations or imitations of compositiona in the Sanscrit ' . It is a remarkable fact, that no etrictly hietorical works, of a date anterior to the conquest of northern India by the Mohanunedans, have yet been discovered in any Indian language*. The heraldry of Europe has evidently derived its origin from the East ; and it waa intimately asso- ciated with religion and superstition. Maurice ob- serves, that by the same hardy race, the descendants of the Tartar tribes which tenanted the north of Asia, were introduced into Europe armorial bearings, which were originally nothing more than hierogly- phical symbols, mostly of a religions allnsion, that distinguished the banners of the potentates of Asia. The eagle belongs to the ensign of Vistma, the boll to that of Siva, and the falcon to that of Rama, The sxin rising behind a recumbent lion blazed on the ancient ensign of the Tartar, and the eagle of the sun on that of the Persians. The Humza, a fomoas goose, one of the incamationa of Boodha, is yet the <^ef emblem of Burman banners. The Russians, no doubt, had their standard from the eastern nationB ; 1 See Ward's View, &c. of the Hindoo), vol. iv. p. 47*— 483 (Srdedition); Wilgoa's Catalogue oF Che Mackenzie ColleetioD, 3 Tob. 8vD. CalcutU, 1828 ; Biographical Sketches of Dekkan FoeU, hy Cavelly Venkata Ramaiwamie, Calculta, 182B, 8vo. ' The only exception to this remark that could perhaps be adduced, it (he poetic Sanscrit Chronicle of Cashmere, an account of which Is given by Mr. Wilson iu the IGth Tolumeof the Aiiatic Researclies. AKCH1T8CTUBB OF THB' it is the type of Gemda. The Islamites took tbe creecent, a fit emblem either of a rising or declining empire, and of their primeval woratiip. Arcbitbcturb. — Tlie sacred bnildmga of HindoB-* t^a have loDg been the theme of admiration, and the Mahometan conqnerors of India seem to have vied with the Hindoos in the magnitude and beauty of th^ structures. The moat ancient temples are pro- bably those excavated in the sides of monntmns ; one of the earliest of which is the Cave of Elephanta. situate in an island of the same name in the Bay of Bombay '. ' The entrance into this temple, which is entirety hewn oat of a stone resembling porphyry, is by a spacious frcmt supported by two massy pillars and two pilasters forming three openings, under a thick and steep rock, overhung by brushwood and wild shrubs. The long ranges of columns that t^pear closing ja perspective on every side ; the flat roof of solid rock, that seems to be prevented from falling only by the massy pHlars, whose capitals are pressed down and flattened as if by the superincumbent weight ; the darkness that obscures the interior of the temple, which is dimly lighted only by the en- trances ; and the gloomy appearance of the gigan- tic stone figures ranged along the wall, and hewn, like the whole temple, out of the living rock, — joined to the strange uncertainty that hangs over the history ■ Elephants Isle, seven miles from BombRf caalle. is nbout six miles in circumference, and composed of two long hills, with s narrow valley beCwEen lliem. CBiii5dJ.Googlc 270 TEHP1.B ABCHITXOTtnia. of this place,— 'Cany the mind back to distant pe- riods, iknd impresB it mith that kind of uncertain and religionB awe with which the grander works of ages of darkness are generally contemplated. ' The whole excavation conaists of three principal parts ; the great temple itself, which is in the centre, and two smaller chapels, one on each side of the great temple. These two chapels do not come for- ward into a straight line with the front of the chief temple, are not perceived on approaching the temple, and are considerably in recess, being approached by two narrow passes in the hUl, one on each ude of the grand entrance, but at some distance from it. After advancing to some distance np these confined passes, we find each of them conduct to another front of the grand excavation, exactly like the prin- cipal front which is first eeen ; all the three fronts being hollowed out of the solid rock, and each ood* siating of two huge pillars with two pilasters. The 1:wo aide fronts are precisely opposite to each other .on the E. and W., the grand entrance &cing the N. The two wings of the temple are at the upper end ctf these passages, and are close by the grand excava- tion, but have no covered passage to connect them From the northern entrance to the extremity of this cave is about 130^ feet, and from the eastern to the western side about 133. Twenty-six pillars {<£ which ei^t are broken) and 16 pilasters support the roof. Neith^ tlu floor nor the roof is in the same plane, 1 Mr. W. Ertkine, in the Bomba; LJterar; Traouction*. ARCBiTxcrnss — blxfhanta tbhflb. 271 Mid coneequently the height Tuies, being in some parts 17j, in others 15 feet. Two rows of pillars run parallel to one another &om the northern en- trance and at right angles to it, to the extremity of the cave ; and the pilasters, one of which stands on each aide of the two front pillara, are f<^owed by other pilasters and pillars also, farming on each side of the two rows ah'eady described, another row, ran- ning parallel to them up the southern extremity of the cave. The pillars on the eastern and western front, which are like those on the northern side, are also continued across from E. to W, ; thus the ranges of pillars form a number of parallel lines, intersect- ing one another at right angles ; the pillars of the central parts being considered as common to the two sets of intersecting lines. Hie pillars vary both in size and decorations, and all the walls are covered with reliefs referring to Hindoo mythology. Mr. Mill speaks slightingly (as he genentlly did of everything Indian) of Elephanta, as a cave of no extraordinary structure, and describes the pillars as ' pieces of the rock, as is nsnal in mining, left at certain distances supporting the superincumbent mat- ter :' but many persons of taste, who have visited Elephanta, entertain a very di&rent opinion. Gold- inghani mentions among the sculptures the beantifol figure of a youth, and, in another group, a male ' leading a female towards a majestic figure seated in a comer of the niche, his head covered like our judges on the bench ; the countenance and attitude of the female highly expressive of modesty, and a timid reluctance.' Further on he adds, * the part of 273 ARCHITBCTURE EUFHANTA TXUPLB. this BorprisiDg monument of hnman skill and peree- Terance hitherto described is g^enerally called the Great Cave ; its length is 133 feet, and its hreadth nearly the same.' ' Gigantic as the figures are,' he says, ' the mind is not disagreeably moved on view- ing in them a certain indioation of the harmony of the proportions. Having measored three or four, and examined the proportions by tiie scale we allow the most correct, I fonnd many stood even this test, while the disagreements were not equal to what are met with every day in people whom we think by no means ill-proportioned'.' Another traveller, who has left US an entertaining account of Western India, observes that ' the principal temple and adjoining apartments are 220 feet long, and ISO broad; in these dimensions exceeding the largest work at Sal- sette ' ; but being very inferior in height, notwith- standing the numerous and richer decorations at £lephanta, the spectator is constantly reminded of being in a cave. At Salsette the lofty coacave roof and noble columns have a majestic appearance ; yet the observer feels more surprise and admiration at Elephanta than at Salsette : he beholds four rows of massive columns cut out of the solid rock, uniform in their order, and placed at regular distances, so as to form three magnificent avenues from the principal entrance to the grand idol, which terminates the middle vista ; the general effect being heightened by ' Goldinghmn, Asiatic Reaearchee, vol. ir. p. 4Si — 434. * An island aisD in Bombay Bb;, with an extensive rock-ci ,., Google ABCBITBCTDRB CATB TEHFLRB OF KBKNStir. S73 tile blueness of the light, or rather gloom, peculiar to the situatioD. The central image is composed of three coloaeal heads, reaching nearly from the floor to the roof, a height of 15 feet '.' The BccoTOjJiBhed Heber sayB, ' the great cavern IB deeerving all the praise which has been taTisbed on it.* ' Though my expectations were highly raised, the reality much exceeded them, and both th« dimen- sions, the prt^rtions, and the scnlptnre seemed to me to be of a mnch more noble character, and a more elegant ezecntion than I had been led to sop. pose. Even the statuea are executed with great spirit, and are some of them of no common beauty, considering their dilapidated condition, and the coarsenesa of their material '.' Of the cave temples of Kennery, in the island of Saleette, the same excellent anthority observes: — ' These are, certainly, in every way remarkable, from their number, their beautiful situation, their elaborate carving, and their marked connexion with Buddha and his religion. The caves are scattered over two sides of a high rocky hill, at many different eleva- tions, and of varions sizes and forms. Most of them a[^>ear to have been places of habitation for monks or hermits. One very beautiful apartment, of a square form, its walla covered with sculpture, and surrounded internally by a broad stone bench, is called ' the dnrbar,' but I should rather guess had been a school. Many have deep and well-carved ' PorbeB, Orients! Memoirs, vol. i. p. 429, ^30. ' Narrative of a Journey, &c. vol. iii. p. 79, 8«. ,., Google S74 ARCHlTErTUKX' — KBBMERT TBUPLE8. dstemB attached to tbem, nhich, even in this dry season (May) vere well eapplied with water. The laj^st and most remarkable of all is a Buddbiat temple, of great beauty and majesty, and whi^ even in its present state wonld make a very stately and convenient place of Christian worship. It is entered through a fine and lofty portico, having on its front, but a littie to the left hand, a high detached octago- nal pillar, Bnrmounted by three lione eeated back to back. On each side of the portico is a coloesal sta- tue of Bnddha, with his hands raised in the attitnde of benediction, and the screen which separates the veatdbnle from the temple is covered, immediately above the dado, with a row of male and female figures, nearly naked, but not indecent, and carved wjtb considerable spirit, which apparently represent dancers. In the centre of the semicircle, and with a free walk all romid it, is a mass of rock left solid, but carved eitemally like a dome, and so as to bear a strong general likeness to our Saviour's sepulchre, as it is now chiselled away and enclosed in St. Helena's Church at Jerusalem. On the top of the dome ia a sort of spreading ornament, like the coital of a colnm^. Tt ia, apparently intended to auppoit aomething, and I was afterwards told at Carii, where such an ornament, bnt of greater size, is likewise found, that a large gilt nmbreila used to spring from it. This solid dome appears to be the usual symlxJ of Buddhist adoration, and, with its nmbreila orna- ment, may be traced in the Shoo-Madoo of Fe^, and other more remote structures of the same faith. Though it is di&rent in its form and style of oma- 275 ment from the Ijngom, I cannot help thinking it has been origiutilly intended to represent the same popu- lar object of that ahnost universal idolatry. The ceiling of this cave is arched semicircularly, and OTDamented, in a very singular manner, with elender ribs of teak-wood of the same curve with the roof. aad disposed as if they were supporting it, which, however, it does not require, nor are they etrosg enough to answer the purpose. Their use may have been to hang lamps or flowers from in solemn re- i hewn on the ttse of a precipice, about two-thirds up the side of a steep hill, rising with a very scarped and regular talus, to the height of probably 800 feet above the plain. l^e excavations consist, besides the principal temple, of many smaller apartments and galleries, in two stories, some of them ornamented with great beauty, and evidently intended, like those at Kenuery, for the lodging of monks or hermits. The temple itself is on the same general plan as that of ifennery, but half as large again, aad far finer and richer. It is approached by a steep and narrow path winding up the side of the hill, among trees and brushwood, and fragments of rock. This brought us to a mean end roiitons temple of Siva, which serves as a sort of gateway to the cave. A similar small building stands on the right hand of its portico. The ap- proach to the temple is, like that of Kennery, under a noble arch, filled up with a sort of portico screen, ' Narrative of a Journey, Htc. vol. iii. p. 02 — 95. t2 D^„_,_, Google 276 AKCHITBCTDRE--CARLI TBHPl^. in two stories of three intercolunmiatioiis below, and five above. In the front, but a little to the left, is the Bame kind of pillar aa ie Been at Kennery, though of larger dimenaioDS, surmounted by three lions, back to bock. Within the portico, to the right and left, are three colossal fignres, in alto rdievo, of elephants, their faces looking towards the person wbo arrives in the portico, end their heads, tasks, and trnnka very boldly projecting from the wall. On each of tbem is a mahout very well carved, and a howdab with two persons seated in it. The inter- nal screen on each side of the door ie covered, as at Kennery, with alto rehevos, very bold, and somewhat larger than life, of naked male and female figures.' In its general arrangement Carli closely answers to Kennery ; but Bishop Heber thought that ' both in dimensions and execution it is much nobler, and more elaborate ; and that the capitals of the colnmns (all of them at least which are not hidden by the chat- tah at the east end) are very siogular and beantifol. Each consbis ot a large cap, like a bell, finely carved, and surmounted by two elephants, with their tnmkB entwined, and each carryingtwo male and one female figure. The timber ribs which decorate the roof, whatever their use may have been, are very perfect, and have a good efiect in the perspective of the in- terior, which is all extremely dean, and in good repair, and would be, in fact, a very noUe temple for any religion'.' Among the cavern temples of India the most re- ' Heber's Journal, &c, vol iii. p. 112, 113. ,., Google ASCHITICrnilB BLLORA TBHI>LES. 277 markable, perhaps, both for the style of executioD and the historical aBsociations connected with them, are those of Ellora, situated near the ancient Hindoo capital of Deoghir, or Tagara, in the province of Aurungabad. Hamilton ' justly remarks, ' that with- out the aid of nnmeroas plates it would be impossi- ble to render a minute description of these excava- tions intelligible. The excafations, which have, with apparent propriety, been divided into Jain, Bnddhist, and Brahminical, are sitaated in the face of a cres- cent-shaped hill, abont a mile from the little rural village of Ellora.' ' The first view of this desolate religious city,' says Mr. Erskine, ' is grand and striking, but melancholy. The number and ma^fi- cence of the subterraneons temples, the extent and loftiness of some, the endless diversity of sculpture in others, the variety of cnriona foliage, of minute tracery, highly wrought pillars, rich mythological designs, sacred shrines, and colossal stataes, astonish but distract the mind. From their number and di- versity it is impossiUe to farm any idea of the whole ; and the first impressions only give way to a wonder not less natural, that such prodigious efforts of labour and skill should remain, from times cer- tainly not barbarous, without a trace to tell us the hand by which they were designed, or the populous and powerful nation by which they were completed. The empire, whose pride they must have been, has passed away, and left not a memorial behind it. The rel^on to which we owe one part of them, indeed, ' Description of ladU, vol ii. p. 148, 149. 