and many others, as well as numerous Parsees at Bombay,* equally intelligent, respectable, and moral, will prove themselves the most efficient supporters of British power in the East.t

The indigo planters and Indo-Britons will afford a most valuable class of magistrates; and as it is the desire of the Board of Control, as also of the Court of Directors, to advance the latter in civil rights, many will be found qualified for the post which Mr. Grant's bill renders them eligible to. Such men (and there are many similar) as Mr. Kyd, Captain Bruce, Mr. Gordon, Dr. Frith, Mr. Domoulin, Mr. Glass of Bhauglepore, &c. would be an honour to any country.

+ The India Juries' Bill has received the royal assent; it states the expediency of other persons, besides the covenanted servants of the East-India Company or other British inhabitants of India, being capable of being appointed to the offices of justices of the peace within and for the towns of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay; declares the eligibility of such persons to the said offices, with the exception of necessarily taking any oaths; that it is lawful for the Governor General or Governors to appoint properly qualified persons to act as justices of the peace, who will bind themselves by such oaths or solemn affirmations as may be prescribed, from time to time, according to the tenor of their respective commissions. The same bill repeals that provision of the India Jury Bill of 7 Geo. IV., which enacts, that "Grand Juries in all cases, and all juries for the trial of persons professing the Christian religion, shall consist wholly of persons professing the Christian religion."

CHAPTER XI.

TERRITORIAL ADDITIONS TO THE BRITISH POSSESSIONS BY THE EAST-INDIA COMPANY SINCE THE LAST RENEWAL OF THEIR CHARTER;-PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS EFFECTED BY THE GOVERNMENTS OF BENGAL, MADRAS, AND BOMBAY; TESTIMONY OF BISHOP HEBER, ARCHDEACON CORRIE, HON. HOLT MACKENZIE, SIR JOHN MALCOLM, SIR LIONEL SMITH, MR. FORTESCUE, AND OTHER INDIVIDUALS AS TO THE IMPROVED STATE OF THE COUNTRY ;RATES OF WAGES AND PRICE OF PROVISIONS IN FORMER AND IN PRESENT TIMES ;-CONDITION OF THE INDIANS UNDER THE EAST-INDIA COMPANY AND UNDER THE NATIVE GOVERNMENTS.

As a necessary sequel to the preceding chapters, it remains for me to shew the territory acquired by the Honourable Company since the last renewal of their charter; what efforts have been made for the improvement of the country, and what is the general condition of their subjects.

Since the last renewal of the charter, the East-India Company have added to the British possessions in India as follows.*

TO BENGAL.-After the Goorkha war, from 1814 to 1816; Kumaon, Dhera Dhoon, Jounsar, Bawar, Sabathoo, and a mountain tract between Kumaon and the Sutledge; (greatly adding, as Mr. Holt Mackenzie says, to the secu

* Derived from evidence before Parliament during the present

year.

rity of our other possessions, and enabling us to facilitate commercial communication with Tartary.)

After the Mahratta and Pindaree war, from 1817 to 1819:-Saugur and the Nerbudda territory; Sumbhulpore and other districts on the north-west frontier of Bengal; Khandah in Bundlecund; Ajmere, and part of Mairwarrah; part of Nimar, Bairsea, and Shoojawulpore.

As Tributary States.-Jyepoor, Joudpore, Oudeypore, Boondee, Kotah, Pertaubghur, Rutlana, Banswara, Doongurpore. After the Burmese war,-Assam, Arracan, and the Ultra Irrawaddy territories.

TO BOMBAY.-By negociations and conquests, various territories and rights in Guzerat; Northern Concan, Southern Concan, Kandes, Ahmednugger, Poonah, and Dharwar.

Malacca, Chinsurah, and Singapore must be added, and a loan of Rupees 100,00,000 lent by the sovereign of Oude, was paid off by the cession of Khyragurh.

The inevitable cause for the foregoing acquisitions, has been explained in the first chapter; the impartial reader will judge by the preceding, as well as subsequent details, whether humanity in conjunction with state policy, have not compelled the Company's government to the course pursued.

The total British territory in India, under the Company's government, is 514,190 square miles, which, at the reasonable computation of two hundred inhabitants to the square mile, will give a population of 102,838,000 persons under their immediate sway. The Indian princes who exist under the protection, or as tributaries of the EastIndia Company, are as follow :*.

*The Company are obliged to protect the people of tributary states against their own sovereigns, and to protect the sovereigns against foreign aggression.

Territories under British protection west of the river Jumna, comprehending Jhodpore, Bikaneer, Jessulmeer, Khotah, the Seikh Country, the Hill districts of Sirmoor, and other small states

Of Assam Jynteea, Cachar and Muneepore, the boundaries are so undefined that it is difficult to form even an approximation to their superficial contents, but it is estimated at

TOTAL......

165,000

51,000

614,610

Runjeet or Ranajit Singh, king of the Sikhs,* is entirely independent; his country is described by all who have

The Sikhs or Seiks, are neither Mahomedans nor Hindoos; they admit of converts from both sects, and are by some politicians supposed to form a barrier between the British and the Afghans, the most bigotted but the bravest of the Mahomedan tribes. Runjeet persecutes the Mussulmans with great severity.

witnessed it as populous, fertile, and extensive, including not only the Punjab, but considerable tracts of territory beyond the Indus,* and the whole important and lovely valley of Cashmere. This formidable potentate possesses an army of 20,000 regular cavalry; from 20 to 30,000 irregular horse; eighty regiments of infantry, organized and commanded by European officers principally Frenchmen; several brigades of horse and foot artillery; an immense arsenal at Umritsur; and to support this force he has accumulated a vast treasure at Govind Garrah. There is a king of Nepal, I think, but he is tributary to China since 1792.

Let us now turn to view what has been done for the country in the way of public improvements in India, since the renewal of the charter; although it is scarcely fair to expect that much could be done in a country, which is only beginning to breathe, after centuries upon centuries of intestine and foreign wars; and where, with every possible economy, the expenditure for ordinary government purposes still exceeds the revenue. The establishment of tranquillity and the suppression of barbarous rites might alone have been pointed to, as sufficiently indicative of the merits of the Government; and the chapters on the public press, education, and the diminution of crime, would demonstrate the desire of the ruling authorities for the enlightenment and morality of the people; but a parliamentary document which lies open before me, amply refutes the calumny handed down from the days of Burke to the present period, namely, that if the Company were driven out of India to-morrow, there would be nothing to indicate whether the ourang-outang or man had governed the country; let this document then, as well as the subsequent remarks, answer to the charge.

• From Tatta on the south to Thibet on the north; and from Caubul on the west, to beyond the Sutledge on the east.