unintentionally encouraged by Lord Moira; the principal objects of which were the subversion of the reform of this Government, my removal from the office of Resident, and the elevation of Hukeem Mehdee Alee Khan to the station of prime minister to the Vizier. Some other subordinate objects, which have a natural tendency to explain, and were necessary, perhaps, to account for, the extraordinary association and views of the subordinate instruments of the intrigue, have been ascribed to it by general report, which the Vizier, as I understand, has authenticated, and which his minister has frequently declared to me to consist with his personal knowledge. Capt. McLeod and Mr. Clarke are reported to have each had a promise from his Excellency of the sum of a lac of rupees, as the reward of their labours in ascertaining the sentiments of the Governor-General with regard to the reform and the Resident; and his Excellency had further engaged to make good such other douceurs, to a very considerable amount, as Capt. McLeod and Mr. Clarke might recommend to be given to their friends who assisted the progress of their inquiries. Mr. Clarke was to be aide-de-camp and major, with the salary annexed to those offices when held in former times by Mr. Ouseley; and Mr. Law was to be appointed to the office of personal surgeon to the Vizier.

The failure of the conspiracy Col. Baillie shortly explains by stating, that Agha Meer, who had been perfectly aware of the intrigue and its authors, revealed it to the Resident's moonshee (Alee Nuckee Khan), who assured him of its exposure when the matter was investigated. Agha Meer, next day (succeeding that in which the charges had been made), attended the Vizier for orders, and found him in a state of agitation and terror, owing to the occurrence of the preceding evening. Agha Meer declares he sounded the Vizier's mind by seeming to encourage his perseverance in the accusations; but finding his contrition cordial, he changed ground, and recommended a message to Col. Baillie. The Vizier concurred, and directed him to adopt the steps which have been already detailed.

With respect to the appointment of Agha Meer (whom Col. Baillie repre sents as a seyyud, of respectable parentage and connexions), his nomination originated purely with the Vizier; and there was no person of distinction or note at the court of Lucknow who was eligible for the office of principal minister.

Col. Baillie states, that on discovering what had occurred, he waited on the Governor-General, and in the course of this interview, spoke of the encourage. ment afforded to the base designs of his (the Resident's) enemies by his Lordship's ignorance of the native character, and declared he must consider Capt. McLeod and Mr. Clarke as authorized spies on his conduct.

In the postscript to his letter, which explains the reasons of its delay (it not being sent till September 29th), Col. Baillie refers to subsequent intrigues, which," supported by native emissaries, as formerly, in the suite of the Governor-General," had ruined Agha Meer, and impressed the Vizier with a belief that this minister was disliked by his Lordship, and that certain measures, suggested by the Resident, were disapproved by the Governor-General, though prescribed by the Government.

Upon receipt of this communication, the Governor-General declared in council, that his feelings could never allow him to hold confidential intercourse with Col. Baillie; and, from the general tone of the paper, he considered him to be wholly unfit to be continued as his Lordship's representative at the court of Oude. The other members of council concurred in the propriety of his removal.

In a subsequent minute of 3d February 1816, Lord Hastings has entered at great length into a vindication of his own conduct, with respect to Col.

Baillie,

Baillie, and an exposure of that gentleman's " perversions." But as the latter has had no opportunity of putting upon official record a counter-statement, and as the minute contains no new facts, but merely reasonings (ingenious and powerful, it must be acknowledged) upon those already detailed, we think it inexpedient to extend this article by examining its contents.

The aforegoing details are not sufficient to qualify the reader to decide upon the merits of the respective cases. A careful and dispassionate examination of the documents has led us to form this conclusion; namely, that under all the peculiar circumstances, neither party could have acted otherwise than he did. That suspicions should have been engendered on both sides was hardly to be avoided. The circumstances of Col. Baillie were by far the most difficult and embarrassing of the two, and therefore his case demands the most indulgence. The mere act of removal may be left out of the question; for we apprehend, when Col. Baillie penned his letter of April 29th, he must have contemplated that result. How far the impression which seems to have taken hold of Lord Hastings' mind, that the Resident's demeanour towards the late and present Vizier was characterized by a just degree of respect, is a question which must be left to inference and conjecture. It constitutes the only ground of doubt in our mind; and we have endeavoured, for that reason, to describe the nature of the negociations which the Resident had to manage, the character of those with whom he conducted them, the view which he entertained of their obligations, and the language he employed in his intercourse, as the only materials which can help us to a conclusion. It is observable that Col. Baillie admits (p. 527) his "immediate control" over the late Vizier's actions, "through the operation of fear on his mind.”

