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For the twelve courts, which decide Small Causes alone, there was for 1865 a clear net profit of Rs. 5,523-3, and although a large loss appears for the eight courts which transact Principal Sudder Ameen's work also, yet there has been in fact no loss, as the Principal Sudder Ameen's work done by the same Judges and the same establishments, converts this loss into a large profit. If no Principal Sudder Ameen's work were done, the cost of establishments might be reduced by one half, and one Judge could transact the work of several courts. The above table only comprises twenty out of the twenty six courts in the Bengal Lieutenant-Governorship. For the three courts in the NorthWest Provinces we have the following return for the year 1864. The courts at Benares and Agra more than paid their expenses, There was a deficiency in the Allahabad Court, which was however more than compensated by the surplus in the other two, so that there was an actual net profit for the courts in the North-West Provinces also. Further statistics we have been unable to procure, but it would not be easy to over-estimate the value of a complete set of similar statistics for all India.

A single glance at the above table will shew the inequalities of the work done by individual Judges, and of the cost of establishments, peons, &c., in proportion to the work disposed of by each court. A fresh arrangement and distribution would enable these courts to be worked with a large profit to Government. Hitherto the measure has been only tentative and it was impossible to apportion the expenditure to the work done, but with the experience that has been gained it will not be difficult to re-organize matters on a sound basis. If with all the inequalities, that may be noticed in the table we have given, these courts have hitherto yielded a profit, how will this profit be increased when these inequalties have been removed. We do not think that it is sound political economy to derive a tax from the administration of justice, and the surplus revenue from these courts ought, we think, be applied to improve the administration of justice therein; and that there is ample room for this improvement will, we think, appear in some measure from this article. It has been said that Courts of Small Causes do not pay, but we have shown the contrary. If any individual court

*The writer of this article is indebted to the courtesy of the Judges of these 20 courts for the above figures. From five courts, viz. Rajshaye, Sealdah, Howrah, Moorshedabad, and Chittagong no answers were received to a request for the information. From one court, Mozufferpore, it was refused.

does not pay, it is because there is mismanagement and want of economy in the details of its executive, and these evils can easily be remedied by proper statistics and suitable supervision.

In the three courts of Magoorah, Jenidah, and Narail, one Judge disposed of 4,834 institutions in 1865. In the four courts of Meherpore, Chooadangah, Kooshtea, and Comercolly, there were only 3,418 institutions; yet two Judges were engaged in disposing of this latter number. The table will shew other similar inequalities, the correction of which would make a great alteration in the returns of profit or loss. Let us look however at the English County Courts. We have said that these courts are held at 502 different places, which comprise 59 circuits presided over by sixty Judges. Now, taking the number of institutions in 1861, viz., 903, 957, and dividing by 60 (there being two Judges for the Liverpool circuit), we get the enormous number of 15,066 institutions disposed of by each Judge on an average. average. Allowing for all differences between the two countries, this shows that one properly qualified Judge with suitable subordinates could transact a much larger amount of business than has hitherto been done. The proportion of compromised cases here as well as at home is very large, and if competent persons were appointed to the post of Registrar, all this work of mere writing could be taken off the Judge, whose whole time could thus be devoted to dealing with ex parte and disputed cases.

This article has far exceeded the limits we proposed to ourselves, when commencing to write, and yet there are many points which we could wish to notice and discuss. We are compelled however to hold them over for the present, and shall here conclude by remarking, that in our opinion, there is no good reason why Courts of Small Causes should not be quite as successful in India as County Courts have been in England, if the same pains are taken to insure success. It sometimes happens that a new measure introduced here in India fails to realize the results that were confidently expected for it, simply because when once set working, it has been left to itself, and has been expected to behave like an automaton. In the rapid progress of this country, there is so much that is new to be daily attended to, that we sometimes feel little disposed, and have less leisure to dwell upon or return to matters that have once engrossed for a time our whole attention. But we must overcome this, and must watch the measures that have been introduced; and if the machine do not work, we must patiently take it to pieces and re-construct it. The science of governing,' says Rousseau, 'is merely a science of combinations, of applica

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County Courts and Courts of Small Causes.

'tions; and of exceptions according to time, place, and circumstances,' and it is but natural that some mistakes should be made in the first disposition of these combinations, applications, and exceptions. A wise Government will inevitably fall into some of these mistakes, but its wisdom will be shown in correcting them when discovered.

