especially most desirable to be well before the public before the Parliament separates, that it may furnish materials for thinking, during the recess, to those who will be called on in the next session to go into the inquiry which Sir James Mackintosh has pledged himself to institute into the general state of India, and the changes to be effected in its system of Government when the present charter of the East India Company expires. The other works can be better reserved than this: we shall, therefore, return to them again. But we shall still offer a few words on each, before we pass them by even till then. And first, of Mr. Rickards's: The object of this Second Part of his work on India, is to give an Historical Sketch of the State and Condition of Native Indians under former Governments,' and to show that in the defects of these alone are to be found sufficient reasons for the present state of ignorance and wretchedness in which the population of India are found, and from which nothing but a better government can raise them. In this Mr. Rickards has completely succeeded, and adduced such a body of unquestionable evidence, as must satisfy the most sceptical. We cannot resist giving the conclusion of his summing-up; where, after the evidence produced to show that misgovernment invariably produces poverty and misery, he says:

'If, then, the causes here assigned produce universally the same effects, why seek for others in India, where the rule of tyrants, justly called the scourge of the human race, has, from the beginning of history to the present hour, had its fullest sway?

'But if the reader can doubt the facts above detailed, or the conclusions thence deduced, because they have occurred in a far distant clime, whose history he may not have familiarly contemplated; let me implore him to turn his eyes to the existing state of Turkey, or the Governments of northern Africa; under his more immediate observation. Let him contemplate the ferocious spirit with which war has, of late years, been carried on against Infidels, as they are termed, in the Morea. Let him consider the total absence of justice in the provinces; the insecurity of person and property; the avowed practice of piracy, and slavery of prisoners; the plea sant exercise of the bowstring; the happy method of settling differences, and dissatisfactions, by assassination,-sometimes of the reigning prince-sometimes of viziers, pashas, hospodars, and other troublesome officers, and often by the wholesale butchery of unresisting subjects; whose heads are exposed on the gates of the royal palace, for the edification of the people, and the amusement of their sovereign. Let him, I say, consider these simple facts, and then ask his own reason, whether such a scourge, in the shape of human government, does not stand forth to the world, like the upas of the forest, breathing destruction around, and blighting every germ of improvement within the influence of its poison.

Yet this is but a fac-simile of the despotisms of the East; to

which the character and condition of the inhabitants have for ages been compelled to bow.

'Of the real character of the Natives of India, I have already recorded my opinion, "that they are capable of every virtue, and of every acquirement, that can adorn the human mind;" and I here confidently re-assert the same belief. For proof, I appeal to all those who have held much intercourse with the Natives, during their services in India-whether they have not met with numerous instances of great natural sagacity, quickness of apprehension, sound intellect, a peculiar aptitude for patient investigation, and, İ venture to add, honesty, gratitude, and attachment to those who use them well?

There are other sects, at the head of which, for energy and talent, I should place the Parsees of the western side of India. Add to these, Armenians, native Portuguese, and Anglo-Indians, and we have a mass of native population whose capacity for moral improvement no man can reasonably doubt; and whose progressgive them but the same advantages-would be as certain, and as rapid, as that of any, even the most civilized and enlightened nations of the earth.'

Colonel Briggs's 'Letters' are professedly intended for the instruction of young men going out to India, as cadets, or civil servants, and for the regulation of their intercourse with the Natives of that country. They are evidently dictated by a very benevolent mind, and contain proofs of much local knowledge and experience, and may, therefore, be read with advantage by the class for whom they are intended. The volume is dedicated to Sir John Malcolm, whose 'Instructions' to his assistants, when diplomatically employed in Central India, are bound up at the end of the Letters. The author is an advocate for the extension of freedom to the Natives, instead of that levelling system which reduces them all to the condition of serfs of the soil, and excludes them from all participation in power; and so far we entirely agree with him. But, when we see the Directors of the East India Company opposing themselves in Parliament to all inquiry into the state of India, and to all propositions for opening it to European talent, enterprise, and capital, as well as to the admission of the Natives to the distinguishing privileges of free men; we cannot comprehend on what grounds Colonel Briggs can indulge such a hope as that which he expresses in the closing paragraph of his Preface.

'A brighter era for India, it is to be hoped, is at hand. More information on the subject of her condition, her institutions, her learning, and her people, is daily pouring in upon us; and there is little doubt that the enlightened rulers of that vast empire will every day more and more see the justice, the policy, and I may add the absolute necessity, of permitting the Native Community to participate more largely in the administration of the Government,'

That information is daily pouring in, there can be no doubt; but this is in spite of the Directors, who have done all they possibly could do to stifle it in the quarter from whence it is most valuableIndia itself. If Colonel Briggs is himself enlightened, then the rulers of India are not; for they act on principles the most opposite to those he espouses, and which do his head and his heart honour to maintain. But that any thing but fear will induce these rulers to yield to the wish so benevolently breathed by the author of this work, we doubt exceedingly; though we hope the emancipation of India is not to depend on the virtue of its rulers, either in that country or in this, but on the superior force of public opinion, which will soon, we trust, compel an improved system, in spite of all the influence that can be brought to bear against it.

Mr. Crawfurd's 'Journal of a Mission to Siam,' is an elaborate and able performance. There is no man, in all India, perhaps, so well qualified for the production of such a work as Mr. Crawfurd. His previous researches in the Eastern Archipelago had not only made him intimately acquainted with all that was known of those countries, but had also unveiled to him how much more was yet to learn, and, thus, by enabling him to direct his inquiries into hitherto untouched sources, has added largely to his previously extensive stock of accurate information. The work is 'got up,' as the technical phrase is, in a very superior manner, forming a handsome quarto volume, of about six hundred pages, embellished with several interesting plates, including views, maps, plans, and costumes, as well as with many illustrative vignettes on wood, which add greatly to its value. It can hardly fail, we conceive, to be generally popular; and we purpose, if not prevented by any unforeseen obstacle, drawing largely from it in our next.