The subject of the loan we must despatch briefly: the contradictions in this matter appear very unaccountable. The statement in Lord Hastings" "Summary" gives us distinctly to understand that the loan from the Vizier was a spontaneous act of gratitude for being liberated from the state of thraldom in which he had been held by the British Resident: in his Lordship's letter to the Court of Directors, he describes the first loan of one crore as tendered to him by the Vizier as a proof of his friendship, and the cordial interest he felt in the Company's prosperity. The fact, however, appears to be, that Col. Baillie was instructed by his Lordship's secretary, Mr. Ricketts, to open a negociation with the Vizier for the first loan, "to appear as a voluntary offer to Lord Moira:" and with respect to the second, the suggestion came from the Governor-General (as appears from Mr. Rickett's letter, p. 1031), and it was proposed to the Vizier by the Resident, who procured it with infinite difficulty, and when obtained, the loan was tagged with a most ungracious request from the Vizier, "that he might be exempted from future demands, and have assurances to that effect from his Lordship, that his Excellency's mind might be at rest."

Our readers are doubtless aware that three Directors questioned the propriety of publishing some of these papers. One ground of their dissent is important :

5th. Because Col. Baillie, professing to have in his possession original letters written to him by order of the Governor-General, &c., the Court, in lending themselves to the publication of copies of such letters, seem to sanction what to us appears a most questionable proceeding; namely, the abstraction, by any public functionary, on quitting office, of original documents connected with important negociations, and liable on future occasions to be referred to, and which, belonging to the station, not to the man, ought to have been left in the archives of the office.

THE ISLAND OF HAINAN.*

THE island of Hai-nan (correctly Hai-lam, or the western country) lies between the eighteenth and twentieth degrees of north latitude; it is about 165 miles in extreme length, and 75 in extreme breadth. Its surface is .composed of high primitive mountains, sandy plains, or savannas, intersected here and there by rocky ridges, and a few fertile vallies. The eastern coast is commonly steep and rocky; and to the south it is indented by some fine bays, affording ample shelter in the north-east monsoon, but none in the southwestern. The north-western shore, forming the eastern boundary of the Gulf of Tonquin, is, on other hand, low, with shoals and sand-banks running into the sea. The soil of Hai-nan, according to the report of the late visitors+ to it, is thin and sterile, with the exception of a few fertile vallies. The island forms a portion of the government of Canton, the governor being only a lieutenant of the viceroy of that province. Notwithstanding its sterility, it is populous, and contains many walled towns, not less, it is said, than fourteen. The vallies, wherever there is soil and water enough, are cultivated with rice; but the most frequent object of husbandry is the hardy and productive batata, or sweet potatoe (convolvolus batatas), which appears to afford the principal means of subsistence to the poor and swarming inhabitants; so that it would appear that Ireland is not the only great island in the world with what has been emphatically termed a potatoe population.

The Chinese of Hai-nan, although assimilated in manners, habits, and appearance with the other inhabitants of the Chinese empire, speak a distinct language from that of the continental portion of the province of Canton, and appear to have been a distinct race, gradually subdued in the progress of conquest and civilization. Of the primitive unmixed inhabitants, a very considerable number are still said to exist in the mountains unsubdued and untamed.

The recent British visitors found the manners and dispositions of the inhabitants extremely inoffensive. During their residence, they made frequent excursions of fifty and sixty miles into the interior of the island without encountering any obstruction whatever, and indeed without annoyance, save what was occasioned by a little inordinate curiosity. The circumstances which most forcibly attracted the attention of our countrymen were, the sandy barrenness of the soil; the poverty of the peasantry; the timidity of the men ; the numbers of women (many of them with small feet) performing field-labour; the multitude of children and of dogs; and the want of all defence against invasion, especially evinced by the mouldering and neglected condition of the ivy-covered walls of the fortified towns, which had all the appearance of antiquity and inutility. The chief city of Hai-nan is Kiun-tcheou-tou, situated within the Gulf of Tonquin. From the port of this place, and of several others on the same side of the island, a considerable foreign traffic is carried on with Macao, Tonquin, Cochin China, Siam, and, since last season, with Singapore. With Tonquin, and some of the northern ports of Cochin China, voyages are performed at all seasons of the year; but with all countries south of Hai-nan, only by favour of the monsoons. The junks which visit Siam annually are seldom fewer than forty in number; those which visit Lower Cochin China amount to about twenty-five, and those which frequent Tonquin

* From the Singapore Chronicle, March 3, 1825.

Two British vessels have been recently wrecked on the island.

and

and the northern ports of Cochin China are ordinarily about fifty. Their size is commonly from 100 to 150 tons, being the smallest, the poorest, but the most numerous, of all descriptions of Chinese junks carrying on foreign trade.