278 AKCHITBCTDRE DBBR WARRA CAVE. continues to exist ; but that which called into exist- ence the other, Uke the heinga by whose toil it was wroaght, has been swept from the Itind.' One of the groups of caves which, in contempt, is termed by the Brahmins Dehr Warra, or ' the Halfdkhors * Qusrter,' has daring the rains a very picturesque appearance. The large excavation, ac- cording to Sir Charles Malet, is very spadons and handsome, and over the front of it there must rush a small river, during the rainy season, into the plain below, forming a sheet of water, which, in a beauti- ful cascade, covers the &9ade of the temple as with a CTutain of crystal. There are two benches of stone that run parallel to each other along the floor, from the entrance the whole depth of the cave, the pros- pect from which of the great tank, town, and valley of EUora is beautiful. These benches appear to have been intended, as in what is called ' the Durbar' at Eennery, as seats either for students, scribes, or the sellers of certain commodities, a convenient passage lying between them up to the idol at the end of the ' The Hfllalkhors (L e. lirerally those to nhom every thing is tanful food) are the loneel tribe of outcasts. Forbes, Ori- ental Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 136. ' Asiatic Researches, toI. vi. p. 423. The reader, deunms of Btailying the details of these extraordinary caverns, ma; consult the elaborate description of Sir C. MaleL lb. p. 382—423; Transactiona of the Bombay Literary Society, articles ix. and xv. ; Fitzclarence's Journal of p Route across India, p. 193-213 ; Seely, the Wanders of Ellara, London, 1824; Daniell's Picturesque Voyage to India, London, 1810; LangtSs, MoDumens anciens et nodernes de I'lude, en lU ARCHmCTVKS— BDDDHA-QATA TBHPLE, 279 Of the Buddhist cave-temple near Baddha Gaya, in Bahar, no veiy minute or elaborate description eziats. Hie hill in which it is hewn lies about four- teen milee from Gaya, and appears to be one entire masa of granite, rough, craggy, and prerapitous in its ascent. ' The cave is situated on its sontbern decli- vity, about two-thirds from the summit : a tree im- mediately before it prevents its being' seen from the bottom. It has only one narrow entrance from the S. two feet and a half in breadth, and six feet high, and of thickness exactly equal. This leads to a room of an oval form, with a vaulted roof, 44 feet in length from E. to W., 18| feet in breadth, and 10^ ii height at the centre. This inunense cavity is dug entirely out of the solid rock, and is exceedingly well polished, but without any ornament. The same stone extends much &itber than the excavated part, on each side of it, and is altogether, I imagine, full an hundred feet in length '.' plsDcbe*, Faria, 1613 i Tniu. of tha Royal Aeiatic Society, voL ii. p. 336, Sic In the ' Modem Travellet,' an unpTGCend- ing but clever compilation, (he conlrihutions of varjoua autho- rities have been abrit((^d with much pains, India, vol. ii. p. 287— SOS. Anquetil Dopetron has left us an elaborate de- ■cription of the ezcaiationa in his Prelitninary Diicoune to the Zend Aveau, torn. i. p. 233—249. ■ J. H. Hatrington, Asiatic Resesrches, vol. i. p. 276—270. Of the BDtiquit; or history of this cavern nothing Is knoWD. Dr. Francis Buchanan Hamilton, who haa given a description of Buddha Gaya in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic So- ciety (vol. ii. p. 40 — 51), thinks it probable thac part of the ruina may be aa ancient aa the local tradition would make tbein, viz. coeval with the age of Buddha ; but that the great 280 JAIN TKHPI^S IN RAJAST HAN. Of all these cavern-temples by for the greater number bear evident marks of having been origitaally consecrated to the worship of Siva, and hia consort Bhavani ; whose symbols, the Yoni, the Lingam, and the Bull, occupy the sanctuary of the edifice, or are at least discernible among its principal oniamente'. Among the most beautiful of the shrines of India is that which the Jains, who have been termed the Deists of Hindostan, have erected to the Supreme God in the mouatsin city of Comulmere in Rajast'han. The design of this temple, according to Col. Tod, is truly clasBic. It consietB only of the sanctnary. which has a vaulted dome and colonnaded portico al round. The architecture is undoubtedly Jain, whica is as distinct in character from the Brahminical as their religion. There is a chasteness and simpluHly in this specimen of monotheistic worship, adbrding a wide contrast to the elaborately sculptured sbrinea yf the Sivas and other polytheists of India. He ex- treme want of decoration best attests its antiquity, entitling us to attribute it to that period when Som- priti Raja, of the &mily of Chandragapta, was para- mount eovereign over all these regions (200 years before Christ ) ; to whom tradition ascribes the most ancient monuments of this faith yet existing in Ra- jast'han and Saurashtra. The proportions and forms edifice BiJll exisling, though in the last stage of decay, ia of &r more recent date, and perhaps not older than the tenth cen- tnry of the Chriatiac era. A Sanscrit inscription found at Gaya haa been translated by SirCharles Wilkins. See Asiatic Reaearchei, L 278—289. ' See Religion of the Hindoos. ,jj,Googlc CRARACTllRS or THE JAIN TRMPbBS. ?81 of the colnmae ore eapecially dietisct from the other ' temples, being ahght and tapering isBteod of masBive, the ^neral characterietic of Hindoo architecture ; while the projecting cornices, which would abso- lutely deform shafts less light, are peculiEirly indica- tive of the Takshac architect. Sumpriti was the fonrtli prince in descent from Chaudragnpta, of the Jain faith, and the ally of Seleucue, the Gredau sovera^ of Bactriana. The fragments of Mega^ thenes, ambassador from Selencne, recM^l that this alliaoce was most intimate ; that the daughter of the Rajpoot king was married to Selencus, who in return for elephants and other gifts sent a body of Greek Bcddiers to serve Ghandragupta. It ia curious to ^ c L^„_,_, Google sical accompBaiment. These fibres are made chiefly of the same black wood which I have described. What they last showed ub was a cellar underground, Approached by a very narrow passage, and containing cm an altar of the usual construction the fonr etatues ot sitting men, which are the most frequent and pe- culiar objects of Jain idolatry. They are of white marble, but had (as seems to have been the case with many of the images of ancient Greece) their eyes of silver, which gleamed in a very dismal and ghostly manner in the light of a solitary lamp which was brnming before them, aided by a yet dimmer ray which penetrated from above through two narrow apertures, like flues in the vaulting. We were very civilly condncted over the whole of the building by one of the junior priesta, the senior pundit of the place remaining, as if absorbed in heavenly things, immoveable and silent daring the whole of our stay. While I was in the temple a good many worshippers entered, chiefly women, each of whom, first touching one of the bells which hung from the roof, bent to the ground before one or other of the idols, deposit- ing in some instances flowers of sugar candy before it'.* A splendid Jtun temple, on the summit of a moun- tain, is thus described by Lieutenant Bumes, in one of his interesting papers read before the Calcutta Asiatic Society : — The mountain of Abd, Abuj6, or Abtigfaad, is D^i,itjj,Googlc ABCBITZCTCKB TEMPLB8 OF DSLWARBA. 285 Bituated near the 25th degree of N. kt. io the die- trict of Seknil and province of Marwdr, about 40 milee N.£. by £. of the ctunp of Diah. The mag- oificent templeB are erected at the Bmall village of Delwaira, aboot the centre of the mountain, which baa an elevation of about 5000 feet, where the snm- mit ie extremely irregular and etudded with peaked hills. There are four in number, all of marble, and two of them of the richest kind. They are dedicated to P^raenith, or ' the principal of the deified saints, who, according to their creed, have successively be- come superior goda,' and who are believed to amount to the number of twenty-four, or as some say, to have appeared, like Hindu gods, in twenty-four dif- ferent Avatirs. These are the gods of the Jain, Shrdwak, or Banian castes, who are a gloomy tribe of atheistical ascetics, not unlike the Buddhiets, ' who deny the authority of God, and a future state ; believe that, as the trees in an uninhabited forest spring up without cultivation, so the universe is seif- existent; and that the world, in short, is produced, as the spider produces its web, out of its own bowels ; and that, aa the banks of a river fall of themselvea, there ia no Supreme destroyer : they also deny the divine authority of the Vfidaa, and worship the great Hindu gods as minor deities only.' The building is in the figure of an oblong square, forty-four paces long by twenty-two wide (or per- haps one hundred feet by fifty) ; within the building, and in the centre of the area so enclosed, stands the pagoda, in which the great image of the god is placed facing eastwards. In front of this there ia 286 ARCBITBCTiniB — TEHPLBS Or DBLWARRA. an octagon of twenty-four feet, Bnpporting on pillBn andarchea of marble, a cupola of the same. Hie pil- lars may be from twelve to fifteen feet high. The entrance to the temple is from a Bmall door oppoette this cupola, and the grandeur of the building ia dis- coverable at once on entering it, and haa a very im- posing effect. On all sides of the area there is a colonnadei the long sides having a double row of pillars supporting small domes, within each of which are cells in the walls to the number of fifty- six, in all of which are marble images of the god. In the S.W. comer, and in a. chamber detached from the bnilding, is a colossal figure of N^min^th, in black stone. The whole of the building is of the richest white marble, superbly cut into numerous devices ; and it is worthy of remark that there is not an inch of stone nnomamented, and not two domes of the same pattern, though a hundred and thirty-three in number, and all carved. The grand dome is a most diaste piece of workmanship, and bo light do the pillars appear, that it could hardly be imagined they could support the snperincnmbent weight. Adjoin- ing to this building is a room called ' H&thesfil,' or the elephant- hall, which seems ouce to have also had a roof of domes, and in which are the figures of ten marble elephants with drivers, each about four feet high, caparisoned in the modern style of those of the native princes, with every rope, tassel, and cloth, beautiliilly and correctly carved, and apparently (the cars and riders excepted) from one block of marble. The workmanship is exceedingly good, and the re- presentation of the animal is very superior to Indian ABCHITKCTUKR TBHPLK OF MnfUNTU. 287 iculpture in genenkl. The floor of this room is of black marble, while that of the temple is of white. At the door is a large equestrian statue of the fcnnder, who, hy an inscription, is described as ' Bwuilntiih, a banian of Chandouli, to whom the gods had been piopitioas.' It is rudely ezecnted, and is evidently the work of later days. The next temple to be described is the northern one, which is dedicated to Neminith, the twenty- second deified saint of the Jains. It is, with regard to design and material, as the one mentioned, but although of equal len^^ it ie ten paces wider, from which addition the architect has been able to make the colonnade double on all sides without contracting the area too much, and which has a good effect. The pagoda of the god ia in the centre, and faces the west. It has also a cupola in front of it, the same as the other in size, though tax inferior in execution ; but the greatest ornament in this temple, and indeed im Abd, is a portico between this cupola and the pagoda. It is supported by pillars, and the roof is formed by nine small domes most exquisitely carved. The stones on both sides the entrance of the temple are deeper cut than any marble Lieut, Bumea ever saw, and approached in resemblance to Hogarth's line of beauty. This part of the building is said to have cost eighteen lacs of rupees. The east side of the building is divided into two compartments, but Gonsbts of one long room in which are placed ten marble elephants, which are more minutely carved than those described, the very twisting of the ropes being represented. In rear of these are the images 2S6 ARCHITRCTUaS — UHBRK EOftTBBSS. of the different contribntors to the ' Holy ondertab- ing,' rudely cut in Etone, and represented as holding pureeB full of money ready to be appropriated. Tbere are inBcriptione under all these figures, men- tioning the names of the different ' pious individuals,' mast of vrhotn appear to have been Banians '. But these provincial temples, compared with thoae of the capitals of Western India, are no more than so many village churches placed in juzta- position with Westminster Abbey or St. Panl's. The bigotry of the Fatans and Moguls, whom Colonel Tod very properly denominates the Goths and Vandab of Rajast'han, has deprived the lovers of the £ne arte in Hindoatan of many a beautiful relic of nobler days and noblest arts ; but a few exquisite structures have survived their indiscriminating rage, and of these one of the most perfect, as well as one of the most ancient specimens is found in the city of Ajmere. This noble monument of Hindoo architecture stands on the western declivity of the fortress. It is termed by the natives, ' the shed of two and a half days,' for tbey imagine it to have been the work of magic, and to have been completed within that time. 'The temple is surrounded by a superb screen of Saracenic architecture, having the main front and gateway to the north. From its simplicity, as well as its ap- pearance of antiquity, I am inclined to assign the screen to the first dynasty, the Ghorian sultans, who evidently employed native architects. The entrance arch is of that wavy kind, characteristic of what is > See Journal of ihe Asiatic Society of Bengal ARCBrracTiTBB — ajhbbe tbmple. 