boat was clear of the pinnace. Notwithstanding which, Ensign Soady went below, brought up a pistol and fired it at the boat (though the evidence in his favour said, that he lowered the muzzle, and only meant to frighten a black fellow); the consequence of which was, that Joy Sing immediately dropt out of the boat, and · never again rose.'

This does, undoubtedly, appear to be one of the most unprotoked instances of wanton and aggravated barbarity that can be conceived, and, unless in a country where the sense of justice is deadened and well-nigh lost, by the frequency of its violation, must have excited general indignation and horror. Let us next attend to the declarations of the judge.

The Chief Justice, Sir William Burroughs, made a very proper charge to the Jury, observing, You have again and again heard in this court, both from counsel and from judges, the loudest com- · plaints and reprehensions of that wanton and cruel abuse of power towards the natives of this country, of which we have lately had so many fatal examples, not only in common soldiers, and among the lower order of Europeans, but in men far their superiors."

Of these "complaints, of the wanton and cruel abuse of power toward the native inhabitants," we hear nothing in the writings of our Eruces, aad of cur Scot Warings, in the panegyrists of the Honourable Company, and the accusers of the missionaries. But let us hear what the Chief Justice sub

joins,

Within the short space of two years, no less, I think, than seven or eight gentlemen, in the civil and military service of the company, have been tried, like common felons, in that dock, for taking away 'the lives of natives.".

And when we see the cases, which by some rather extraordinary circumstances find their way into the courts of justice, what shall we say of those infinitely more numerous cases, which, we may be sure, in a country situated with regard to the means of justice as india is, are never heard of in a court at all; where the sufferers are too poor, or too distant, or too dependent to complain; where, as is generally the case, information and complaint may be threatened or bought off; where, unless in cases of extraordinary notoriety, the means of huddling up crimes of almost any atrocity are to the hand of power so perfectly easy.

C

The judge proceeds to notice a circumstance still more extraordinary a circumstance which really appears to prove, that (as between themselves and the natives,) the sense of justice, if not absolutely dead, is exceedingly weakened in the breasts of Englishmen.

It has been often observed (he says) that the juries in this country lean more towards the prisoner than they ought to do, in all cases 5.wherein an Europead is brought to trial for violence committed

against a native inhabitant. And an example has been frequently called for, to check the frequency of enormities, so cruel to them, * and so disgraceful to ourselves.'

This is exactly the atrocious circumstance which we are told exists in the West Indies, between the unhappy slaves and their masters. All Englishmen are tried by juries of Englishmen; and from the leaning of which Chief Justice Burroughs asserts the existence in India, it generally happens, that the crimes of masters towards their slaves are assured of impunity. All Englishmen are in the East Indies tried, in like manner, by juries of Englishmen, for all crimes committed against the natives; and if this leaning exists in an equal degree, or in a degree nearly equal, injustice toward the natives is in a great measure exempt from punishment. From what is stated by the judge, that an example has frequently been called for," it would appear, that no example has been given, of that punishment, which would" check the frequency of enormities, so cruel to the natives, and so disgraceful to the English." It is at any rate not disguised, but affirmed, that, under this leaning, the chance of impunity to all crimes committed against the natives is so great, that the administration of justice is not a check to

enormities.

To finish this account, we shall only state, that the jury in this case, in place of a verdict of murder, (which, we think, few will doubt would have been, in England, ensured by any similar atrocity) brought in a verdict merely of mun-slaughter, on the allegation, it would appear, that the perpetrator of the offence only meant to" frighten the black fellow." We cannot help taking notice of this phrase. It involves in it much of the matter of proof. To fire a pistol " to frighten a black fellow,” is spoken of, as one would speak in England of frightening a dog. It marks the deep degradation in which the natives are held. In a country in which a pistol, fired deliberately into a boat among a number of people, one of whom it kills, shall be held not to be murder, when it is alledged to be fired only to frighten a black fellow, the chance of the "black fellows" for justice must be wretched indeed. Suppose that the black fellow had fired a pistol into the pinnace among the Englishmen, and shot Ensign Soady. We vehemently suspect that the insolent pretence, that he had only meant to "frighten the white fellow,' would rather have been held to be an aggravation of his fault.

C

The fact is, that when the barbarities of wantonness are secure of absolute or comparative impunity, upon any frivolous pretence, the state of the people who are subject to these barbarities is worse, than if the indulgence were given to the murders

of avarice or revenge: because the occasions for murders of avarice and revenge occur but rarely, while those for murders and other atrocities of wantonness occur at every hour.

We shall here collect together a few of the circumstances mentioned by Mrs. Graham, which appear to characterise the condition of the great body of the people in India.

• The lower classes content themselves with small huts, mostly of • clay, and roofed with cadjan, a mat made of the leaves of the palmyra, a cocoa-nut tree, plaited together. Some of these huts are so small, that they only admit of a man's sitting upright in them, and barely shelter his feet when he lies down.?

༦

My expectations of Hindu innocence and virtue are just giving way, and I fear that, even among the Pariahs, I shall not find any thing like St. Pierre's Chaumière Indienne. In fact, the Pariahs are outcasts so despicable, that a Brahmin not only would refuse to instruct them, but would think himself contaminated by praying for them. These poor creatures are employed in the lowest and most disgusting offices; they are not permitted to live in any town or village, or to draw water from the same well. It is therefore not to be wondered at, that their minds are degraded in proportion to their personal situation. They are filthy in all their habits, and do not scruple to use as food any dead animal they find; it is even said that, in some places, they do not reject human bodies. Thevenot says, that, when he was in India (A. D. 1665), human flesh was publicly sold in the market at Debca, about forty leagues from Baroche.'