We ought not to close this brief notice without adverting to the great dearth of all sensible, rational, and intelligent details on the subject of Chinese geography and statistics. Du Halde and Grosier have servilely copied Chinese writers, apparently extracting the most fabulous, the most injudicious, or the most puerile of their details; and, with their absurd taste for the marvellous, throwing an air of extravagance and incredibility upon every thing which they attempt to describe. We shall beg leave to quote two or three examples from Grosier, himself a most vituperative ecclesiastic, who charges every one who differs from him with calumny, falsehood, want of truth, and want of decency, to use his own expressions. Speaking of Hai-nan, he informs us that its capital stands on a promontory; but on what promontory of a coast of 480 miles in extent he does not condescend to inform us ; and, in short, all he says about the said capital amounts to this, that it is situated upon a nameless promontory, and that “ ships often anchor near its walls." On the subject of its natural history we have the following edifying information: “There are also found here starlings, which have a small crescent on their bills; black birds, of a deep blue colour, with yellow ears rising half an inch; and a multitude of other birds remarkable for their colour or song." The meaning of this in plain English, is, that Hai-nan, in common with most other countries of tropical Asia, produces the common minar (coracias Indica), and the hill minar (gracula religiosa). Instead of representing Hai-nan as a poor country, as it is too well known to be, he praises it for its mines of gold and lapis lazuli, the abundance of its curious woods, and its general wealth!

By the recent notices of new works from England, we perceive that we are promised an extensive statistical work on the Chinese empire, which, it is to be hoped, will be composed in a style different from that of the Jesuits. On the subject of Chinese law we have had a good deal which is of some use; on the subject of philology a great deal which is of very little, at least until applied to useful purposes; on the subject of the wars and history of China a vast deal which is of little or none at all, resembling too much the wars of the Saxon heptarchy, which Milton and Hume thought of equal dignity with the quarrels of the kites and cranes of the same period; and on the subject of Chinese ethics, folio upon folio, which savours at least of inconsistency and supererogation, since the Chinese are admitted, on all hands, to have less religion and worse morals than any people on earth. It is full time, therefore, that our writers should begin to treat of facts and things, instead of words; that we should at length have something of the natural history of China, of the practical details of its agriculture, of its commerce, of its population, and of its geography.

The text of the French author will not support the Hibernianism imputed to him by the writer of this article; it is as follows:

"Parmi les animaux que l'isle produit, on distingue une espèce curieuse de grands singes noirs, qui ont les traits et la figure de l'homme; on prétend qu'ils sont très-amoureux des femmes. On y trouve aussi des corbeaux ornés de cravates blanches; des étourneaux qui portent sur le bec une petite lunette; des merles d'un bleu foncé avec deux oreilles jaunes, élevées d'un demi-pouce, et une foule d'autres oiseaux remarquables par leurs couleurs et leur chant." Deser. Gen. de la Chine, tom. 1, p. 122.—Ed.

PROGRESS

PROGRESS OF THE BURMESE WAR.

In resuming our historical narrative* of the transactions in Ava, the object of which is, to furnish a clear and connected detail of the military events of the war, we are desirous of premising a few remarks upon the policy to be adopted towards the Burmese court, should success continue to attend our

arms.

The mischiefs resulting from an encroaching and aggrandizing system, on the part of a government constituted as that of British India, and remote from the seat of empire, are obvious; and the Parliament of England has accordingly imposed the utmost practicable restraint upon the indulgence of a spirit of ambition, either in the East-India Company, or their representatives in the East. The precautions taken by the British Legislature relate necessarily to the origin and commencement of warfare in India. Although extension of territory in our eastern possessions be, under all circumstances, always a subject of regret, it is regarded by the Legislature, and must be so viewed by all men of sober reason, as pernicious only when it is the object and motive of war. Self-defence must render hostilities sometimes inevitable; and the mere display of power to repel aggression, affords no sufficient protection against reiterated injury and insult, especially when the aggressor be, as in India, half-civilized, and incapable of justly appreciating the grounds of forbearance : he must be convinced by loss of power and curtailment of territory (and the rulers of surrounding states by his example) of the impolicy of violence and injustice.

It is plain, therefore, that if war be sometimes unavoidable in India, increase of territory, or of political influence, must be equally so. The first object of the Government should be, as it notoriously is, to abstain as much as possible from measures which may lead to disputes with our neighbours, and to shun every temptation to enlarge our present possessions. But when all endeavours to maintain peace are fruitless, and war can be averted only by sacrifices incompatible with our safety in a country where our footing is by no means secure, it behoves a sound politician to extract from the evil as much practical good as he is able, by such a judicious and temperate application of the enemy's forfeited power as shall strengthen and consolidate our own.

We make these observations in order to anticipate the objections which will probably be made to what follows; namely, our urgent recommendation that, if the despot of Ava should be humbled by the British arms, no weak scruples and stale arguments against the increase of our territory in the East, should prevail upon us to reject advantages we may justly retain, and which will be highly beneficial to our eastern possessions, and to the interests of British

commerce.

It requires no parade of ratiocination to prove that the eastern frontier of Bengal is naturally almost defenceless: the fact is apparent enough. At the commencement of the present war, the consternation which prevailed at Calcutta when a report was raised that the enemy had invaded Chittagong, though groundless, was by no means absurd; for if the Burmese troops and their commander had possessed sufficient resolution, they might perhaps have approached within gun-shot of Fort-William: the British force in that quarter was comparatively small, and a panic might have seized the sepoys, as at Ramoo.

*Continued from vol. xix, p. 763.
D

Asiatic Journ. VOL. XXI. No. 121.

The