289 termed the Saracenic, whether the term be applied to the Alhainlira of Spain, or the mosques of Delhi ; and I am disposed, on cloee eiaminatioii, to pro- nounce it Hindoo. The entire facade of this noble entrance is covered with Arabic inscriptions. But unless my eyes much deceived me, the email frieze over the apex of the arch contained an inscription in Sanscrit, with which Arabic has been commingled, both being unintelligible. The remains of a minaret g^ maintain their position on the right flank of the fotKZzin to call the faithfid to prayers. The design is chaste and beantifnl, and the material, which is a compact limestone of a yellow colour, admitting almost of as high a polish as the jaune antique, gave abundant scope to the scolptor. After confessing and admiring the taste of the Vandal architect, we pawed under the arch to examine the more noble prodnction of the Hindoo. Its plan is simple, and consonant with the mere ancient temples of the Jains. It is an extensive saloon, the ceiling supported by a quadruple range of columns, those of the centre being surmounted by a range of vaulted coverings ; while the lateral portion, which is flat, is divided into compartments of the most elaborate sculpture. But the columns are most worthy of attention ; they are unique in design, and with the exception of the cave- temples, probably among the oldest now existing in India. On examining them, ideas entirely novel, even in Hindoo art, are developed. Like all these portions of Hindoo architecture, their ornaments are very complex, and the observer will not fail to be struck with their dissimilarity : it was evidently a D^„_,j., Google 290 ABCBITECTUBE AiMBRft TKHPLB. rnle in the art to make the omameats of every part nnlike the other, and which I have seen carried to a g;reat extent. There may be forty columns, bnt not two alike. The ornaments of the base are pecnliiBr, both aa to form and execution; the lozenges, with tlie rich tracery eurmoimting them, mig-ht be trana- ferred, not inappropriately to the Gtothic cathediala of Europe. The projections from variona parts of the shaft, (which, on a email scale, may be compared to the corresponding projections of the columns in the duomo at Milan,) vrith the small niches still con- taining the statues, though occasionally mutilated, of the pontiffs of the Jains, give them a character whidi strengthens the comparison, and which wonld be yet more apparent, if we conld afford to engrave the details. The elegant Camacnmpa, the emblem s having for its base a polygon of twenly-8eyen sides, ming in a circular form, the exterior fluted into twenty-seven iemi-ciiculai and angular divisions : there were four balconies at micceesive elevations of 90, 140. ISO, and 203 feet; the total height being 242 : an irregular spiral staircase led Gram the bottom to the summit of the Minar, which was crowned with a majestic cupola of red granite, which has since fallen in. n 2 D^„_,j., Google 292 »1NB ABT8. — SCUI^TtJBS. tbe attention on approaching the place, for aa it rises abraptly out of a level plain of great esteat, consietB chiefly of one eingle stone, and ia situated very near to the sea-beach, it is snch a kind of object as an inquisitive travell^ would turn aside to examine. Its shape ie also singular sad romantic, and, from a dis- tant view, has an appearance like Bome antique and Itdty edifice. On coming near to the foot of the rock, on the Dorth, waists of imagery and acolpture crowd so thick upon the eye as might seem to tavosr the idea of a petrified city, like those that have been fabled in different parts of the world by too credn- toDs travellers '. On the smooth feces of the rock are sculptured, some in basso, others in alto relievo, numerous figures of gods and heroes, some indistinct and defaced by the action of the sea air, others fresh, as if newly executed. As for as can be collected from the accounts of travellers, who have bestowed fax too little attention on the subject, the ancient sculptors, who adorned this remarkable city with their labours, were men of undoubted genius, capa- ble, by their productions, of conferring pleasure, not only on their comparatively rude contemporaries, bat even on men of refined judgment and taste in the present critical «ge. Bishop Heber bears a favour- able testimony to the degree of skill displayed in the sculptures of Mahftmalaipur ; he observes that the ' rocks, which in themselves are pretty and picturesqne, are carved ont into porticoes, temples, baa-reliefs, &c. on a much smaller scale indeed tban Ellephanta ' AsJBlic Reseaiches, vol. i. p. 147- L^„_,_, Google FINE ARTS.— sec LPTTIKB. 293 or Kenneri, bat some of them very beautifiillt/ executed.' Tb^ difier from those of the north and west of India (which are almost all dedicated to Siva or Cali) in being in honour of Viehna, whose different avatars are repeated over and over in the varioos templei, while he ooly saw the solitary tingam, if it be one, and one unfinished cave, which etmclc him as in- tended for a temple of the ' destroying power.' Many of the bas-reliefs are of great spirit and beauty; there is one of an elephant with two young ones. Strikingly executed, and the general merit of the work is superior to that of Elephanta, though the size is extremel}' inferior'. The bas-relie& on the walls of Malicarji's pagoda at Perwuttum, may be considered in many respect(« as some of the most extraordinary specimens of art in all India. ' The first and lowest row of these stones,' eays Captain Mackenzie, ' is covered with figures of elephants, harnessed in different ways, as if led in procession, many of them twisting up trees with their tmnks. The second row is chiefly occu- pied with equestrian subjects; horses led ready sad- dled, and their manes ornamented ; others tied up to ' Narrative of a Journey, &c. vol. iii. p. 217- Mr. Gold- ingbam, a competrnt judge, sgtees with Bishop Hebei ia con- Bideruig the execution of the liona as very inferior, as well aa in bestowing considerable praise on the style in which the bas- reliefs are sculptured. Evtn in the cepresentalion of female beauty, the artists of Mahamalaipur had attained a high degree of skill ' The figure and action of the goddess (Bhavani) are executed,' says Mr. Goldinghaoi, ' in a msEterly and spirited style.' Asiatic Researches, toL v. p. 71. 294 «NB ARTB — scuLPTuaa. pillars, some loose ; a great many horsemen nre re- preBeoted engaged in %ht, at full gallop, and armed with pikes, snords and shields ; others are seen himt- ing the tiger, and nmning it through with long spean. The riders are represented very small in proportion, to the horses, probably to diatinguish the size of the latter, as a smaller cast seem intended to be repre- sented among the led horses, where a few are seen lower in size, something re^mbling the Acheen breed of horses. All these figures are very accnratdy designed. It is remarkable, that aereral fi^^es are represented galloping off as in flight, and at the same time drawing the bow at full stretch : these Parthian figures seem to have entirely dropped the bridle, both hands being occupied by the bow ; some of them are seen advancing at fall speed, aod drawing the bow at the same time. This mode appear? to have been practised by the Indians, as it is highly probable that the arts of common life only are here represented in the lower row. On the third row s variety of figures are represented, many of them hnnting pieces ; tigers, and in one place a lion, attacked by several persons ; crowds of people appear on foot, many armed with bows and arrows, like the Chinsnare; many figures of VirSgis, or Yogis, are seen distin- guished bylai^ torbans, carrying their sticks, pots, and bundles, as if coming from a journey : some leaning on a stick as if tired, or decrepit from age ; others approaching with a mien of respect and ado- ration. The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh rows are filled (as it would appear fi*om the scanty infor- mation I vras able to obtain) with repreaentationa of 295 several erents regarding the deities of the place, or expresBive allegorieB of the moral and religious dog- mas of the Brahmins ; and probably some may record particular events of real history. The eighth has fewer carvings than the rest ; some atones are occn- pied by a single flower, of large size, perhaps in- tended for the lotos ; and some, though but a few, by the figure of a god. The ninth, or upper row, is cut into openings, in the manner of battlements ; and tlte atones between each of these apertures are alter- nately Bcnlptured with the fignres of the lingam, and a cow shaded by an nmbrella, to signify its pre- eminence '.' Mr. Hunter saw at Oojein the images of Rima, Lasch&mana, Sita, and Rfidha, in white marble, and the statue of Krishna, in black, which were all execated with ability. Painting appears to have been less assiduously culti- vated in India than sculpture, at least so &r as there are the specimens extant. Forbes, an enlightened lover of the arts, and himself a painter, having be- stowed high praise on the architecture of the princi- pal temple at Chandode, observes that ' the interior of the dome is forty feet in diameter, the concave painted by arUsts from Ahmedabad, on subjects in the Hindoo mythology. They are done in distemper, which is very durable in that climate ; but the draw- ing ia bad, and the style altogether hard, incorrect, and deficient in the effect of liglit and shade : a light ' Account of the pagoda at Perwuttum, Asiatic Regearcbes, vol. V. [1. 311, 312. See alio, in vol. vi. p. 433, the aaios wri- ter'a rematlu on the images found in Ceylon. Journey from AgTB to Oojein, AliatJc ReaearcheB, vol. vi. p. 40. 996 PINB ARTS. FAINTIKO. and dark ?hade seem indeed to be all they ore ac- quainted with. The modem artists have no idea of middle tints, or the harmony of colouring. The out- line, though greatly inferior in proportion and line of beauty, bears some resemblance to the ancient Greek and Etruscan vases '.' Portrait punting seeme to have been long fashion- able in Hindoetan. I have Been in the houses of wealthy Hindoos well executed portraits in oil, and some on glass: Colonel Tod, relating the history of Sanga Rana, observes, ' I posseaa his portrait, given to me by the present Rana, who has a collection of full-lengths of all his royal ancestors, from Samar«i to himself, of their exact heights, and with every bodily peculiarity, whether of complexion or form. ITiey are valuable for the coEtomc' The Hindoos, like the Chinese, copy with great exactness, even from nature ; but their portraits, both of individuals and of groups, are peculiarly devoid of grace and expression— they want the touch of genius. I do not, however, agree with Mr. Mill, that they are ' entirely without a knowledge of the perspective; and by consequence, of all those finer and nobler parts of the art of painting which have perspective for tbeir requiiite basis'.' Speaking of the interior of the palace of Jeypoor, Bishop Heber remarks, that the ' ceilings are gene- rally low, and the rooms dark and close ; bodi the walls and ceilings are, however, splendidly carved and painted, and some of the farmer are entirely < OrienUl Memoirs, tdI. iii. p. 16. * Uittory of British India, vol ii. p. 36, 36. piMB ARTB. — uuaic. 297 compoBad of biobII looking glasses, in fiuttastic frames of chunam mixed with talc, which have the appear- ance of silver, till closely examined. The sabjecte of tlie p^ntinga are almoet entirely mythological ; and their style of colouring, their attitudes, and the general gloomy silence and intricacy of the place, reminded me frequently of Belzom's mode! of the Egyptian tomb '.' The Music of the Hindoos is certainly not in ac- cordance with our ideas of harmony, though the Hin- doos appear to be as much afiected by it as a con- noisseur at the Italian Opera. Sir William Ousely amnses bis readers with a few of the marvellous stones related by the Hindoos of the e&ects of their ancient music, and of the decline of taste among themselves. ' On the subject of those ancient and extraordinary melodies,' says he, ' which the Hin- doos call rdgs and rdginie, the popular traditions are as nnmerous and romantic as the powers ascribed. to them are miraculous. Of the six raugs, the first five owe their origin to the god Mabftdeva (Siva,) who produced them from bis five beads. Farvati, bis wife, constructed the sixth ; and the thirty Hkginis were composed by Brabma. Thus, of celestial in- vention, these melodies are of a peculiar genus ; and,, of the three ancient genera of the Greeks, resemble most the enharmonic; the more modem compositions are of that species termed diatonic. ' A considerable difficulty is found in setting to music the Hlgs and rftginls, as our system does not ' Narrative, vol. ii. p. 401. D^„„jj,Googlc 298 FINB ARTS UUSIC. supply notes or signs sufGciently ezpreesive of tiu almost imperceptible elevationB and depreeaionB of the vmce in these melodies, of which the time is broken and irregular, the modulations frequent, and very wild. Whatever msgic wss in the touch when Orphena swept his lyre, orHmotheas filled his softly- breething Ante, the effects said to have been produced by two of the six r&ga are even more extraordinary than any <^ those ascribed to the modes of the ancients. Mir Tonsine, a wonderful mnsician in the time of the emperor Acbar, sung one of the night T&gs at mid-day: the powers of his music were such that it iostantty became night ; and the darkness extended in a tnrcle round the palace ae far as the sound of his voice ooold be heard. I shall say Uttle on the tradition of Naik Gopftl, another celebrated musician in the reign ot Acbar, who was commanded by the emperor to sing the rAg 4tpaka, which, whoever attempted to sing, should be destroyed by fire. The story is long : Naik GopAl flew to the river Jumna, and plunged himself up to the neck in water, where Acbar, deter- mined to prove the power of this r&g, compelled tlw unfortunate musician to sing it, when, notwithstand- ing his situation in the river, flames horst violently from hia body, and conaumed him to ashea, ' These, and other anecdotea of the aame nature, are related by many of iha Hindoos, and impli- dtly believed by eome. The effect produced by the laaig muUar rdg, was immediate rain : and it is told, that a singing girl once, by exerting the powers of her voice in this rlig, drew down from the clouds timely and refreshing showers on the parched rice- rtNB ABT8. MUSIC. 299 crops of Bengal, and tbereby averted the horrors of famine Irom the paradise of regions. An EoropeaD in (hat country, inquiring after those whose musical perfbnnance might produce similar effects, was an- swered, ' that the art is now almost l(Mt ; bat that there are still mnaiciane pasaessed of those wonderful powers in the west of India.' If one InqnireB in the west, they say, ' that if any such perfonners remain, they are to be fonnd only in Bengal.' ' Of the present music, and the sensations it ex- cites, one can speak with greater accuracy. Many of the Hindoo melodies possess the plaintive simplicity of the Scotch and Irish, and others a wild originality, pleasing beyond description'. Counterpoint seems not to have entered, at any time, into the system of Indian music. It is not alluded to in the manuscript beatdaea which I have hitherto perused ; nor have I discovered that any of our ingenious orientalists speak of it as being known in Hindoostan.' In Mr. Wilson's translation of a Sanscrit play entitled Mricbchhacati, or ' The Toy-cart,' and sup- posed to have been written about a century before our era, we find the following beautiful lines on the vbia, or Hindoo lute : — " Although Dot ocean- born ', the tuaeful Tina 1b most awuredly Hgem of heaven — Like a dear friend it cheers the lonel]' heart. And lends new lustre to the social meeting ; It lulls the pain that absent lovera feel. And addi fresh impulse to the glow of passion." ' The Hindoos take delight in the favourite Persian air of — ' Tiaxi ptitaaa—I Sen Oh.' ' Ad allusion to the legend of the churning of the oo«an SOO DOHBSTIC ASTH OV TBB BIHSOOH. DouKSTic Abts. — Compared with England, tbe Hindoos have efleeted few improvementB in the in- Btmmenta of social economy, A Bengal plough it the most simple instniment imaginable : it coaeiets of a crooked piece of wood, sharpened at one end, and covered with a plate of iron, which forms the ploughshare. A wooden handle, abont two feet long, is fixed to the other end cross- ways ;' and in the midst is a long straight piece of wood, or bamboo, called tiha, which goes between the bullodiB, and ftdls on the middle of the yolte, to winch it hangs hy means of a peg, and is tied by a string. The yoke is a neat instmment, and hes over the neck of two bnllocks, jost before the hump, and has two pegs descending on the side of each bullock's neck, by means of which it is tied with a cord under the throat. There is only one man or boy to each plough, who with one hand holds the plough, and with the other guides the animals, hy pulling them this or that way by the tail, and driving them Ibrvrard with a stick. The separating of the grain from the chaff is per- formed by two or more ballocks, fiietened together side by side, and driven round upon a quantity of sheaves spread on the ground, by which means aboat ' 30 mminds ' will be trodden cot in three hours. The by (he goda and demons, at which various penonogti and precious Brticlea, called ratnat, or " gems," variously eniuna- rated, vere recovered fiom the deep. See WHgod'b Select Specimen! of the Theane of the Hindooi, vol. i. p. 69, 60. (Sd edit. London, 1S35, 8va.) ' The maami is equal to 74 pouudi and two-thirds in Bengal J S7 pounds and a half at Surat ; 38 pounds al Ai^jengo ; end 2S s OF ram sindoos. 