These people, if they have the virtues of slaves, patience, meekness, forbearance, and gentleness-have their vices also. They are cunning, and incapable of truth; they disregard the imputations of lying and perjury: and would consider it folly not to practise them for their own interests. But

-where

Easily canst thou find one miserable,

And not inforced oft times to part from truth,
If it may stand him more in stead to lie,

Say, and unsay, fawn, flatter, or abjure.'

Closing her account of her visit to the god and temples of Chimchore, Mrs. Graham says, I returned to our tents, filled with reflections not very favourable to the dignity of human nature, after witnessing such a dégrading instance of superstitious folly. If I could be assured that the communication with Europe would, in ever so remote a period free the natives of India from their moral and religious degradation, I could even be almost reconciled to the methods by which the Europeans have acquired possession of the country.'

There is something in the scenery of this place [the banks of the Ganges below Calcutta] that reminds me of the beauty of the banks of the Thames; the same verdure, the same rich foliage, the same majestic body of water; here are even villas too along the

:

banks but the village and the cottage are wanting, whose inhabitants cannot suffer oppression unredressed, and to whom every employment is open of which their minds are capable, or their hearts ambitious enough to undertake. Perhaps there is something of pride in the pity I cannot help feeling for the lower Hindus, who seem so resigned to all that I call evils in life. Yet I feel degraded, when, seeing them half-clothed, half-fed, covered with loathsome disease, I ask how they came into this state, and what could amend it, and they answer, It is the custom. It belongs to their caste to bear this;-and they never attempt to overstep the boundaries which confine them to it.'

Mrs. Graham is very minute in describing the manners of the Europeans in India. On this subject she had ample means of information; as she associated freely with the trading colonists, both in the Company's service and out of it, at all the three Presidencies, Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. It is with justice too that she regards it as a point of primary importance. From the character which is impressed upon the English by their situation in India, something may be gathered respecting the manner in which they discharge their duties, both toward those who employ them, and toward the people who are under their sway.

With regard to the Europeans in Bombay, the manners of the inhabitants of a foreign colony are in general so well represented by those of a country town at home, that it is hopeless to attempt making a description of them very interesting. However, as it may be gratifying to know how little there is to satisfy curiosity, I shall endeavour to describe our colonists. On our arrival we dined with the Governor, and found almost all the English of the settlement invited to meet us..... ...I found our fair companions, like the ladies of all the country towns I know, under-bred, and over-dressed; and, with the exception of one or two, very ignorant, and very grossières. The men are, in general, what a Hindu would call of a higher caste than the women; and I generally find the merchants [i. e. the licensed traders, not the company's servants] the most rational companions. The civil servants to government, being, in Bombay, for the most part, young men, are so taken up with their own imaginary importance, that they disdain to learn, and have nothing to teach. Among the military, I have met with many well informed, and gentlemanlike persons; but still the great number of men, and the small number of rational companions, make a deplorable prospect to one who anticipates a long residence here."

Prodigious importance is bestowed upon rank and ceremony. The ladies are handed to table, according to the strictest ranks of precedency, by a gentleman of a rank corresponding to their own; and the different couples, who have been paired off, invariably sit together, on account of their rank, at every great dinner. The conversation is made up of two ingredients,

detraction and dress. Each couple (for there is no general conversation) amuse themselves at table with remarks on the company, as satirical as their wit will allow; and woe be to the stranger, whose ears are certain of being regaled with the catalogue of his supposed imperfections and misfortunes, and who has the chance of learning more of his own history than in all probability he ever knew before. After dinner the same topics continue to occupy the ladies, with the addition of lace, jewels, intrigues, and the latest fashions. The repast itself is as costly as possible.'

The ill manners and bad qualities of the civil servants of the company, in all parts of India, appear to have made a strong impression upon the mind of our author. Among the observations which fall from her at Madras, she says,

I often see natives of Pondicherry, French converts, going about with boxes of lace and artificial flowers, made chiefly by the ladies of the decayed French families in that settlement. There is something in the gaiety of the French character which communicates itself to all around. I have seen a black man from Pondicherry, handle a lace, a flower, a ribbon, with all the air of a fine gentleman, and in his rags shew more politeness and gallantry, than half our Madras civil servants are possessed of?

Besides the ill manners of the Madras civil servants, there is another thing here to be taken notice of, the existence of French converts among the natives. We are triumphantly told by the opponents of preaching in India, that the Indians cannot be converted, and that our missionaries spend their labours in vain, We here see that the French made converts, and that the number is so great as to form a sort of trade or caste. It is also well known that the Portuguese made converts in abundance. It is for the opponents of the English missions to shew what there is in the English form of Christianity, that renders it revolting, and prevents acceptance. The following is another stroke in the picture of English manners in India.

It is the fashion for all the gentlemen and ladies of Madras, to repair, in their gayest equipages, to the mount road, and after driv ing furiously along, they loiter round and round the Cenotaph for an hour, partly for exercise, and partly for the opportunity of flirting and displaying their fine clothes, after which they go home to meet again every day in the year. But the greatest lounge at Madras is during the visiting hours, from nine o'clock till eleven, when the young men go from house to house to retail the news, ask commissions to town for the ladies, bring a bauble that has been newly set, oř one which the lady has obliquely-hinted, at a shopping party the day before, she would willingly purchase, but that her husband does not like her to spend so much, and which she thus obtains from somə young man, one quarter of whose monthly salary is probably sacri ficed to his gallantry. When all the visitors who have any business