shape of dead and foreign complex tongues thrown in its way:

The spontaneous movement in favour of English may even now be seen in operation in various parts of India. It will be familiar to most of those who hear me, that the natives of Bombay who are acquainted with English, rarely communicate with one another in writing, except in that language. The defective nature of the native cursive character, the Mod or Mor of the Mahrattas,—indeed, of most native writing, in which the tendency to leave out several points is so general,-leads, no doubt from the dictates of convenience, to the employment of the more distinct and uniform European character. But for speaking also, if an educated native, at the present day, arrive from Upper India, from Bengal, or from Madras, there is no language in which he can make himself so readily intelligible to an educated native of Bombay, as English; and it is the only language which a native would think of employing, if he were writing to a Bengalic friend in Calcutta, or a Tamil one at Madras. In addition to this use of English, which mutual convenience dictates, something of the same principle which led the Anglo-Saxons to affect the French language, as a mark of education and refinement, may be seen largely at work among our educated native youth, both in Bombay and Bengal.'

Although Mr. Macaulay's unanswerable Minute has been on record for eighteen years, we still find so intelligent and well instructed a writer as Mr. Campbell, in his last work, arguing in favour of the Hindustani, the most polished dialect of the Hindi, because it is already an established Lingua Franca, and that even the Mahomedan conquerors adopted it for colloquial purposes, although far more numerous than ourselves. But Mr. Campbell forgets that it was these very conquerors themselves that created this language, just as much as the Normans were the cause of the existence of English; that they never ⚫ used it in business or in literature; and that it is one of the tongues which Mr. Macaulay most justly describes as 'poor ' and rude,' and containing neither literary nor scientific in'formation.' An imperfect acquaintance, even with this imperfect tongue, is the utmost that the mediocrity of capacity and industry in the generality of English students can, under their unfavourable circumstances, be expected to reach. Our functionaries have, however, got hold of an exclusive possession, and speak in it as modern Brahmins pray in dead Sanskrit, Rabbis in Hebrew, and Indian Molvees in Arabic, lan-. guages which they can never pronounce, and not always under

stand.*

An interesting paper by Mr. T. Watts on the probable Extension of the English Language may be seen in the Proceedings of the Philological Society,' vol. iv. p. 207.

But while the Indian Government, and its functionaries, have been wasting time, money, and public patience, in attempts to resuscitate a language that has been dead for 3,000 years,— to introduce a foreign one, the special receptacle of religious bigotry, or to patronise a living one that is barbarous, imperfect, and unwritten,-thus converting law and statesmanship into a craft, the common sense and obvious interests of the Indians themselves have led them into the right path; and the question may be considered as finally settled,-that the English language is henceforth, to be the common medium of intercourse, among the educated of the many nations over whom we rule,the language of correspondence, of art, of science, of literature, and of law. The Indian fund devoted to public education is piteously small, and must not be wasted in the propagation of errors and superstitions.

After this view of the languages of India, we have to give such an account of the manners of the people who speak them as can be gleaned from our accomplished judge's Cases Illustrative ' of Oriental Life.' As the author justly says:

6

In courts of justice, the veil which shrouds the privacy of Oriental life is necessarily drawn aside; the strong ties which, at other times, bind together caste and family in pursuit of a common object, are loosened under the pressure of stronger individual interests; and there, amidst masses of conflicting testimony, and with subtler intellects to deal with than usually appear before European tribunals, the motives, reasonings, and actions of the native population of India are displayed in broad light, and may be traced with inestimable advantage.'

It is only in such cases, indeed, that the European rulers of India get a clear insight into native character. • The chief 'administrators in our vast Indian Empire,' says the author, ' are so completely severed from the bulk of the population, by colour, race, language, religion, and material interests, that 'they are often, if not habitually, in complete ignorance of the 'most patent facts occurring around them.'

a

We are grateful, therefore, to Sir Erskine Perry for the light which he has thrown on the interior of a community which we ought to know intimately, and do know very superficially, community which we govern with absolute authority, with little acquaintance with their wishes, their prejudices, and even their interests, except so far as those interests may be inferred from the general principles of human nature. We regret, indeed, that Sir Erskine Perry's book wants the most instructive portion of a report, the evidence. If he had given to us the actual examinations of the witnesses, we should have had the natives

actually before us, revealing their real feelings and their real opinions by their assertions, their denials, their evasions, and their falsehoods. This he has not done, perhaps was unable to do it. We have merely the result, the impression that it produced on the mind of the judge. That mind, however, appears to be clear and comprehensive. We do not of course profess our acquiescence in Sir E. Perry's decision in every case which he has reported, but there are few in which we differ from him materially, and even in those we feel that his reasonings deserve great respect, though they may not produce conviction.

Bombay, the site of the court of justice where our author presided as chief justice, may, for illustration, be briefly described. The island of Bombay is held by a tenure totally different from that by which we hold any other part of our Indian dominions. It was part of the dowry of Queen Catherine, the neglected Portuguese consort of Charles II. His Majesty got it in the year 1661, and after eight years' possession, finding that he gained nothing by a poor place, which at the time had nothing to recommend it but its having the best harbour in India, he granted it to the East India Company, to be holden 'of us and our heirs, as of the manor of East Greenwich, in 'free and common socage, at a rent of ten pounds in gold, 'payable yearly.' This spot, rented at 10l. a year, in perpetuity, 214 years ago, now contains a town with a population of 400,000 souls, has a trade valued in exports and imports, at 14,000,0007., and is the seat of a subordinate government extending over 10,000,000 of people. The town population is governed by the law of England modified by the laws and customs of the Indians. These laws, from 1798 to 1823 inclusive, were administered by a Recorder's Court, and among its judges was the distinguished name of Sir James Mackintosh. From 1824 to the present time, justice has been administered by a Supreme Court, consisting of a Chief and Puisne, and having all the powers, civil, criminal, ecclesiastic, and admiralty, which belong to our English Courts of Record.