301 B«)gal fermers generaUy ' mnzzle ^e ox in treitding out the com,' until the upper sheavea have been redaced to mere straw. The rice ia then cleared &om the hnak by large haod-ianB, ooe pereoa letting the grain fall from his hauda, while another winnows it. It is next deposited in granaries, or sent to the corn- merchant. The straw is piled up in stacks few the cattle, the use of hay being unknown. The scythe has not hitherto been introduced into Bengal, where even grass is «ut with the sickle. The grinding mills are generally the common hand-stones, turned dtiefly by women, but the following is an account of a simple mill used in the mountain streams in Hie north Doab : it consists of a horizontal water-wheel, with floats placed obliqudy so as to receive a stream of water from a shorter funnel, the £at board being fixed in a vertical axle passing through the lower mill-stone, and held to the upper one by a short iron bar at right uigles, causing it to revolve with the water-wheel ; the axle itself having a pivot working on. a piece of the hardest stone that can be procured at hand, — this, with a thatched roof, and the expense (H- trouble of digging a cat so as to take advantage of a fall of water, is all that is required. In the north-west and dry provinces of India, a simple but effective mode of irrigation is adopted. ' In Rajpootana,' says Col. Tod, ' from the margin of the stream on each ude to the mountain's base, at Madraa. Rousseau's Persian Dictionary, ». ii. Ward ii il 80 pounds, and obaervee lliat 330 paiinds of rice in Ihe IS sold lor a rupee! Vol. i. p. 106. ...Cooglc 302 DOHKBTIC ARTS Or ■ they have conEtmcted a aerieB of terraces rising over each other, whence by aimple and ingenious methods they raise the waters to irrigate the rich crops of mgar-CBDe, cotton, and rice, which they cnltiTate upon them. Wherever soil conld be found, or time decomposed these primitive rocks, a barrier was raised. When discovered, shonld it be in a hollow bdow, or on the snmmit of a crag, it is alike greedily seized on : even there water is found, and if you leave the path below and ascend 100 feet above the terraces, you will discover pools or reservoirs dam- med in with massive trees, which serve to irrigate such insulated spots, or as nurseries to the young rice plants. A patch of gronnd, for which the culti- vator pays six rupees rent, will produce sugar-cane 600 rupees in value '.' Among Hindoo implements of bnabaudry is an ex- cellent instrument in the form of a hoe, with a handle abont two feet and a half long, and the iron as wide and strong as a spade, called a kmldala, which answers the purpose of a spade and hoe. The Indian loom, though moch more simple and imperfect, is in substance the same as the English. The frame is laid almost on the ground, in which a hole ' II IB not trae, as some writers suppose, that tlie Hindoos D«veT UBaiiTe their lands : in Canara leavei are strewed over the fields and ploughed up ; iu Nagpoor (where the mode of pioughtng anEwers Dr. T en nan t's description,) they use manure to a great amount, particularly in the oultivation of sugar, the betal leaf, and tabacco. For this purpose the dung of sbeep and other luiinials is used. In the culture of cotton tbegromid is maouied with wood- aabes. Repl. 1830, p. 147- all. Sn. ..,_.,„Googlc DOHSSTIC ARTS OF THX HINDOOS. SOS is cat to receive the feet of the weaver while at work. Women of all castes are engaged in the preparation of the cotton-thread. The finest muslins are maiiu- factored at Dacca, Shantipoor, Sonarga, and Vicram- poor, where the price of a single piece, which ooca- pies the weaver foor months, sometimes amounts to 400 or fiOO rapees. When this muslin is laid on the grass, and the dew has &llen apon it, it ia no longer discernible. Tavemier relates that the ambassador of Shah Sefi, on his return from India, preseated hia master with a cocoa-nnt, set with jewels, containing a mnslin turban, sixt^ covets, or thirty English yards, in lengtli, so exquisitely fine that it could scarcely be felt by the toach; indeed, the mannfectnre of no modem nation can, in dehcacy and fineness, vie with the textures of Hindostan. ' The common kinds are also preferred, on the score cf enduring great hardships, and retaining their ^riiiteness better ; and in respect to the coloured or prohibited goods, for the foreign markets, they will ^ways retain their superiority. In the article of Guinea stnfis mannfsetured at Surat, and in request on the coast of Africa, many attempts have been made to imitate them, particohu'ly by the French, bnt in vain. The Moors discover merely by the touch whether they have been manufactured in En- rt^ or India : nor is it even to their feel and colour that they chiefly trust ; they ascertain by their smell, as the indigo with which they are dyed gives them a peculiar smell which cannot be imitated '.' > Oriental Commerce, p. 297- ,jj,Googlc 304 DOMKBTIC AET8 OP THE HIMDOOS. ' The cotton manufactDres of India seem anciently to have been as much admired as they are at present, Bot only for their delicate texture, but for the ele- gance Trith Trhich eome of them are embroidered, and the beautiful colour of the flowers with which others ve adorned. FVom the earliest period of Eoropean intercoorse with India, that country has been distin- gniahed for the number and escellence of the sab- stances for dyeing varioas colonre, with which it abounded '. The dye of the deep blue colour, in highest estimation among the Romans, bore the name of ladteum'. From India, too, the substance used in dyeing' a bright red colour seems to have been im- ported ; and it is wdl known that both in the cotton and silk ttuSa which we now receive from India, the bine and the red are tbe coloars of moat conspicuous lustre and beauty'.' The tradesmen of India are numerous. Among &e inferior classes, the napitas, or ' barbers,' claim A distinguished place, as, like t^ir ancient brethren of Europe, they nnite a certain knowledge of phar- macy with the art and mystery of shaving. No Hindoo, even of the poorest class, ever shaves him- self, or cuts his own nails ; and there are numbers who disdain even to clean their own ears, which operation falls to the lot of the barbers, who may he seen in the streets, seeking employment, with an in- strument like a skewer, oorered at one end vrith cot- ' Strabo. lib. xt. g. 1, p. 694, ed. Casaub. • Plin. Nat. Hiat lib. ixiy. c. 6, § 27. ' Kobertson, DinertatioD, &c App. { 4. ,., Google DOUSBTIC ARTS 0' TBB HINDOOS. 305 toD, in their hands. The rich are usually shaved dailf, the middling ranks once a week, the poor once in a fortni^t. The operation is generally performed in the street, or under a tree, and the operator re- ceives for his pains, from the poor a farthing, and from the rich double that snm. The wives of the barbers, who in France both shave and cut hair, are condenmed in India to operate on their own sex only, fen- whom they cut the nails of both fingers and toea, and stain the feet and hands with henna. The confecliimersol India, who are in great request, make and vend nearly a hundred sorts of sweetmeats, principally composed of sugar, molasses, flour, and spices, no fruit, excepting the cocoa-nut, being ever need in these delicacies, which are in great request among the Hindoos. It is very interesting to drive along the Chitpore road at Calcutta on an evening, and examine the confectioners' shops, piled with every variety of cakes and sweetmeats, whUe smoking fires at the very edge of the bazaar or shops, send forth a savoury odonr of refreshing delicacies. The potters' caste are numerous and varied ; for besides manniacturing earthenware of diflerent kinds, they plaster houses with clay, make bricks, tiles, spouts, balustrades, together with those little images, which, having been worshipped during certain days, arc cast into the pools or rivers. Toys, also, as birds, horses, gods, coaches, and elephants, which are painted and gilt, are the work of the potter. Blacksmiths are numerous,, they make arrows, bill- ho(^8, the kuddala, or spade-hoe, the axe, the far- mer's weeding-knife, the ploughshare, the sickle, the 306 DOHBiTic ASTB or tbs hindoob. hook to lift ap the com while the oxen Etre treading it out ; beeidee naile, locks, keys, luuves, chaiiiB, scissors, razors, cooking utensils, bnildera' «nd joiners' tools, instranieQts of war, &c. Flower-aellers are found in great nombera in Hin- dooetan. It is a part of their business to make wedding crowns, together with the lamps and arti- ficial flowers which are carried in marriage procses- sions. They likewise work in gardens, and mann- facture ganpowder and fire>works. Hindoo jomert were formerly a very rude and ignorant race, possess- ing no knowledge of the rule, compass or gimlet, or, indeed, of more than ten of those implements, whidi compose a joiner's chest of tools : but they are now ' richer in tools, and more skilful in the use of them. They make idols, bedsteads, window-frames, doors, boxes, seats, pillars for housea, dehneate the figures of idols on boards, paint images, and sometimes engage in masonry. The Rqjakas, or 'washermen,' are a muneroas caste. They were ignorant until recently, of the use of soap, and to this day make oae of a wash com- posed chiefly of the ashes of the plantain, or of the argemone ittexieoMa. The linen having been steqied in the wash, and boiled, is dipped repeatedly in water, and then beaten vrith a heavy mallet on a board, which is generally placed by the side of a pool (a river. And this method, though somewhat advene to the duration, of linen, renders it mnch whiter than The Sttoamakaras, or ' goldsmiths,' display no small ingenuity in Bengal. Bishop Heber says ' the DOHXITIC ARTS OF THK HINDOOS. 307 gotdsmithB of Kutch and Kattywb emboss very neatly, by filling the cup, watch-case, box, or other vessel, with gum-lac, and ponching it in, to the figure required, with a small chisel. Major Sale shewed me a watch-case and a email taukard, very prettily omamented in this maimer, with flowers, elephants, and different birds and animals.' Aa ornaments of gold and silver are mach worn by the Hindooa of both sexes, whether young or old, this is a flourish- ing caate. Distillers, though they employ a rude apparatus, produce excellent arrack, and the Nagas and other tribes brew good beer. Few castes of Hindooa are more despised than the shoeniakers, principally because they work up the skin of, the cow, and may thus be suspected of indi- rectly encouraging the slaughter of that sacred animal. However, though despised and not allowed to get drank, they are excellent workmen, and will make a pair of shoes for four-pence; but for a good pair, which will last two years, they demand eighteen pence. In the upper parts of India they make several kinds of gilt and ornamented shoes, like those worn by the Girecian ladies, which sell in Bengal for &om three to forty rupees. Tliese merry sous of Crispin are likewise employed as musidans at weddings, feasts, and religious ceremonies ; which, in the opi- nion of Ward, accounts in a great measure for the hojrid din which on these occasions stuns the ear of an European. The Hindoo druggists are a respect- able class of people. The brass-ftmnders are numer- ous and skilful. Shell-oraament-nuikers abound in Calcutta, where ..,_..„Gooslc 308 DOHEBTIC AKTS OF THE HINDOOS. tile women sometimes wear sis or eight lings of shells on each wrist. Id some parts of the coantr^ all the lower part of the arm is covered with them. These trinkets, like the gold and silver ornaments possessed by the peasants of France, sometimes be- come a kind of heir-loom in the family, and descend from mother to daughter to the third or fourth gene- ration *. In different parts of India gunpowder is manu&ctnred, cannon (both brasa and iron) cast, and various warlike weapons, as also coats of mail of ex- quisite workmanship prepared. Paper, whether for writing, printing, or wrapping, is made in large quantities, and the introduction of a steam paper- mill at Serampore has introduced au improved mate- rial into the market. The indigo made by natdvee is eqnal to any of the European factories, and in deli- cateness and brilliancy of dyes they qnite excel us. The Hindoo sorgeonat although not equally daring as the Europeans In the large operations of ampula- tions, &c. are quite as skilful in couching for the cataract, or cutting for the stone ; and whether handicraft reqaires patient endurance, finances of touch, and keenness of sight, they are not behind their Western brethren, 'To eay,' says Bishop Heber, ' that the Hindoos or Musulmans are deficient in any essential feature of a civilized people, is an Assertion which I can scarcely suppose to he made by any who have lived with them. Their manners are at least as pleasing and courteous as those of the corresponding stations of life among ourselves ; their ■ Ward, Vie«, &c. vol. i. p. 88—1*2. D^„_,_, Google ABTS OF THK HIKDOOS. 309 honsee are larger, and, according to their wants and climate, to the full as convenient aa ours ; their M^hitectare is at least as elegant. Nor ia it true that in the mechanic arts they are inferior to the general run of European nations. Where they fall ahort of as (which is chiefly in agricultural imple- ments and the mechanics of common life), they are not, so far es I have understood of Italy and the South of France, surpassed in any great degree by the people of those countries. Their goldsmiths and weavers produce as heantiful fabrics as oar own, and it is so far from true that they are obstinately wedded to their own patterns, that they show an anxiety to imitate our models, and do imitate them very succesBfully. The ships built by native artists at Bombay are notoriously as good as any which sail from London or Liverpool. The carriages and gigs which they supply at Calcutta are as handsome, though not as durable, as those of Long Acre. In the little town of Monghir, 300 miles from Calcutta, I had pistols, double -barreUed guns, and different pieces of cabinet-work brought down to my boat for sale, which in outward form (for I know no farther) nobody could detect to be of Hindoo origin.' In closing this chapter I trust sufficient facts have been adduced to prove the claims which our Hindoo feUow-saligectB have on their bi^thren in England ; I have quoted the testimony of others, in preference to recording my own observations, in order to avoid the recurrence of the charge that has been made of my being prgudiced in favour of the Hindoos, and of our colonists in general. I know of no individual ..,_..„Gooslc 310 BTATS OF CRIME IN BRITIBH INDIA. who hsB ever reeided long in India, or attentivelT examined the Hindoos, withont speaking warmly in their favour : I found them, whether Hindoos, MoB- snlmans, or Parseea, grateful for even slight atten- tions, coorteoua in their manners, hospitable withont ostentation, punctual in their duties, and brave witL- out boasting, — in chaTitr abounding, strict in religi- ous rites, and scTupnlously exact in the performance of social obligations ; of an intelligence quick and re- fined, docile under instructioa, and expanding in comprehension. That England may treat them with justice, and no longer impoverish their beantifdl and fertile land by a grasping, mercenary commercial system, which beggars the Hindoo without enriching Britmn, is my fervent and anxious wish. CHAPTER VIII. Intihatklt connected with the press, education and religion of a people, is the state of crime in a coontry j the judicial establishment of India will be detailed in the next volume, and here it will only be neceBsary to re^ to some statistics of crime. The official retuma OD the subject are few, not to the latest, and conse' quently most fevonrable period, and relating prina- paUy to the Bengal Presidency — each as they an, however, they demonstrate, that while crime has in- creased n^idly in England, owing to the poverty of lA. 311 the people, and the severity and. uncerttunty still existing in her criminal laws, tlie contrary has taken place in the territories of the East India Company ; demoDBtrating the improved condition of the people and the beneficent nature of their government' ; for asauredly whatever elevates a nation in morality and temporal happiness, well deserves the appellation of beneficent. To begin with the highest class of offences for examination : — Number of Persons Sentenced to Death, and to Transporta- tion or ImpriBonmenl for Life, by the Court of Nisamut Adawlut of Bengal, from 1816 to 182?. Rni VSS loTruHporta- BKond toDulh To Tranipoita. L Life. "m \\l iB2 MS nil SO !?l Total.. t»0 1 1,7SB 1 ToUds. .se Df de.th sentencei on first pcrioi 368 SM T Id 1 — The decrease which the foregoing table exhibits will delight every friend of humanity; on death sen- ' Since the first edition of this vork went to press, corpora I punishments, as ihe penalt; of civil cHmea, have been abo- lUhed by the Anglo-Indian Oovemment 312 STATB OT CMMB IN INDIA AND IN BNOLAND. tencea — let it be remembered that sentences of death in India are not to.ere\y ^sentences; they are in general fulfilled, unless when extraordinary circumHtanceB intervene — there was a decreaEe during the first period of 124, and comparing tbe two last with the two first years, after an interval of ten years, the difierence will be more strikingly observed : — Decrease an two years 107 The decrease shows, therefore, an actual decrease in crime : not, as would be the case in England, only a decrease of the nominal severity of the law, which in fact is actually taking place from year to year, not only by means of legislative enactraenta, but also by the nnwillingness of jurors to find judgments involv- ing death ; yet, notwitbatanding theae favourable cir- cumstances in a compariaon of India with England, the amount of capital convictions ia atill on tbe in- crease in the latter country. If we place the death- sen tencea in juxta-position with those of England, notwithstanding the advan- tages in favour of England, independent of the popu- lation in one country being 60,000,000, in the other scarcely one-fifth of the number, we shall observe yet more tbe improved state of Indian morality and jurisprudence. CBiii5dJ.Googlc BTATX or CXIMB IN INDIA AND IN KNOLAND. 