should be patronized, and their diligence excited to give to the world the stores of Hindoo literature, and to lay open the most extensive system of idolatry on earth, or, if it was important to the interests of science, that Europeans in situations of influence, scattered over the greater part of India, should be capable of exploring the hidden treasures of Hindoo learning, then the college was necessary.-If it was of the last consequence to the happiness of the natives, that the servants of the Company should be able to select with wisdom the vast multitude of inferior native officers spread over the country,—or, in short, if it was necessary to the happiness of the natives, or to the glory of Britain, that the authority of England should be preserved and perpetuated in the east, then the college of FortWilliam was necessary, and the most noble Marquis Wellesley deserves the thanks of every native, of every Briton, and of every man of learning in the world.

Still the author feels it his duty respectfully to suggest, for the consideration of the Supreme Government, while this subject is before him, an idea or two, connected, as he humbly conceives, with the further improvement of the country: he would recommend-that the whole body of Hindoo and Musŭlman law now in use, and the Regulations of Government, be laid before a select body of law officers, assisted by the oldest and the most enlightened of the Honourable Company's servants, and that these persons, corresponding with the most intelligent persons in every part of India, be directed to form a body of civil and criminal law suited to the present circumstances of our Indian empire; to be presented for revision to the great Law Officers of the Crown, and to the Parliament of England; -that this code of law, when ratified, be translated into the language of every district containing a court of justice, and two copies of it deposited in each court, for the use of the council both of the plaintiff and defendant; the Judge and first law officers to be also supplied with copies; and further, that every student be expected to read this code thrice over during his

stay in the college, and to attend regular lectures in which it shall be explained;-that the proceedings of every court of law be conducted in the language of the district in which each courthouse is situated; that every Judge understand, and every attorney plead in this language; that the proceedings be open to all, and that no cause be examined, nor any witnesses heard, in private, by the officers of the court, previously to the open trial in court, on pain of a very heavy fine; that there be formed at the Presidency, a College for the instruction of native law officers in the legitimate meaning of this code, and that no native attorney (after a certain period) be permitted to act in a court of justice without a certificate from this college;-that every instance of bribery, perjury, and extortion, connected with the administration of justice, or the execution of the laws, be punished in some mode most likely to counteract these crimes, so common at present, and so exceedingly destructive of the happiness of the subject ;-that no person be appointed to the office of a t'hanadar, or to any other office filled by natives, without a recommendation from ten of the most respectable inhabitants of the town or village where such officer is to be placed; that some mode be sought of interesting the inhabitants of towns in improving their roads, in removing nuisances, in watching over inferior officers of the police, in promoting different objects of benevolence, and especially charity-schools, which might be supported by an annual collection from the inhabitants themselves.

The principle so justly recognized by the Parliament of Great Britain, that it is the duty of the Government to improve the civil and moral condition of our Indian subjects, though this recognition was preceded by a long and painful delay, was hailed with joy by every philanthropist. It is impossible to discover any object worthy of individual existence, if the good of others be not included in that object: but how much more true is this of nations than of individuals.-The Marquis of Hastings, in his late most excellent address to the Students of

the College, very feelingly takes up the sentiment of the House of Commons, and urges with great force the policy, the necessity, and the divine obligation of raising to rational and happy life the subjects of this vast empire; and the author is happy to observe, that, under his Lordship's administration, experiments have been made to impart instruction to the rising generation in India in their own tongue, agreeably to the improved system of education for the poor, which, as a grand principle of moral health, promises to resemble in its blessings the tree of life, the very leaves of which are said to be "for the healing of the nations."