The first case narrated in the Cases' is that of a fraudulent executor, one Aga Mahomed Rahim. From the earliest times. known to Europeans, there have been, as settlers, or more frequently as sojourners, at the principal seaports of India a class of merchants known to Europeans under the erroneous name of Moghuls, but who are in reality genuine Persians of the shores of the Persian Gulf. These are the same Moorish merchants whom Vasco di Gama, with his Portuguese, encountered on their first arrival in India, and on whom, as enemies of the Cross, and of the monopoly of the Indian trade, which they

were themselves resolved to establish, they waged a piratical war from the moment of their arrival. Aga Rahim carried on a great trade chiefly with the capital of his late partner and benefactor, who, by his will, had constituted him his executor, and the guardian of his widow and children. He was the owner of dockyards, the builder and owner of ships, and the agent of the Imam of Muscat and of the Pasha of Egypt,— lived on terms of intimacy with the principal European officers of the Government, was a frequent guest at the Government House, and on one occasion entertained the governor and his family, with all the principal English of Bombay, at a splendid banquet to view the singular and imposing spectacle of the launch of a frigate by torch-light. The man-of-war, the object of the launch, was built for his Highness the Imam of Muscat, and the courtly Mahomedan merchant named her 'The Queen • Victoria.'

Mahomed Rahim, the public favourite, however turned out in the sequel a dishonest man. By the practice of a hundred wiles and chicaneries, this prosperous merchant evaded the discharge of his trust, and for nineteen years baffled the law, aided by the dilatory practice of the Equity Court with its technical machinery. At length a decree was given against him for the sum of 110,000l., but he had contrived, in the meanwhile, to send the greater part of his fortune to Persia, and his person was imprisoned. The end of his Indian life was melancholy. After lying in gaol for some years, obstinately refusing to give up any property to the son of his benefactor, and failing in all his schemes to convey his property to other 'parties, he was at length allowed by his creditor to leave gaol, and he slunk out of Bombay to join his family in exile. Since then, not to the credit of the public morality of Persia, the king has named him to the rank and office of the governor of a 'province!' He had bought his place with hard cash, but when he presented himself to the provincials, they refused to accept him, and thus the fraudulent merchant has lost his money, his credit, and his expected government.

The next case in illustration of the state of Indian society which we produce, we shall give in the author's own words, observing only, that, in this instance, the parties seem all to have been Hindoos, and of the lower castes.

The successful perpetration of offences against property, carried on for a series of years and to a very large extent, as displayed in the following case, gives a remarkable picture of Indian crime, of the power of confederacy amongst natives, of the corruption of subordinate officials, and although last, not least, of the ignorance of Europeans of

what is going on around them; from the unwillingness or apathy, or at all events, the failure of the natives to give information to government authorities of offences by which many of themselves must have been injured.

'From the evidence given at the trial, in this and subsequent cases, it appeared that a partnership, consisting of more than forty persons, had existed for many years in Bombay, for the purpose of receiving goods stolen from merchant ships in the harbour. There being no loading-docks in Bombay the ships receive all their cargoes from different quays, which are carried off to them in small boats, and therefore, if the custom-house officers and subordinates employed at the quays could be bribed, a considerable facility existed for committing depredations. A system had, accordingly, been organised by the gang in question, of considerable refinement; by which, for many years, they had been able to drive a most successful trade, represented by one of the accomplices to yield a profit of 60,000l. or 70,000l. a year, though this is probably an exaggerated statement. One of the most remarkable features in the case was, that although it was clearly proved that the gang had existed for years— although its existence and means of livelihood were notorious in the basar, not a single complaint had ever been lodged at the police office.

The gang possessed warehouses, cargo boats, canoes, &c. &c., and each day, systematically, distributed members of their body at the different quays from which boats were sent off to the ships loading in the harbour. The plunder obtained in the course of the day was sent to the partnership warehouses, and every morning a regular auction was held at which the goods were sold at the ordinary market rates. Division of profits was made with scrupulous honesty amongst the different partners, forty-three in number, and two shares were reserved for charity. The leading members of the gang also carried on separate trades of their own, and by their punctuality in dealing were, of course, able to adduce strong evidence as to their respectability at the trial.'

These facts were, at length, brought to the notice of the authorities, by the information of one of the accomplices, who having been accused, apparently with truth, by his partners of robbing them, had been fined by them 60%, and thus he was provoked to betray them. On this information, the magistrates issued their warrant, and succeeded in securing the partnership books, nineteen in number, and they took possession of nine warehouses full of merchandise, but to which no one made any claim. The books were kept as regularly as those of any other partnership, such as day books, journals, ledgers, &c. &c., and the only differences from ordinary books were, 1st. that the daily profit was each day posted up in the ledger, and thence distributed to each partner's account; and, 2d. that no entries of disbursements for purchases appeared, each parcel of goods received being entered VOL. XCVIII. NO. CXCIX.

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