313 Yeui. IS,0M,MO. PapulBlloD M,flO»,(»0. m 1,M6 l,6S9 1 m ....- - Tow In (Bill Coontriet s,m .,. Thns, while those of India decreased twenty-two between the first and last year, those of England in- creased 561 1 The official returns of English crime come down to 1 832 : and the foUowmg is a comparison for twelve years: — Death Stnlencei in England and Walei for Twelve Year: From 1811 to 1816 number 3181 From 1827 to 1832 8101 . S013 From 1824 to 1830, there were in England— CoDvictioas number 80,882 Acquituls 22,330 Jit Bills found 12,387 Tboa the nomber of acquittals and no bills found were nearly equal to half the convictions ; such B the gloriooB uncertainty of the law ! In the ..,_..„Gooslc 314 NODiriMX AUTHOKirrVOHJODICUL EXRCUnONB. seven years ending with 1828, the death sentences in England and Walea were 7,980, of whom 456 were executed ! Tt is terrible to witness each trifling with hnman life and hnmau feeling as the Eagiliah returns exhibit ; the man who steals a lamb, as well as be who mur- ders the shepherd — he who forges a bank note, as well as he that slays a bank director — the imporer- ished wretch whose necessities or recklessness robs me of my purse, and the miscreant who wantonly takes the life of his sovereign, are equally subjected to the severest doom which earthly vengeance can inflict ; or, on the other hand, a premium is held ont for crime by the uncertainty of its punishment. A thief reasons thus : ' If I commit this crime. I merely ran the chance of being discovered ; if that chance ^a me, 1 have another in the law, a flaw ta the in- dictment or so ; and if the second hazard torn ap agEunst me, and I am sentenced to death, I have a third cast for life, as not more than one in eighteen are executed, and I may perhaps be one of the seven- teen who escape ; should I be the nnlvky one, why then fate wilted it so, and it most be so.' Thai the commission of a crime is made, by the very uncer- tainty of the laws, to depend on a cast of the die, or the twirl of a tee-totum ; and this is what is called justice to society and criminal jurisprudence, in this enlightened country and enlightened age ! Far bet- ter were it to adopt the Draconian code in its full spirit, and let the pickpocket be decapitated by the side of the murderer. What is the avowed object of capital poniahments? EXECUTIONS. 315 The prevention of crime alone ; for all hopes of the reformation of the offender is cut off, by man im- [noasly daring to disobey the command of hie Crea- tor, who emphatically declared, ' As I live,' saith the Lord God, ' / desire not tJte death of a einner, bnt rather that he ehoiild tarn from his wickedness and live;' yet men — Englishmen — calling themBelvea Quistians, make a mockery of their professions by qnUing the hlood of the divine image, when acting on the inhuman Jewish code, which declares (as all savage or pagan nations do) ' an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' Judge Park says, in passing sentence on Cook the murderer, ' Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall bis hlood be shed;' hut does this precept give any legal authority to man ? Is it not merely a confirmation of the decree, that those who live by violence shall perish by violence ? The divine precept ia clearly, that ' man should turn from his wickedness and live.' If the execution of Cook would prevent another individual from com- mitting murder, then there might be some worldly excuse ; but there would be no decree from Heaven. The declaration of the Almighty, that ' he who hveth by the sword shall perish hy the sword,' gave no au' thority to man to he the executioner of that decree ; the fulfilment of it rested with the Omnipotent Being, in whc^e hands are the scales of judgment. Bat, •aye my Lord Brougham, man may take away the life of his fellows if it be condncive to the good of society : I deny the abstract right, for earthly crea- tures possess none but what are in nnisou with the laws of God, which are based on the eternal and im- ..,_..„Gooslc 318 COMPABATITX STATK OP CRIHB. mutable principles of justice ; and as to any conven- tional right, it should £rat be proved that the de- Uraction of life was necessary to the prevention of crime. In Rnssht, capital paniahment was aboliabed with the most beneficial consequences. In France, after the revolution, 116 capital ounces vrere re- duced to fewer than twenty, with the usual results ; even in monlciab Portugal, the light of truth has penetrated with 8ome anccesB; the results in the United States are too well known to need comment. It is now indeed a proven fiict that in proportion to the severity and uncertainty of the laws, ofience« against person or property are in an inveTEc ratio. In INiscany, when capital punishments were abolished tn toto, crime decreased ; but in Rome, where executions daily occurred, crime increased. In a French work on Italy, published in 1 793, 1 find the following con- firmation of this statement, which has recently been doubted. The writer, in speaking of Leopold, Prinoe of Tuscany, thus continues ; — " II est occupi d'une reforme enti^ de ea I^^slation. II a vu une lu- mt^ nonvelle dans qaelques livres de ta France ; il Be bate de la foire passer dans les lois de Florence. II a commence par simpliGer les loia civiles, et par adoucir lea lois criminelleB. II y a dix atu que It tang n'a couU en Toacatie sur un ^chqfaud. La liberty seule est bannie des prisons : le grand due les a rem- plies de justice et d'bumanit^. Cet adoKcisaemement dea loii a adouci les mteurs publiques; les crimes graoes deviertnent rarea depuis que les peines airoeea aont aioliea : Us prisons de la Toscane ont 4t4 vides pendant trots ntois I !' ,., Google COHPARATIVK STATE OP CRIME. 317 Spain, nith more capital puniehments by law, has more capital offences than any country in Eorope ; Majorca, under the same political government, bnt with milder punishments, few crimes being capital by law, has comparatively fewer offences'; Ireland, with more severe criminal laws than England, is even more rife with bloody deeds than the latter country, which in its torn is yet more so than France, and France etill more so than America, where few offences are subject to the deprivation of life. In seven years in Ireland, ending with 1S28, the number of persons accused of murder were 2604 ! But Huch is the re- pugnance of the people to come forward as evidence, that oat of the whole number of criminals, but 224 were sentenced to death, and 155 executed. This is the state of the law in a country where the pitch cap, the triangle, and the gallows have superseded mild- ness, conciliation, and jnstice. The proportion of crime in 1831 to the number of inhabitants has been in Dublin, 1 in 96 ; in Edinburgh, where capital punishments are &r less frequent, 1 in 540 ; in Lon- don and Middlesex, which stands between both, the proportion has been 1 in 400; and in Cardigan, where a capital punishment is a very rare event, the proportion of commitments to the population is only 1 to 4930. In FruBsia capital punishments have been much lessened, with the usual beneficial results : with an average population of 12,000,000, the exe- cutions have been comparatively untrequent. In the seventeen years from 1818 to 1834 (inclusive), there ' WesiminBier Review for July, 1832. ,jj,Googlc 318 COMARPATIVB STAIB OF CBIMX. have been in all 123 execntiona. and the crimes foi which they took place are as follows: — areoo, 1; vohmtaTy manslaughter, 22 ; murder, 100. The one execution for arson took place in 1818, since which time, Kmsequently, the punishment of death has been inBicted only for intentional homicide of di&rent degrees. Even for murder, the sentence is nearly as often commuted as executed. In the whole sevea- teen years, there were sentenced to death for mnrder 187, of whom 100 only were executed. With reference to the ^eat diminutiou in severity of late years : — In the first three years, 1818, 1819, 1820, there were executed 24, In the last three years, 1832, 1833, 1834, there were executed 6 ; 2 in each year. Murder. — Five years, ending 1824 — capitally oon- Ticted 69 ; executed 47 ; or 68-100. Five years, ending 1829 — capitally convicted 30, executed 26; or 51-100. Five years, ending 1834 — capitoUy convicted 43 ; executed 16; or 37-100. Here there it a diminution of executions in each of the two last periods, and at the same time a di- minution of crime. If we compare the two ex- treme periods, we find one-third less crime in the last with 1 6 executions, than in the first with 47 executions. In Norway a code of penal law has been prepared by a commission. It was published in 1834, and has been translated into German. By it the only crimes punished capitally are murder, high treason, robbery, where the person robbed dies COMPAE&TITB STATE OV CBIMB. 319 in consequeoce of the injnrieB he has received, and KTSon where Bome person has lost his life by the fire. In the Duchy of Brunswick there was no execntion daring the reign of Charles WiUiam, which lasted from 1780 to 1806; and in a criminal code which has been prepared for Bmnewick by Strombeck, an raninent lawyer of that duchy, no capital punishment is retained. The reanlt of soch bomane proceedings isthns shown in Belgium. Periods. ToUlEiKuted tor vuiou. CrimH. CplUlCenvirU™,. 1 Miuaer. Otl^'^wpi.^ » Tern ending with IJM *" 1 1» todeith (be s ::::::EE:::::::::::!li? .z^ris^.^r- twenty-two wen d. Thus it is evident that undue severity, when com- bined with uncertainty, tends exceedingly to increase crime, while it is but a burlesque on religion to make the scaffiild a stepping-stone to heaven ; to make the twenty-foor hours intervening between the sentence and execution of the culprit aa expiatory period for a long life of guilt. Ihese remarks are scarcely made with the hope that they will be attended to in England, where the voice of reason, as well as of humanity, has been 330 COHPAHATITE 8TATX OV miME. almoat rused in valni ; bnt if they ehonld be the mettDS of encauTB^ng tbe jodgei of the E^t India Company'a provinces in the ahnoet holy path they have pnrsned, if they shonld canse an amelioration of the ciimina] code in our coloniea, or if they sbonld asaist in rescoing- one individnal, whether carved in ebony or in ivory, from death, or if they ehonld even stimnlate others to esomine the troth of the doctrine laid down, tbe aim of the writer will bare been accomplished. The diminution of the crime of forgery in England since the abolition of capital pnnishment for the of- fence is strongly in proof of the remarks put forth in this chapter, as shown by tbe following table : — EngUnd uid WbIm. Tothewiidd and husheilup." Eiecationa. Co»»It.^. J Yem, ending with 1820 I Yem, ending vltblSIS K^. tn None. We should remark that in the five years eoding with 1 820, the ezgcutjons for forgery were more nu- merous than during any simitar period from tbe year 1810, when the criminal returns commence, down to the abolition of the punishment of death for that ' Sir B. Rice, in his evidence before the Lords, in ISSO. BajTs, that among a population of 150,000 peraooa in BonitHiy, during three years, there was but one execution, and that was of an English tergeant. ..,_.,„Gooslc BTATtanofl. S21 offence, practically in 1830; and it is but fair toward the few remainiDg advocates of Bererity, to select, for Uie purpose of comparisou, a period wlien their fe- vonrite inBtmment, the horrid eCB&ld, was in foil activity. Let ns now proceed with the Beagei sta- tistics of crime. One table, printed by Parliament. gives the returns of the court of Nizamut Adawlat ; the following are those of the CourtB of Circuit, spedtyiii^ the nature of the crimes : No. 1. — aenuncH tor 01bnc« ualnit the Penan, pasied by the Court, of Olcua til Bengri, »t Two Periodi. OflbncM. Nmnber of Perwn. "'^'r imto Ml I4t 20 I.IM 19» es Bodoniy ~ ~ ~ PeiJ™T — — SenteiiMi ot the ant period ..... g,iH 1 i.»ec _ hd, a.ise »—.'"- -'■:•'• CBiii5dJ.Googlc Ho. 1.— amKam Gk OOaun ■Kkinit Pnipat;, pawikr Ih. Court, of Clrcuil ia Bengil, u Two Paiod.. OffimcH. "i?,:- 1W7. 491 11 CbiU ituHDg Countorfciting ind otWtiae eoun ttrfeitcoln _ -.. Forg^»du««tog *"* No. ai70 aim N MS This is a very great decrease on two years, and in looking at the yeara preceding those given in the first table, the diminution is yet more gratifying to behold. For instance, adnlteriea were, from 1816 to 1818, in wunber 95; felony and misdemeanonr, in the same years, 376; sh9wing a decceaae on the former of 75 cases ; and on the latter of 269 '. In the second table thete is also a marked improvement in the country. « Toliuninoua Co g^ve tbe tables coataioiDg DXCBXA9B or CtUUS IN INDIA. 333 IrI81»tol818 ..No. 2853 1826 to 1837.. 1036 Cattle Stealing. In 1816 to 1818.. No. 203 1826 to 1827.. 31 DeEKBse No. 1817 Decreaae No. 172 Embezdement. Larceny. In 1816 to 1818 . . No. 160 In 1816 to 1818 . . No. 1616 1826 to 1837 .. *9 1826tal827.. 223 DecMaM No. 101 Decrease No. 1293 But if the foregoing Circuit Court returns be re- freshing to bamanity, those of the Magistrates' courts for the Lower Westeni provinces of Bengal are much more BO, for the decrease of crime is yet more extra- ordinary, whether as regards ofiences arising firoin revenge, from destitution, from blood-thirstiness, or from immorality. The following shows the sen- tences of two years ; if we had them of a. more recent date, I am convinced we should observe a still greater diminution '. > The evidence of Mr. MangJeB (Lords, 4th March, 1830), is confirmatory of thia aasumptioD in reference to Che veiy great diminueion in the number of crimes. ' Q. Can you slate in vhat proportion the niunber of crimes has diminished ? A. I think in the Loner ProviDcea the average of dacoities oflale years is about bb one and a traction Co seven, as compared with the state of things tnenty-BTe or thirty years ago.' Mr. Manias adds, ' in the disDict of Kiahuagur, formerly moat notorious foe dacoities, that crime has deereHsed, from au aiersge in former years of 260 or 300, to eightoen or tirenty.' C^I,ieJj,GOOglC Compnrative Slacemept of OSences against Property and gainst the Person, on which the Hagislrales passed Sen- tence in the Lower and Western Provinces of Bengal, during the Yean 1836 and 1837. Crtme.. ^^^ ,m ,.., f Anon 3,tU «,]6I B.M1 1,B9S 3,30! propertj. j J^"^™ ™" ™™™ 17,817 1I,3S2 1,16a AgiJjigl fAusull sodbMICTy 6,J)i s,aes 2,iJ0 i«^n.iS"!!;f.'.".:;::::::::::::: 8,838 4,876 1,168 ,Bmi«T — rE.f.p,t™™t«ir ,^f^'^ Nedeetotantj- _ """■ifciV :::::: Demue ctoSeocei against prop. 1,718- 10,3M l,«l(l 6,esj J,«9 tI7 ■My in on. 8,1)7* ear. No,... S,7M 4,4U Total decKaw otaUme ii „.