Many of those who have reflected on the miserably enslaved but delicate circumstances of our Hindoo and Mŭsŭlman fellowsubjects, have felt the greatest anxiety lest, by touching, in the slightest manner, the fabric of our Indian policy, it should shiver to atoms; but it now appears that these apprehensions, like many others formed while walking in an unknown path at midnight, are wholly groundless. It is now proved beyond the possibility of hesitation, that the Hindoos, like all other human beings, are more pleased with day than with night, when the light is permitted to shine upon them through a medium which diminishes the effulgence of its rays; and that therefore the rudiments of knowledge may be imparted with perfect safety. Man, in the essential principles of his nature, and in his wants, is the same in every clime: in the efforts of the wise and good to improve his condition, therefore, the great difficulty lies in discovering his real circumstances, and in suiting the means to the end.

Our present duties to this people seem to be comprized in imparting to them, first, knowledge, and then sacred principles; and in this God-like work, Schools, as well as the extensive

f The Vidyalŭyŭ, or the HINDOO COLLEGE, and the SCHOOL BOOK SoCIETY, in Calcutta, reflect also the highest honour on those who originated as well as on those who conduct these institutions. The School Book Society, it is understood, owes its origin to that distinguished lady, the Marchioness of Hastings.

circulation of elementary works on the first principles of science, and of the Holy Scriptures, ought to be patronized wherever power, or influence, or property, has been by a gracious Providence bestowed. If he is a benefactor to mankind who makes a blade of grass to grow where one never grew before, how much more is he the friend of man, who sows, in a field extensive as a fourth part of the habitable globe, that seed which is to spring up and bear fruit unto life eternal.

The British government may reap the highest advantages from the general establishment of Schools: an involuntary attachment necessarily takes place between the person who bestows knowledge and the recipient. Every person who has read Park's travels, must have perceived the amazing effects of the Mahomedan schools in Africa, in drawing the hearts of the natives thus taught to their superiors. It is a singular fact, that in all the conquests which they have been able to retain, the Mahomedans have mouldered the conquered into their own disposition: the difference in temper and character between the Musulman and the Hindoo in Bengal, though both were once Hindoos, is quite astonishing, and can only be attributed to education: it is the same change of character which is so visible in the native Africans after receiving instruction in the Mahomedan schools.

At some future time, these native schools may also be expected to supply a superior race of men for all the inferior offices of government and police, who will also form the uniting link between the population and their beneficent government. These fruits cannot be expected till years have elapsed after schools shall have been generally established, and therefore the author refrains from enlarging; but as this horde of rapacious oppressors, dressed in a little brief authority,' is, and has always been, the greatest scourge of the country, so a greater good can scarcely be found for it, than upright and benevolent men to fill up all the subordinate offices of government and

police. Something of the hunger and rapacity of these men would be removed, perhaps, if a fine of twenty times the amount of the sum given as a douceur for obtaining a place were levied on every offender, half of it to go to the informer.

The SECOND CHAPTER of this work contains an account of the different casts or orders of Hindoos, which, including what may be called the trading casts, amount in number to more than forty. To this is added, a description of the arts, the manufactures, and the agriculture of the Hindoos, and of the climate, soil, and produce of Bengal, comprising a general view of the social order of this people as far as affected by the cast.

The writer has not spared the authors of this iniquitous system of social misrule, but has endeavoured to shew its flagrant injustice, its shocking inhumanity, and its fatal impolicy in paralizing the genius and industry of the country. The instances given of the dreadful consequences following the loss of cast, which might be multiplied into a large volume filled with cases of unparalleled cruelty and injustice, will no doubt fill the mind of the reader with the deepest horror. And yet this detestable system, which cuts up by the roots every tender and generous feeling, and, for the most innocent and even praise-worthy actions, inflicts a punishment worse than death itself,-has found apologists even amongst enlightened Britons."

Never was there any thing invented by the deep policy of man, so well calculated to rivet the chains of superstition, as the cast. By this institution, all the Hindoos are divided into distinct classes, and their civil, domestic and religious duties defined. The rules for the practice of these duties are so minutely arranged, and rendered so binding, that a Hindoo can never embrace any thing new, however wise, or necessary, or profitable; nor transgress the bounds of his prison-house. The mere circumstance of eating even the purest food, with