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ART. VIII.-1. Mémoire pour le Sieur Dupleix contre la compagnie des Indes, avec les pièces justificatives. Paris,

1759.

2. A History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan from the year 1745, by Robert Orme, Esq. F. A. s. 1803.

3.

Histoire de la conquête de l'Inde par l'Angleterre, par le Baron Barchou de Penhoen.

Paris, 1844.

4. Inde, par M. Dubois de Jancigny, Aide-de-camp du Roi d'Oude, et par M. Xavier Raymond, Attaché à l'Ambassade de Chine. Paris, Firmin Didot Frères, 1845.

5.

6.

The History of British India.

By Mill and Wilson, in ten volumes. London, John Madden and Co. Leadenhall Street, 1851.

The National Review, Volume XV.

and Hall, 193, Piccadilly, 1862.

London, Chapman

7. Nouvelle Biographie Générale, depuis les temps les plus reculés jusquà nos jours. Paris, Firmin Didot Frères, 1862.

8.

THE

An authentic account of the late Admiral Boscawen during the time he commanded in Coromandel, and of the transactions of the fleet and army under his command. Asiatic Annual Register. 1802.

HE mode in which Dupleix had purchased the consent of the Nawab of the Carnatic to the prosecution of his plans against Madras has been already recorded. With one great end in view, that of wresting Madras from the English, he had, during a crisis which might otherwise have been fatal, sacrificed the less important portion of the scheme, and, renouncing extension of territory for his own countrymen, had promised the Nawab to resign to him the conquests he should achieve. We have given our reasons why we believe Dupleix to have been sincere in this engagement. In his letter on the subject to* La Bourdonnais, a letter intended for no other eye, he had expressed

In the last number of this Review, page 449, we gave in a note our reasons for asserting that La Bourdonnais had been offered and had accepted a bond for 100,000 pagodas as an inducement to allow Madras to be ransomed. Since that article appeared, we have received, through the courtesy of a friend who has examined the documents, the strongest confirmation of this statement. It is clear from one of the India House records, Law Case No. 31, dated 3rd March 1752, that the Court of Directors of that day were

his intention to resign the town to the Nawab after demolishing its fortifications, and he had used this as a reason why it would be impossible for him to agree to any terms regarding ransom with the English. We have seen how the obstinacy of La Bourdonnais had for a long time prevented the accomplishment of these designs,-how, from the date of the capitulation, the 21st of September, to his departure from Madras on the 23rd of October, that impetuous and self-willed officer had kept Madras in his own hands, and how, therefore, during that time, and for a week subsequently, the entire attention of Dupleix had been devoted to obtaining possession of the place, which had been conquered only to be kept from him. We have seen too how fatal the delay had been to him in one respect,-the destruction of the fleet which had been at once his mainstay for defence, and the power upon which he counted for future blows against the English. Yet, damaging as had been the result in that respect, it sank into apparent insignificance when contrasted with the effect it had upon the suspicious mind of the Asiatic who had trusted him, only, it would seem, to be deceived.

The fact indeed that upwards of five weeks had elapsed since the French flag had first floated over the ramparts of Fort St. George, and that there were no indications of lowering it to make way for the flag of the Mogul, was in itself a circumstance more than sufficient to justify the doubt which Anwarooddeen was beginning to display. The quarrel between Dupleix and La Bourdonnais would naturally appear but a shallow and transparent artifice, invented for the purpose of cheating him out of his promised gains. It was enough for him that Madras continued French; to the name of the Frenchman who commanded there he was indifferent. His engagement had been made with the Governor of the French possessions in India, and to that Governor he looked for its absolute and literal fulfilment.

When however day succeeded day, and week followed week, and he received, instead of Madras, excuses founded upon the alleged insubordinate behaviour of the French official in command at Madras, the patience of the Nawab began to give way. Who were these French, he asked, these foreigners who had been so submissive and compliant, that they should thus not only beard him to his face, but should use him as a tool wherewith to effect their purposes? Upon what force did they rely to enable them

convinced, on the testimony of Madras Members of Council, that La Bourdonnais was promised, by bond, 100,000 pagodas, over and above the 1,000,000 pagodas stipulated in the bond given him for public use, in consideration of his ransoming Madras.-The statement may now, therefore, be accepted as an historical fact,

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