„„ hS In arson, burglar}', fraud, larceny, bloodahed, bribery, perjury, &c. we see » rapid decrease, amount- ing altogether inone year to apwarda of 14,000 ! In India, ofiences decreased one-half in one year ; in England they increased i five years at the DZCKBA8X or CMHX IN INDIA. 32.'i enormous rate of upwards of a 1000 per annum! When commencing theae tables, I have shown the number of persons sentenced to death and trans- portation, or impriBoaed for life, by the Nizamut Adawlut : exile or incarceration sentences for seven years have thus decreased before this court : — Sentmcti if teoen yeari' IransporlaliBri or impriiimmeni by the Niiamut Adawlut. In 182S No. 3S4 1826 137 1H27 65 A decrease, after one year's interval, of 269 sentences. Another method exists for testing the efficacy of the police and of the laws, which is by looking at the returns of the higher classes of crime, whether murder or robbery with violence^ I have, therefore, prepared the followiDg table to exhibit the result of the two periods of two years each, and I would fein indulge the hope that the view these tables, one and alt, exhibit, will have some efiect in England, by leading those who have heretofore opposed the abolition of capital punishment, to reflect seriously on the con- sequences of their perverseneas. In the execution of the laws there ought to be no such hopes held as those of clemency ; the strictest justice is the greatest mercy, not only to the unfortunate individual but to society ; but by strict justice, I mean the pro- portioning of tiie punishment to the offence, due consideration being bad to extetmatdng circamstances. CBiii5dJ.Googlc -CUJBWI-M il?l2i 1 WKoaamuj S|_S sss ^ p»».a™a £ M ¥ bS s IBS R n u Si s ==! 1 ■»mm S8ggSS i 11 p ssgs« 1 II 11 H lii^gs g i i S y 1? i 1 III f^^ 1 ■ I||1||J ■ ..,_.,„Googlc TKI1IK IN INDIA. 327 Under a mild and equitable eystem, murdera with andwithoat depredation, decreaaed 576 on two years! If this argumeat be not adverse to the bloodthirsty Mosaic code whidi England has so long followed, I know not what is. The nomber of persons charged witli shooting at, stabbing, and poiaoning with intent to kill, in Eng- land, have thus lamentably increased ; — In 1826 No. 47 1830 No. 80 1827 82 1831 104 1828 72 1832 133 Total No. 201 No. 316 "Wbbtbbn Protincbs of India ; the nnmber of morders without depredation were — la 1818 and 1820 No. 496 1827 >i>d 1828 2S6 Decreaie No. 241 Under an eternal hanging ayatem, would such a diminution have taken place ? ABrayB nith loss of life were. Homicide*. In 1831 aad 1823 No. 233 la 1818 and 1820 No. 377 1827 and 1838 '• 118 1827 and 1828 •. 186 Decreaie No. 114 DeCTFBEe No. 192 Depredations accompanied by torture and wound- ing— la 1818 and 1830 . . . Na 1000 1827 and 1828 S13 Decretw ... No. 488 D^„_,_, Google or CEIME IN INDU. In the Lower provincet tile same Depredationi with open offences were — violence. In lS18andlS20 No. 319 In 1818 and 1830 Ho. 64S 1827 and 1828 ■■ 194 182? and 1828 .. 221 Mr. Kobertson gives, in his pamphlet on the civil government of India, published in ZS2S, several tables to show the decrease of crime. Gang.robberieB here- in 1807 ... No. 1481 1824 .... 2»4 In 1807 ... No. 406 1S24 30 Decrease No. 1247 Violent affir«yB— In 1807 ■ - - No. 482 1824 33 GaDg-robberie8 in the district of Kishnagur were— In 1808 ... No. 329 1821 10 Decrease No. 449 Decreaae Na 319 Let us, however, proceed to a closer analytical comparison of crime in England and in the Lower (ind Western provinces of Bengal, as eJchibited in the following parliamentary table : — CBiii5dJ.Googlc , ' 829 Crime iti England and Wales, Lower Bengal, and the Western Provinces, sentenced to deaCb, traasportalian, and imprlBOn. ment for life, in sin years ending 1827: (ibe popuIatioD of England and Wales, 13,000,000; of Lower Bengal, 40,000,000; of the Western Prosiooea, 20,000,000.) ''"^XTzr^^r^"-' .^tt Lovsr ^AtZ. Zl «* IBS "' 1 '"" ■ Bcntencei. nr^. Lo»« ZV^Z. To death iisiS 6!i "i 6Bi ElMUtUUU En^d Lower Weilem ProTincu. ■ In 1144: iinioaoss i In 21)6897 1 toSI«l!» linfiOBOflO Sfll==' While the executions in England ore, in propor- tion to the population, one in 200,000, those in the 330 CRIUB IN INSIA AND IN BKOLAND. Lower provinces of Bengal are not more than one in 1,500,000 1 and while all eentenced to death in India experienced the punishment awarded them, in England not the l-18th of those sentenced to die soflfered. Yet hae crime augmented in the latter, and diminished in the former countrf . In England, the condemnation to death for 21 years, from 1813 to 1833, are given ss 23,700; executions, 933; giving 1128 average annual condemnations, and 44 executions ; an enormous proportion when (xtmpared with those of Prance or Belgium. The medium executions in France, from 1825 to 1832, amountedto 67. or 1 for 477,000 souls ; in England, from 1827 to 1833, to 44, or 1 for 295,000 souls ; in Belgium, from 1815 to 1829, to 44, or 1 for 680.000. The number of committals in England and in Wales in six years, stand thus : — 1806 (femaJes 1338) 460S 1830 (f^mslea 2972) 18,107 1806 (ditto 1226) 4346 7 (ditto 1287) 4448 1831 (ditto 3047) 19,647 18S2 (ditto S348) 30,829 Tolal(femaleB3851) 13,307 Total (females 936-J) 68,183 Lut period . . (females 9362) . . . 68,083 firstpediMl . . (ditto 3851) . . . 13,397 IticreaMd«rim« (CbaaIm 6611) . . . 4S,18S These returns show the committala in England and Wales, to be, in proportion to the population, one in every 696 inhabitants. Great as this amount is, it has been exceeded during the past year. In the forgoing table England and Wales are iaoluded. CRIHH IN TBB UNITED KINODOW. 331 bat the proportion of crime in Walei bears no com- parison to Eng'land ; in the latest returns England and Wales are aeparated : — Committah for crime 1830 '. Id England 1 in 740 inhabiUnts. Walei I in 2320 ditto. Scotland t in IISO ditto. Ireland 1 in 490 ditto. Crime appears to be on the increase in Scotland, for a few years ago the proportion was rated as one in 5093. But the state of morals must not be judged of in England by the number (740), for nn- fbrtnnately in many plat^ee the proportions are less indined to virtue's side. It haa been calculated, thovgh I consider it over- efltimated, that one-fifteenth of the population of the United Kingdom auhaiat by prostitution ; one-fifteenth by swindling, robbery, and every species of crime; and five-fifteenths are what are denominated poor, living from hand to mouth. Such have been in a great measure the e&ct of an ensanguined code of laws, which some have had the infatuation to propose for adoption in India. In seven years, ending with 1828, there have been in England the following executions : — 93formurder; 1 04 for burglary ; 72 for highway robbery ; 37 for horse-stealing ; 31 for attempts to morder \ 27 for rape. Sic. ; 23 for forgery ; 12 for coining, and aeveral others for varioua offences ; the executions for crimes committed in the City of London and County of Middlesex, were in number 125> ' Eclectic Reviev, ,jj,Googlc 332 csiMB i: What a ^ira.nton efiusion of htunan blood ! Have any one of these crimea decreased ? Not one — the very reverse ; wliile those Crimea in which death-punish- ments have heen abolished nearly (sheep- ate ahng for instance), have actually decreased. The Society engaged in collecting and difiiising information on thia momentous subject have recently promolgated the following: — Statiatics connected with theQaestion of Capital Puniehment. — ' While crime has increased as it relates to non-capital offences, or those which constitute the great bulk of commitments, — while it has increased, also, aa it regards thoae ofiences which continue to be visited with the punishment of death, it i^ a &ct not less true than it ie important, that, aa to those offences from which this extreme bat uncertain penalty has been removed, crime has dimi- nished, as is proved by the following abstract of the parUameatary returns for England and Wales. let Class. — Non-capital offences, snch ae larce- nies, &c. Commitmenla. In three yearE 1827, 1828, 1839 46,833 1830, 1831, 1832 61,628 1833, 1834, 1836 my . . . 61,701 , Here the commitments rose from 46,833, to 51,701. 2nd Class. — Offences for which the punishmNit of death continues to be inflicted, viz. : arson, mnrdor, attempted murder, robbery, rape, &c. CDmmltineiiU. Bncatlou. 108 three yean 1827, 1828, IB29 . . . 1,706 1830, 1831, 1832 . . . 2,236 1833, 1834, 1838 . . . 2,247 CAPITAL PUKISHIIENT IM TBI UHITBD EINGDOU. 333 Here also the commitments rose, — they rose from 1,703 to 2,247 aotwithstanding the numbers executed. 3rd Class. — Ofiences for which the punishment of death was ab(^ahed ia 1833 — 33, viz.: coining, forgery, horse •stealing, sheep -stealing, larcenies in dwellings, and house-breaking, (to which burglary, thongli nominally capital, must be added, because formerly it was often indicted as house-breaking, while the crimes continued Bubject to the same pmushment,) ConunltDunli. Biecutloiii. In three yean 1S27, 1B28, 1829 . . . 4,6-J2 06 1830, 1631, 1832 . . . 4,734 23 1833, 1834, 1836 . . . 4,292 2 In thia class alone the commitments fell — namely, from 4,622 to 4,292. Tbia diminution of crime being confined to those cases which have ceased to be punished with death, (class 3) and not extending to the other two classes, it cannot be owing to any change of circumstances in the country. To what, then, is it owing ? To two causes. First, an increased probability of prosecu- tion ; and secondly, an increased likelihood of con- viction, as may he proved by the paxliamentary re- turns. Thus in the last three years as to those ofiences (class 2) for which capital punishment con- tinues, for every hundred commitments, there have been on the average only 42 convictions, while in the same period, as to the 3rd class, or those offences enumerated as having ceased to be visited with death, for every 100 commitments there have been on the average, 74 couTictions. CBiii5dJ.Googlc 334 BXNOAIi, HADBAS, AXD BOMBAX. Ijct UB compare crime in the Company's Bengal territories (the onl? place nhence we have retains) with o&ucea in England, in Ireland, cmd in France ; with reference to the yearly avenigei, and the pco- portion to the popuUtion : Average! of ssntsncea, and oompariion with tbe amount of jHiptilation, in England and Walet, in France, and in Ben* gal. Twrt; Av«nc*t. 1 Bngluid, Inland, Franc*, lyr.(lSM »■&. TodtaOi „ U| t7S "It 1 ^»™. Fnpaitlon at jtxrlj A>eng« la Papululon. 1 PnpululoB 1J,000,001I, PopidStlOB TtoB,OOI),(H». a«<*: S Id the Ultra Guigetic territories wbich bave latelj come into our posaession, much is to be done : Captain Low atates, that the utmost venali^ and perversion of jUBtice prevails in the Dattve courts of civil and criminal law inTenaBserim; and that the perpetrator of any crime, treason perhaps excepted, may buy himself off, if able to furnish the requisite sum. Murder is punished with death ; the culprit has his bead struck off by a sivard. If the victim of murder is a man of rank, the nhole family of the murderer euffers the same penalty with him, in order, as the Burmans alleg;e, that Che children of the criminal shall not have an opportunity of aven^ng his death. A traitor, and a conspirator against the king, or a man of high rank, i« blown up by gunpowder, and hia near relatives suffer the same iate. They are all shut up in a house Blled with straw, and gunpowder, and other combustibles, and the nhole is flred by a Aisee. Adultery, theft, and minor offences are commulabte by fine ; incestuous intercourse is punished by hauishmenc If s priest rescues a condemned permn on his way to execution, and conveys him to a pagoda, his life is spared. Whatever laws or rules were made on the subject of inheritance, »ere ■eldom very snicdy attended'to ; and, unless the deceased in- diridual was a man of rank, the local chief of any Burman government, in Tenaaserim, used his discrerion in apportioning it, caking care to pay himself handsomely for his self-constituted post of eiecntor. 7 ..„_..„Gooslc 336 BKNOAl., MADHAS, AND BOSBAT. rapid and bo remarlcable a dimination of crime as the Bengal tables demonatrate. It is to be r^jetted that we have not complete tables of all India, as also retnins from all the Britiah. Colonies ; I wonld therefore snggest, that exteneive atatiatics of crime be prepared for the India-hoose and Colonial office, which would not only be most valuable in themselves, bat also ofier the beat possible proof of the condition of the people subject to the authority of the East India Company and oi the Crown ' . CHAPTER IX. No man was better qualified from his acute powers of observation, or bis extensive Iinowledge of other countries, to form an opinion of our possessions in the East than Bishop Heber, who thus graphically dwells on this subject ; — ' Southern Malwa from a mere wilderness is now a garden,' p, 74. ' During the years of trouble, Malwa (except in the neighbonrhood of fortified towns, and among the most inaccessible ' It would be extremel]' desirable if the number of gaol* in India and in the coloniea, and the numbeT of priinnea in «tcb gaol, were specified, as also the mode of employing the pri- goners, and the general effects of prigon disciplioe. TberecRD be no doubt that the public eKposure of criminals in road- gangs not only liardens the oSeniier, but takes awuy, in a ([Teat measure, the irtiA of puniabmeDt from those inclined to erine, as nitaessed by ine ta New South Wtdes.— B. H. H. ,., Google BBTRMPECnrE TMW OP INDIA. 337 mountains) was entirely depopulated. All the villagers bereabont had emigrated chiefly into Berar, Candeish, and the Deckan : and some had become servants and camp ftdlowers to the British army, till, within the last three or four years, they returned each man to his inheritance, on hearing that they might do so with safety'.' ' Every where, making due allowances for the late great droaghts and consequent scarcity, amounting almost to abeoluts famine, with its dreadful attendant evils of pestilence and the weakening of all moral ties, the coontry seems to thrive under its present system of Government. The burdens of the peasantry are decidedly less in amount, and collected in a less oppressive manner, than under the old monarchy. The English name is therefore popular with all, but those who are inevitablygreatlosersby our coming — the courtiers of the Peishwa, such of the traders as lived by the splendour of his court, and probably, though this does not appear, the Brahmins '.' ' Though our influence baa not done the good which might be desired or expected in Central India, that which has been done, is really considerable. Except from the poor Bheels, and from the few gangs of marauders which still lurlc in different parts of the country, that country is now at peace ; and how slight are these dangers, and how easy to be home are the oppressions of the native rajas, in comparison with the annual swarm of Pindaree horsemen, who robbed, burned, ravished, enslaved, tortured, and murdered ' Life of Biihop Heber, p. B8. • Ibid. p. 31 1. D^„_,j., Google over the whole extent of territorieB from the Rann to the Bay of Bengal 7 While their inroadB are re- membered, to say DOthiag of Jeawnot Rao, Holkur, and Ameer Eh&n, the coming of the ElngUsh oaiutot bat be coDsidered as a bleanng ; and I only hope, that we may not dectroy tiie reverenoe and awAil regard, with wbich our nation is stiU lodced ^p to here'.' ' The country people seem oontent and thriving '.' Hie Bishop and Archdeacon Corrie (who resided in India nearly 40 years) ^ve the following deecrip~ tion of the country traversed during a visitatdon : — ' Sept. 15. — We passed Mirzapoor, the sise and ^parent opulence of which surprised me, as it ie a place of no imctent importance or renown, has grown up completely since the English power has been es- tablished here, and under our government, is only an inferior civil station, with a few native troops. It is, however, a very great town, as large, I should think, as Patna, with many handsome native bouses, and a vast number of mosques and