We now pass to the last work enumerated in our list. This is an octavo volume of about 300 pages, and is avowedly from the pen of an author who five years ago produced a very excellent work, entitled An Inquiry into the expediency of extending the Principles of Colonial Policy to the Government of India,' &c. &c., from the same publisher, Mr. J. M. Richardson, of Cornhill. Of the original work, we have frequently spoken in previous Numbers of The Oriental Herald,' and always in terms of praise and this Further Inquiry,' which is in truth an extension of the first, is not at all inferior in merit or interest to its predecessor. It is divided into seven chapters, from each of which we shall extract such portions as may give the general reader a foretaste of the work, referring him, for more complete satisfaction on all the topics treated of, to the volume itself, a careful and entire perusal of which will well reward the labour, and which we, therefore, strongly recommend. The manner in which we shall present these extracts, will render any analysis of the work superfluous; and we have only to express our hope that they will carry to the minds of others

the same conviction that they have produced on our own, and induce all who see these portions to turn to the original volume from which they are selected, for full and complete satisfaction.

Preface.

The following pages contain such further arguments, in support of the expediency of permitting the colonisation of British subjects in India, as have been suggested by further observation, inquiry, and reflection, and by the books and documents which have been published, or which have come to my knowledge, since the "Inquiry" was written (1820). That free scope will soon be given to the industry of British subjects and their descendants, in India, I am firmly persuaded; and the signs of the times sanction the sanguine anticipations which I entertained, on that subject, eight years ago.

'The only instance, in which I have found occasion to modify former views or statements, is in what relates to the condition of the Ryots, which appears generally to approach much more nearly to that of tenants at will than to that of privileged occupants, as they are commonly supposed to be, or of leasehold farmers, as it was predicted, by Mr. Colebrooke, that they would become.

To those at all acquainted with this controversy it is needless to say, that what is meant by the colonisation of India, is something as different from the colonisation of Canada, as the emancipation of the Irish Catholics differs from the emancipation of the Greeks. It never was imagined that any part of the redundant labouring population of England or Ireland could find relief by emigrating to India; but that British landlords, farmers, traders, and artisans, of every description, would rapidly and indefinitely advance the agricultural and commercial interests of India, give stability and vigour to the local government, and conciliate the attachment while they raised the character of the native inhabitants. A note, however, in 'The Edinburgh Review,' (No. XC. p. 346,) must have widely disseminated a singular misapprehension on the subject of the colonisation of India. The Reviewer admits that the author of a work on that subject is "right in point of principle.". right in point of principle."-" But he has prodigiously exaggerated its importance. A few land-speculators might emigrate to India; but it is ridiculous to suppose that there can be any considerable or really advantageous emigration to a country where the wages of labour do not exceed three pence a-day." If the Reviewer can show that I calculated on the emigration of a single ploughman, or day-labourer, or point out wherein I have overstated the advantages derivable from the intelligence and energy of many Englishmen already in India, as well as of the kind of emigrants intended by me, and generally understood by all who enter into the discussion, I shall admit that I am chargeable with exaggeration; but, if he cannot, it will be for the reader to judge whether the Re

viewer has not "prodigiously" under-rated those advantages, and mistaken the whole ground and bearings of the question. In conceding the "principle," the Reviewer has conceded all that is required. Nothing more is required than that Englishmen should be free to expend their own money, and apply their own ingenuity and labour, in cultivating the resources of India. No greater or more complicated effort is required from the British Parliament, than that it should give to Englishmen the liberty of unlicensed resort to and residence in India, with the right of trial by jury in all cases. Without such indispensable protection, no Englishman will invest capital in agricultural* or manufacturing speculations, and India may continue for ever stationary in wealth, civilisation, and happiness. With such protection no man can presume to assign limits to the advancement of which that neglected portion of the British empire is capable. It has been well observed that," in England, the advantages of large capital are evident ;-in all our large undertakings, money is as powerful as steam, because, like that power, we are enabled to confine it, and to apply its force on the particular point and in this particular direction which is required. But take from us the laws of our country, and the advantages of public competition, which bind and protect our capital, and money, like steam, becomes impotent as smoke." The writer of the above passage justly glories in the security enjoyed by his countrymen, which has given existence to so many miracles of comfort, splendour, magnificence, and power; and yet there is a dependency subject to the Legislature of that same country, from the Englishmen resident in which, security of person and property, the only foundation of all prosperity, is withheld !

'On the East India Company, considered as an Organ of Government and of Trade.

the

The circumspection with which the work of British legislation proceeds has seldom been more signally exemplified than in the Acts of Parliament relating to India. To take a short step once in twenty years; to adventure at long intervals to relax and untwist some of the cords of monopoly; to be persuaded, after a careful observation of the phenomena that it was safe and expedient, first, to permit private merchants to ship a limited quantity of goods in the Company's ships-then to permit an unlimited quantity of private goods to be shipped in private ships of not less than 350 tons

* The name of "Indigo planter" may mislead some into a supposition that Englishmen are proprietors or farmers of the land on which the indigo plant is grown, which they are not permitted to be. They procure the plant on contract, and extract the colouring matter, in which process very little fixed capital is requisite. The average value of indigo annually exported from Calcutta is 2,500,000.

+"Quarterly Review," No. LXXI., p. 99, on Cornish Mining in South America."