temples, numer- ous and el^^ant bungalows in its oatslcirts ; tod on the opposite side of tiie river, a great number of boats of all kinds, moored at its ghftts, and is com- puted to contain between two and three hundred thousand people. ' This is indeed a most rich and striking land. Here, in the space of little more than two hundred miles, along the same river, I have passed six towns, ■ Lire of BUhgp Heber, voL iL p. It, * Ibid. p. 114. ,., Google BBNBTIT OF BRITISH aoBB of them leas populons than Che«t«r, — two (Fatna and Mirz^wor), more so than Birmingham ; and one, Beaavea, more peopled than any city in Europe, except London or Tarie. And this, beaides vill^ieB innomerable. I observed to Mr. Come, that 1 had expected to find agriculture in Hindoetan in a floimsluBg state, but the great cities mined in con- sequence of the rain of the MuBsulman nobles. He answered, that certainly very many ancient ftunilies had gone to decay, but be did not think the gap bad been ever perceptible in bis time, in this part of India, since it had been Med up by a new order rising from the middling claBses, whose wealth had, daring his recollection, increased very greatly. Far indeed from those cities which we had alreadr pasaed decaying, most of them had much increased in the number of their faonses ; and in what is a snre sign of wealth in India, the number and neatness of their ghftts and temples since he was laat here. No- thing, be said, was plainer, Co him, from the multi- tude of litde improvemente of this kind, of small temples and bungalows, partly in the European style, bat obyioufily inhabited by natives, than that wealth was becoming more abundant among the middling ranks, and that such of them as ore rich, are not afraid of appearing so. The great cities in the Doab, be said, ware indeed scenes of desolation. The whole coun- try round Delhi and Agra, when he £rst saw it, was filled with the marbled mins of nnllas, mosques and palaces, with the fragments of tanks and canals, and the vestiges of inclosures. Bat this ruin bad occurred before the British arms had extended thus lar, aad 340 BENGAL, ItAORAS, AND BOUDAI. while the country was under the tyranny and nerer- ending invasiona of the Persians, Affghans andMah- rattaa. Even here a great improvement had taken place before he left Agra, and he hoped to find a much greater on bis return. He apprehended diat on the whole, all India had gained under British rule, except, perhaps, Dacca and its neighbourhood, where the manufoctures had been nearly mined'.' In another place the lamented Heber says — ' One of the strongest proofc that I have met with of the satisfoction of the Hindoos with their rulers, was the mutual felicitations which the archdeacon overheard between two villagers near Cawnpore, and which was not intended for his ear. ' A good rain this for the bread ' said one of the villagers to ano- ther ; ' Yes,' was the answer, ' and a good government under which a maa may eat his bread in safety.' But Bishop Heber is not the only testimony on which the shadows of partiality cannot be cast : Major General Sir Lionel Smith, K.C.B., an old king's officer, who visited various parts of India, resided there a great number of years, and describes himself as very partial to the natives, says — ' I should say the condition of the people had been highly ameliorated by the government since the conquest.' (5532,)' — ' Do not you think the people are better protected, and that they pay leas than umier the native government? A. Yes; the government in several bad years made remissions to them in the amount of the taxes.' (5508.) ,., Google lUPROVBMBNT IN CULTIVATION. 341 Mr. RobertBon, in his interesting remarks on the civil government of India, thus alludes to the con- dition of the people, and the crdtivation of the country — ' I have never served in the Beaares province, hot of Behar I can speak with confidence as being cul- tivated to an exteat that, in many places, hardly leaves room for carriage roads. The people do not generally bear any marks of poverty. ' I have, as magistrate of Patna, often been sur- prised at the readiness with which fines of twenty or thirty rupees, commutable into only one month's imprisonment, have been paid by common villagers ; and my own belief is, that the lalHniring peasantry of that province are, with reference to the climate and their wants, fully aa well off as the peasantry of England, certainly beyond all comparison, in a better condition than the same class in Ireland, and in many parts of Scotland.' Mr. Harris, an extensive indigo planter, in speak- ing of the condition of the peasantry during the y^ars when they fell mider his observation, from 1808 to 1822, says, — ' Their condition was greatly improved latterly, from the time I first went there, to the time I came away ; their houses were better, and their condition greatly improved '.' 'The whole country (the district of Tipperah) is cultivated like a garden, there is not a spot of ground where they could feed a bollock, scarcely'.' W. Malcolm Fleming, an Indian judge, was ' Lords, 428a " Lords, 4279. D^„_,j., Google 84'2 BKNOAL, HASfBA*, AN9 BOHBAT. asked' ; — 'Did the country imi»we dnriDg the time you were acquainted with it? — Very much. Both in population and in wealth ? — Yea. Did it appear to you that there was more agricultural capital in the counby when you left it than when you went to it? — Yes ; certainly, much more. Was there more ap* plied to the cultivation of land ? — Yee. Was tliere more applied to mann&ctures or trade? — I do not think that there was ; but there was a great deal more land brought into cultivation. Did the people appear to you more comfortable than when you ii«t knew it ? — Mueh more ao* Mr. Christian described the whole conntty to be improved, and, with reference to the Upper IVovincMi particularly stated, that ' cultivation has extended very considerably*.' Mr. R. D. Maoglee, says : — ' The incomes of the proprietors of land in the Lower Provinees, taken on the average, are eqnal to the government reveaoe; all agricultural produce has lieen v«y consida«Uy, and the extension of caltivation is very great*.' Mr. SolUvan deacribea the ' pvogresa of popalatioo, increase at stock, improv«neata in agriculture, and the creation of ci4)ital empkiyed in dtferent woi^ ki Coimbatoor*.' Mr. Rickards admits the ' efibrts of tii£ goverameat for the enconragement of agriculture *.' , Mr. Forteacne describes the ' population of Ae Delhi territory as rapidly increasing';' and; in aao- > Lords, lUI. * lb. M5. ' [b. 09. ..,_.,„Gooslc RBSTOR^ION O* DI3SKT>D VILLAflBS. 343 ther place, thus depicts the blesMngB which have resulted firom the occupation of the cuuatry by Great Britain. 'Did the people.appear to be setiefied with the administration of justice ? — I do think they were patticahirly ao. Has the revenue increased in that country of late yean), eiace we first got poseession of it! — Extremely; almost beyond calculation. And the popolation ? — Yes ; and the popolfttion also. When we took possession there were about 600 de- serted villages; when 1 came away, there were about 400 of them that had been re>peopled again, chiefly by the descendants of those who had a proprietary right in those villages, and this in consequence of our administration '.' While on the subject of deserted villogeH, I cannot help directing the reader's attention to an Appendix in the late Sir John Malcolm's Central India, in which will be found detailed accounts of the villages re- stored, or rather recovered from the tigers and wild animals, who were their sole inmates. The total of khalsa, or goTemment villages re-peopled in Holkar's country, were: — In 1818, 269; 1819,343; 1820, 508 : leaving of villages nninhahited, bnt since peo- pled, 543. In Dhar, the restoration of villages were:— In 1818, 28; 1819, 68; 1820, 63: leaving then unin- habited, 217. InDewas, villages restoredt—In 1818, 35; 1819, 106 : leaving then uninhabited, 141. In the Bhopal, the reatorationa were: — In 1817, ' March 1890, Lords. ,jj,Googlc 344 BBKOAL, UASBAS, AND BOUBAT. 965; 1818,302; 1819,249; 1820,267: leaving untenanted, 813. In many places not only were hundreds of villages left roofless, but the wretched inhabitants, when re- turning to them on the eatabtisbment of our sway, were devoured by the numeroaa tigers that overran the country. Captain Ambrose despatched to his superior authority in 1818, a list of the people killed by these ferocious animals in one district within the year, amounting to eighty-six ! The names of the individuals and the vUlages they belonged to, were stated in the return ; Sir John Malcom says, an in- telligent native gave the number of men killed b; the tigers, in 1818, at 150; in consequence of the exertions of government, much fewer lost their lives in 1819, and in 1820 scarcely any. In several other parts of India also, oa the restoration of tranquillity, the tigers disputed with the returning peasantry for the possession of the villages. Such is the country which within tea or twelve years, has been reclaimed from the lair of wild beasts, and repeopled by men. The following is a very brief abstract of sojne of the roads and bridges constructed in India since the last renewal of the E. I, Company's Charter; the official document from which it is taken extends to tea times the length of the present statement : BsNOAi., 1812 — road from Calcutta to Joggur- nanth, upwards of 300 miles in length, with branches to the principal towns near which it passes. 1813 — canal, between Ganges and Bugnittee rivers- 1814 — military road from Calcutta to Benares. 500 miles, restored to its original width, repaired. PUBLIC WORKS LN INDIA. $45 bridges erected, &c. ; pucka road from Allahabad to Burdwan, 450 miles. 1815 — erectioD of lighthousei at difierent places ; building' a bridge at Meerut ; cutting a road 12 feet wide for beasts of burthen from Bamouree to Almo- rah, and cutting bridges. 1816— rebuilding the hoosea of the Botanical Gar- den i establishment of a native hospital at Fatna ; erection of a lighthouse at Kedgeree. 1817 — repair of an ancient aqueduct in the Deyra Doon; restoration of the Delhi canal; ditto in Go- ruckpore ; construction of a new road at Moochacol- lah; erection of telegraphs between Calcntta and Nagpore, 733 miles ; construction of a road from Ttmdah to Bumouree ; completion of the new road from Patna to Gyah. 1818— eight bridges built for the entrances on the land side of the city of Delhi ; a new road from Put- tah Ghaut to Hurripaul; ditto between Patna and Shehargotty. 1819— Construction of a chapel at Benares ; ex- tension as ^ B£ Ruderpore of the road constmcted from Bumouree to Tondah in Kumaoon, for tlie pur- pose of opting a communication between the Plaine and Almorah ; repairing the bridge over the Rum- gunga, and constructing a new bridge over the Soor- joo rivers in Kumaoon. 1820 — formation of a botanical garden at Saha- ronpore ; road from the Barracpore to opposite Bud> dee Pantee. 1821 — roads from Agra to Mhow via Lackheree and Moknndlah; Mhow to Delhi, by Neemutch and 346 BEN 0*1., MASBAS, AND BOVBAT. Nuaeeerftbad; Asaeei^bur to Hussingibad, titen to Mhow via MuudlBsir, and to Nagpore via Berhuo- pore and EUichpoor ; Cawnpore to Sangor thningh Bondlecnnd, and th«oce to Nagpore by two roats, viz. 1^ Jubbulpore and by Hussiitgabad ; Calcutta to Nagpore, through the Singboom country. 1822 — canal to unite the Hoogbly with the Gan- ges, through the ealt-water Lake ; Borrey and im- provement of the port of Cntlacki a line of tele- graphs from Fort William to ChTmar; road from Chilkeah to Howel Baugb in Kumaocu, for &cilitat- iog the commerce between Tartary and the PluDB. 1823 — a canal to unite the Damrah and Chnna- tnnnnee ; re-opcning of Feroze Sbah's caoal in Delhi, completed ; restoration of Zabita Khan's canal in the Upper Dooab ; the conree of all Murdher's canal, drawn into Delhi ; erection of a splendid new mint in Calcutta, in progress. 1824 — road between Nagpore and Ryepore ; erec- tion of a chapel at Dnm Dnm. another at Memit, two churches at Cawnpore, a church at Dacca, an additional church at Calcutta, and a church at Bnrd- wan ; a new road from Mirzapore to Snngor, Jab- bnlpcwe; Nagpore, and Omrawatty to Bbopalpore, Mhow, &c. 1825 — establishment of a botanical garden at ^>- gapore ; erection of bungalows and seraies for tra- vellere in the military road from Calcutta to Benares ; road from Cuttack to Padamoondy or AHra. 1826— -a new dawk road between Calcutta tmdtbe new anchorage. 1827 — four Sbakesperian bridges. PBBLIC W0KK8 IN INDIA. 347 1818 — ^remtmng rodu in the Jumna; nine iron cknin bridges over the rivere in Knmaoon. 1829 — roads in the districtB of Joanaai uidBhowBT; a road frtHn Bidasore to the eea beach. 1830— a new road irom Cattack to Ganjam ; Jynta road ditto ; via Hooghly and Burdwan to Ban- coorah ; staging bnngalows and seraies at Go- peegnnge, Allahabad, &c. &c. ; seven telegraphic towers on the semaphore principle from Kedgeree to Calcatta. 1831— assistu^ the " Strand Road" at Calcutta. Madras, 1815 — new street on the beach; St. George's church ; bridge over the Mambaroota river. 1816 — bridge over the Paramboor, and a new road between the Black Town and the N. W. approaches to Madras. 1617 — formation of wells; chapel at Arcot, and one at Foonamalee. 1818 — atone bridge across the Madras river; a new observatory. 1819 — a road in the Neilgiierry Hills ; repairs to the bridges across the Caaver)-. 1820 — rebuilding of the l^bthonse at Madias. 1821 — ^building a church for the Missionary So- ciety ; erection of a chapd at St. Thomas's Mount, and of a cbttrcb at Vepery ; a stone bulwark at Fort St. George against the inroads of the sea. 1822^ — erection of bridges at the island of Samoo- dra, in Coimbatoor; Scotch Chnrch (St. Andrew's.) 1 823 — a new cut ftjr the Votary nullah ; a new bridge, &c. 1 824 — a canal at Chumnapore ; a cburcb at TeQi- 348 BBNOAL, UADKAS, AND BOMB AT. cbeny ; great road from Seciuidersbad to Masnlipa- tam ; great road from Madras throug'h the Northern Chttars, to the Bengfd frontier. 1825 — a tunnel from Fort St. George to the sea. 1826 — sereral bridges and roads mvarions placea. 1827 — ditto ditto, all mentioned in the retorns. 1828 — ditto ditto, the names may be seen in the official document. 1829 — military road throngfa Coorg, and other works. 1830 — a new cnt across the Kendalseroo river in NeUore, &c. &c. BauBAT, lS14-~newroadfromBancoote toMnnd- gaum ; repair of the docks, and the completion of the slope in the dock-yard ; a church at Sorat. 1815 — from Bandarah to Grorabunder. 1816 — a Scotch church ; a chapel at Colabba. 1817 — a tank at Bobur; cbapel at Tannah; new 1821 — aqueduct; the flats of Bombay drained; church in the north Concan. 1821 — chapel at Poonah ; tank in Salsette. 1822 — new wharf at Bombay. 1824 — town ball nndertaken. 1825 — military road from south Mabratta country to coast ; oborch at Dapooree ; also cbmt;heB in the east zillab, north of the Myhee, and at Baroda, and a Roman Catholic cbapel at Colabba ; road from Nas- sick to Bhewndy, 1826 — improTemeat of Sion causeway ; bridge over the Moolla ; a new observatory, and a churdi at Mhow. PUBLIC WORKS IM INDIA. 849 1827 — improTement of the Bhore Ghaut ; a chnn^ at Eirkhee ; road from Malligaum to Sural. 1628 — bongalows at Malabar Point, and botanical garden at Dapooree. 1831 — eubscription for a chnrch at Bycnlla. The lines of road proposed, in 1831,byLordW.Ben- tinck, then to be constmcted or repaired, or which were in progress, were — 1 st, the main road from Calcutta to Delhi, extending 908 miles (passing through Benares, Allahabad, Cawnpore, and Coel) ; 3nd, the completion of the road from Mirzapore to Jubbulpore (opening a commnnication with central India), 239 miles ; 3rd, the completion of the Cuttack road (the line between Calcutta and Madras Presidency), 248 miles; 4th, the Calcutta and Moorshedabad road, 107 miles; 5th, the Patna branch road, 83 miles ; and, 6th, a road from Calcutta to Dacca (opening a communication with the east frontier), 199 miles ; — total 1,784 miles. The number of prisoners at work on these roada in January, 1834, was 10,000. It is proposed also to open a road of 450 miles from Mirzapore on the Ganges, through Jubbulpore towards Bombay, as far as Amroutee, the great cotton mart of central India. Cross roads are forming in different directions. Various other works, since undertaken or com- pleted, not included in the foregoing return. The introduction of steam navigation on all the large rivers of India would he a boon of incalculable benefit to England and to India. A Company has been pro- jected for this purpose by an able and public spirited gentleman, Mr. Howel. Enough has been said to shew the present state of India; a few words as to its condition under the ..„_..„Gooslc 350 BENGAL, UADRia, AND BOltBAT. native princes may cot be amise, althoi^h the feaifol detafls at the concInHinn of the Bizth chapter, vol. i., anfficiently illustrate the nnfortunate aituation of its infaabitanta. Colonel Briggs thus describes the state of Candeuh : — ' Was it in a very unsettled state when yon went there ? — It was in a very onscttled state, md bad been bo fcyr the last thirty years previous to oar taking possession of the conntry. It had been ovennn by bands of freebooters ; I believe there were at diferent times about SO distinct bodies, which had been in the habit of ravaging die country ; this was the caoBe of its being very much depopulated. I tiiink 1100 out of. I believe, 2700 villages, for I merely speak from recollectiou, were rendered deso- late altogether, and those which remained were open to tiie pillages of a race of people denominated Bheels. Tbeae people are supposed by some to be the abo- rigines of the country, but they have been for a long period attached to villages as guardians or watchnten, with certain immonities in land and fees from the people themselves. The consequence of those ravages derived the inhabitants of the means of enppOTting the Kieels, who went into the hills, and were in the habit of attaching the villages'.' Of the Nagporc territorjes Mr. Jenkins thus speaks ; — ' I had scarcely arrived at Nagpoor, in 1807, before I saw the whole coontry in a blaze, and almost every village burning within a few miles of the city of Nagpoor, and this going on from year to year'!' Mr. Jenkins stated that the people were very w^ > Lordi, 4«1& ' Ibid. 3I»7. TALcB or Hoi»Hr. 361 aatiflfled with the adminiBtration of justice while we had the country ; their lordships then iaquired : — ' From your own observation, when yon went there, had you reason to believe that the people were satisfied with the native government f — Far from it, for they had little protection from foreign invasion. The Findarees were constantly ravaging the conntry, and the rajah's troops, if they were sent to suppress them, plundered them, and the zemindars plundered the ryota in the districts immediately near them'.' Mr. Jenkins- states, that during the eight or nine years that Nagpoor was under the contronl of the Company, twelve or fourteen additional banking- houses were established, the agricultural class to every appearance possessed more wealth, the expenditure of the rajah was reduced, and an annual surjdue of near five lacs of rupees created. I mi^ht fill pages upon pages with testimony equally as conclusive as that of Colonel Briggs and Mr. Jenkins ; I therefore pass on to notice an asser- tion, ' that the value of money in India has not un- dergone a visible change, and that as the money prices of grain and other commodities, and the wages of labour, have undergone no change since the esta- blishment of the British Government in India, we may conclude that the value of money has, through- oat this period, been equally steady'.' The following table has been prepared by the late statistical reporter at Bombay, Colonel Sykes, and laid before the parliamentary committee : — 1 Lord*, 2307. * lUcksTd'a India, voL i. p. 6S8. ..,_..„Gooslc 362 BBNOAL, UAS&AS, AND BOMB AT. Comparison oF the nages of artificers and oilier public semott under the Feishna'B and British Governmenu in the Duk- hein, in 1828 and 1814. "SVSL" Pelrtmllaiail. MmlM; Wagii. MontblJ Wages. Ef '"T": 15 " 10 ■nent, one m»n atlendtid «n luro lionet, Comn^^lo 1!!!! ^.2S!. — — File nun ~ „ HeidlothnwoikBr TiUm _ _ „ Chief of doolyb«Bren — Hfflid ofpidiiieeu b^i •UiiaHtl»Pei.h«',p,v«7i The price of grain, putae, and other articles under the respec- R|'*(j^^^y-P«n.pee. °-S',f.Ma'" PeiihwB-1 In 1S14. i SseTi. This table confirms the statementB of the serer&l authorities quoted as to the improved condition of the country ; for if the ptice of food be augmented in the Dukhein (or Deckhan) and the rate uf wagee be ..,_..„Gooslc HIBB or WAG8B IN BENOAL. 353 simultaneously increased, there can be no stronger proof of prosperity, not only in that part of India referred to, bnt also in those parts which have been longer under the government of the East India Com- pany. Colonel Galloway, adverting to the ' increase of cultivation, and the high price the husbandman now receives for the produce of his labour,' (Law and Constitution of India, p. 198) says, ' I have in many parts of the ceded and conquered provinces seen grain selling at 25 seers ' per rupee, where we were credibly informed by the natives that 120 seers were often, even generally, procurable for that sum.' As regards Bengal, I made particular inquiry in 1830 on the subject; and the authority from whom I received the following etatements, is Dwarkanaut Tagore. than whom no man in Bengal is better qualified to make them. The increase of wealth, throughout Bengal ', has been most rapid, notwith- standing the disadvantages nnder which tbe agricul- turists labour, by tbe English markets being shut .against their raw and manufactured produce, and tbe great number of artizans thrown out of employment by the introdaction of piece goods, &c. from England ; land purchased at Calcutta 30 years ago for 15 rupees, is now worth, and would readily sdl for 300. Ten years ago a labourer in Calcutta received two rupees per month, now he Is not satisfied with leas than four or five rupees per month', and there is ■ A seer is 2tbs. ' Land is now north 67 years' purchase of the revenue. ' Mr. Co1ebroakesays,ia 1804, in his Husbandry of Bengal, SS4 BflNOAL, KA.IUUB, AND SOIUAT. eren a .eovcity of workmen ; twelve field lajtxniiKn were formerly to be had for lees than one rapee a day, now half liiat uomber could not be had at- that rate of wages. A cabinet-maker ' was glad to obUm eight rupees a montli for the ex^'ciee of his akiU, now he readily obtains 16 or 20 rupees for the same period. 1 need not go through, the other classes df handicraftsmen, or labourera, all have risen in a Jikb proportion ; and as to the price of food, it is suffix cient to state one article as a criterion — rice, the staff of life in Bengal, was wont to he sold at eight annas (half a rupee) per maund (821bs.) ; its price has increased four-fold, being now averaged at two rupees per mauod. It is an indicatioa of a rising country, when the wages of labour are on tbs in< crease, and the prices of all commodities. The most laiserable districts of India, are those where sheUt are the aol& coins, and the price of grain almoat nominal. In fine, a new order of society has sprung into existence that was before unknown, the coontry being heretofore divided between the few nobles, in whose hands the wealth of the land was concentrated, and the bulk of the people, who were in a state of ' that a cultivator enCertains a labourer for every plough, and pay* him nagea, on an average, one rupee per mensem, and in aotae dialricts, not half a rupee per menaem ;' thit wa* at ■ period when not one third of the land of a zemindarr wai cul- tivated, whereas now there U trequendy not an acre on an estate untilted. ' The wages of a Hindoo carpenter at Calcutta may be elti- mated at 6^., of a Chinese at 2s., and ol the lowest Euti^ain, Si .per day. ..,_..„Gooslc HiDDBB OLAsa or eooisn AHiBit^o. 856 a^eot poverty ; from the latter'have id^sen a middle rank, vhicli will form the connecting link between the government and the maee of the nation. T^e advantages to be derived frmn this change are ifical- onlttble ; — whenever snch an order ha»e been created, freedoni and prosperity have followed in their train. Do we need example i >Look at England after tiic Norman conqueet, when the people were terfe, and the feudal barons were the very connterparte of the India zemindars ; hut watch the progress of society up to the eighth Henry, when wealth became more equally difiiised ; and continue the view to the present day, when the power of the middle ranks has become so paramtmnt, by reason of the mass of wealth and intelligence concentrated in their ranks. The country of the foaming Guadalqniver is a melancholy illustration of a nation possessing but two ranks of society, where the most be^arly A«- tanan. who can support a bare existence vrithont mental or bodily labour, claims the rank of an Hida^ic, and strongly reminds one of the lazy proud ' Snwars,' so admirably delineated by Bishop Heber, in his highly interesting work. Look at Hungary and other places, where the peasantry are sold with the soil ; in fact, in every country where there have been oaly two extremes of society, mental and bodily despotism have sapervened. The East India Com-i pany's govemment have broken through that ciu-se, — they have annihilated a feudalism which has ever marked an age of barbarism. It is true, that society has been levelled ; that the slavish dependence of the low, upon the high caste, has been severed ; an^ 2a2 356 BBMOAL, MADRAS, AMD BOHSAT. QiillionB of human beings are now, for the first time, learning to know their own north, to be conscions that, by industry, talent, and integrity, they may elevate themselves to the foremost rank of society ; and ' redeemed, r^enerated, aad disenthralled,' the meanest Indian peasant may hurl defiance at any petty tyrant, who, from the insolence of office, alleged hereditary rights, or domineering Brahminical priest- hood, may still foolishly think to retain longer in subjection a submissive people, who had, alas ! too long Hcked the dnst of the earth. In the language of Bishop Heber to the supreme Government, in 1825 — ' It is my earnest prayer to that good Providence, who has already made the mild and just, and stable government of British functionaries productive of so much advantage to Hidoostan, that be would preserve and prosper an influence which has been hitherto ao veil employed; that he would eventually make our nation the dis- penser of still greater blessings to our Asiatic bre- thren ; and in his own good time, and by such gentle and peaceable means as only are well pleasing in his sight, unite to tis in community of feith, of morals, of science, and political inatitotions, the brave, the mild, the civilized, and highly intelligent race, who only in the above respects can be said to fall short of Britons.' CBiii5dJ.Googlc APPENDIX. Rmk. 1 1 1 .. d. s J ** 1 ^ :aiis=\=::::"~.— -z; MTsta gf AitUleiT »....».... _ ThefoUomng Scale of Penaioti* forNon-commiBaionedOffioeti and Private Soldien was establisbed b; the Court's Resolu- tion of the 14lh of April, IfllS, cummunicsted to Govern- ment of Bengal In the Court's Despatcb, dated 2l9tJuly, 1819, and published in Geneial Orders, dated Sth February, 1830. All leijeants having actually served 21 years, whereof the Uit eight yean in the capacity of setjeants, to be allowed 1«. a day, o»et and above the pension derivable ftom Lord Clive'i Fund. All Beijeants having served 14 years, and discharged on ac- count of debilitated conatituliuns, to be allowed li. a day. All corporals aJid privates diRchar^d at their own request, after 21 yean' serrice, to be alloned It. a day. All coqioral* and privates discharged as unfit an account of btokeo constilulions, having served 14 years, to be allowed ad. a day. If wounded and totally unable to contribute to earn aliveli- hood, after 21 years' service, to be allowed U. IIM. If wounded, but able to contribute to earn a livelihood, after SI years' service, to be allowed Is. 4d. a day. If wounded and unable in contribute to earn a livelihood, after 14 years' service, to be allowed Is. Bd. a day. Itwounded, but able to contribute to earn a livelihood, after 14 years' service, to be alloned li, a day. Ifrendered (otslly unsble to earn a livelihood from wounds, under 14 years' service, to be allowed 1i. 3d. a day. If wounded, but able la contribute to earn a livelihood, under 14 years' service, lo be allowed 9d, a day. No soldier is entitled to the benefit of the Regulations under 21 years' service, unless his discharge contain a recotuineDdB- tion for pension from the Oovemment under which he may have served. A. Bryce, Paym. Military Fund. Military Fund-OfBce, East India House, 28th February, 1832. CBiii5dJ.Googlc ANGLO INDIAN ARMY. Ratei of Furlough Pa^ in 1813, and 1833. SoperlntdndlDf SurgaMi..., Sumon , HuMtimt BnigMm LteDdnwil-cakiiMl D Bengal, dated !Mh CBiii5dj.GoOglc Officers of the E. I. Campui;'i Armj in receipt of paji on Purlougli in England, with the Amount of Chaigei, in eich Year niice Um Futlongh ReKuIatirai in 1796, to the prraent No. Charge. t 17M 81 I5S41 1797 107 20537 179B 115 33860 1799 93 21502 1800 90 26183 IBOl 100 27402 1803 116 33447 1803 1S7 42167 1804 177 43104 1806 171 62866 1806 238 68019 1807 209 63904 1808 276 66326 1800 253 62124 1810 329 61869 1811 213 60558 1813 227 82781 1813 237 66801 1814 364 66464 1816 227 64916 1816 234 61200 lfl!7 2«9 66089 1818 895 67085 1819 299 76989 1820 206 83364 1831 30t 86205 Iffffl 340 93268 1823 360 01022 1834 361 06104 1825 386 10694 1826 417 39312 1887 430 35300 1828 492 160300 ]»2» S32 164703 1830 698 178000 1831 S39 179041 ,., Google g 1 , „,,, i 8- 1 1 inn 1 P S s' § 1 Si 1 1 1 "3 i Si 1 = 1 1 J!5aSa , -5 -1 1 1 1 ' . f 1 ft ft*Hi 8 1, iiliilnii II 1 ' i. SIS MiiJ:; s| s| 1,1 ii Jhi, f 1 y a^s a| s'i"^ 1 ill II M Mvfi iS 1 Jii. i; • D^„_,j., Google EurapOQ ConumwioQed Officers in recdpl of tha full ana balT-pny, wilh die amount of charge in eacti year, frDm^tfafr comiaenceinent of the retiring regulatioD, in I7M. to tlA preient time, specilying' the proportion per hundred <^ Retired Officer*. 'si 2 «|- ire7 '4 Clisige. a ertB M0« 0-M m w «W ' Ml aost !S toi 7B SO) M s« ssrs a^sT . MJ tM «a?i «M aw? CBS 3W7 MS tBB 7eMi S»l «ss is! «»74 81«63 S9SS 4064 41» B-» " ISI Min SMS mo Jl gaita s 7-W ■ im Ml 84M4 two rS sssoo sa IBM MOM SMB S-M 471 MOSS ISM im »or lOOMl 4S>3 10-4» IBM HO IIWOS 4Mi u-n CBiii5dJ.Googlc i "ilii 1 i ii -llii i II -lili i i '4 HI If ii il "ill! i Ii -llii 1 ii -iili 1 i M'4 fcisll «! "lili 1 il iiil i 11 "illi 1 ills ..Google !l^ AmNDIX. The Court a]>o advanced the Bepgal CivS Fu^d 10,00(U. is Jone, 1828, which was repud with in- terest on the 16th of November, 18S9: Drafts from India on the Conrt in fevow of the Bengal Civil Fund in the following yeare, at is. Itf. per sicca rnpee, and twelve months after date. Paid.. .1626-36 16:I1S 1836-27 tOOOO 1827-38 10000 183e<39 12000 SlaMment, exhibiting the Aid rendered bj the Campanjr, directljr and indirect]}), tonardi the lupport of (be ■evanl Fundi of British iDdis. ■S'ri.. Mreot higtiRus of El- Hi' TMH. S 1677 !1S7 £ 8174 4701 J70 ■«;» "IWM >'^ ksS""'"" Tola] p« Annum ..,jB ,.« .«. .«.. ™, ,., Google Officer*, Soldiers, and Widows in receipt of Pensions ffom ''LoAl CKve^g Fundi'nith the aggregate Amount of 'charge. ^ Offioere. gfMlen. Widowi. AHEWpiU. i8ig'. it 409 1" Id! il 4M 1« 55 2*3 Si SM jjtmo IBM IMO) M 396 sseso Hone; applied to the Educating of the Na^ves of India Irom 1S23 CO the latest period which can be made out [India : Houae Return, J. C. Melville] DlKI. Beng^. M^. Bombsr. TotiL ... ■■j;| Bl« m S;8 Ma S3M mi 1S70 fiSSl IM? no 490 'i04 J9M ;S 480 480 1484 »gj. IMT lw7 iIm ISMS wSIs IS !g7« ■?s s Annatom. D^„_,j., Google t I I ■i 3 1 ,iiiiiiiiiiiii 1 ! «Siiiiiiiiiii| 1 ^1. 11 ■ i •iS6|l|i!|ll5|l 8 s «sEii|=sS55Sp 1 1 2 1 1 ■3 1 • SS£Sie£SSS3SSC 1 = SH££ = SES3:SE3 ! 11 .iiiiillHiiii 1 1 iiiiii I "1 "liiiililPiii 5 ^! i L E L ; E ; i ; ■ i ; i ^ iiiiiiiiiiiii l D^iii^jj-Googic CBiii5dJ.Googlc Bdj,Googlc GoAgIc CBiii5dJ.Googlc