thing connected with the assets of the estates of those firms, whether in Europe or in India; to appoint accountants, and to correspond with the committee of creditors in Calcutta, with the view of prosecuting an inquiry into the conduct of these firms, by examining their books for the last twenty years or more. Mr. B.'s evidence before the Committee of the House of Commons furnishes the following data. Speaking of the Calcutta agents and bankers, he says, many became possessed of large capital and retired to this country leaving most part of it there; but the partners who succeeded generally came in without any capital of their own. Very large fortunes were made by some gentlemen." And in the Times of the 9th October is the following comment by the Editor." It cannot fail to be observed, that several of the most wealthy partners in the Indian houses, and others which have recently been declared insolvent, have retired, taking with them large fortunes out of their respective concerns it deserves investigation whether the firms were perfectly solvent at the time of the retirement of these fortunate capitalists, otherwise they might be made to refund to the general creditors that capital they had withdrawn." This notice in the Times, it will be admitted, is high authority and well deserves the attention of all the creditors. With respect to those houses, Cockerell and Traill formed a junction with Barber and Palmer, carrying away capital and leaving their liabilities, that is, their debts, on the shoulders of the latter, and these two houses, with the five other great houses that have failed, make seven! Surely this is monstrous, and calls for thorough scrutiny. We hear the word "disaster” mentioned, in speaking of these failures; but the real and only disaster which occurred, was that the capital was carried away. About thirty partners have retired from these houses, bringing home millions with them, besides what they received subsequently, in consignments, remittances, &c. We see several of them possessing, in addition to their rich mansions in the country, splendid residences and establishments in the best parts of London, giving their routes and vying in expense, &c. with the first people in the land, whom they elbow. What the actual partners have spent, appropriated, assisted their connexions with, and settled on their wives, may perhaps be discovered on examination of their books. A great authority, well acquainted with India, gave his opinion of the constitution of these houses in the discussion on the renewal of the Company's Charter; that is, of the members of them all embarking in business without any capital of their own,-in fact, as men of straw. Indeed, it is pretty generally known, that not one of them, from the first to the last, carried any capital to India to make their millions with. Their system of carrying on bad and old debts, with compound interest, as assets, in their books and balance-sheets, was, of course, fallacious, though exhibiting always a large surplus to be divided amongst the partners. Of such debts we have recently seen a specimen in the Court of Bankruptcy, where the official assignee of Alexander and Co. proved a debt against a bankrupt for 2,00,000 rupees, the original amount of which was an advance of only 20,000, which has produced compound interest to the amount of 1,80,000! and their balance-sheet exhibits about three millions of such assets! These seven Calcutta houses, having been thus drained of the capital which the confidence of the public threw into them, and a death-blow having been given to their credit by the harsh and reckless proceedings of Cockerell and Co. of London against Palmer and Co., who ought to have been supported by Cockerell and Co., as well as all the other houses ought to have been supported by the partners who retired, carrying away capital; their failure became inevitable, and they will pay their debts, conveniently enough for themselves and those partners who retired carrying away capital, by obtaining a discharge from the Insolvent Court in Calcutta. London, May 1834. A CREDITOR. HINTS ON INDIA REFORM. No. II. Language.-THE system of uniformity might with the greatest benefit be extended to languages, of which, on a moderate calculation, ten are in general use in the wellsettled parts of India, viz. Hindustani, Persian, Bengalee, Tamul, Teloogoo, Mahratta, Canarese or Carnatica, Malayalum, Oriyas, and Guzarattee. Numerous dialects, used in particular districts, are, however, to be added to these; besides all the languages of the newly-acquired provinces in the north and north-east, and Sanscrit, which, though a dead language, is to be referred to, as containing all the Hindu laws, and which, therefore, may authorize the appointment of a translator. Now, of all these, which is the most generally-spoken language throughout India? Most unquestionably, Hindustani; and this has been made the army language. Why not make it the general language of civil business, and thus prevent that constant succession of errors, perversion, and injustice, attendant on a confusion of tongues and translation from one into another, with none of which the party in authority is well conversant, and of one of which the party aggrieved must be totally ignorant? The justice of such a measure to the natives is clear enough and the economy to the Company is equally clear. But why is it not done? It would abolish the patronage of translatorships. Not only are there translators to receive the pay, but there are assistants to do the work: the former at 700 rupees a-month; the latter at 175 rupees, except Persian, which is paid higher, 350 rupees. I speak of the pay as it was a few years ago, without vouching for any increase or diminution which may have taken place. The whole of this sum might be saved to the Company's coffers, besides a large expenditure in payment of native writers and copiers, pens, ink, and paper, &c. To introduce English into India, as a general language of business, would be, in the present state of knowledge, too bold a measure; but the use of Hindustani, spoken as it is by some part of the population of every district, from North to South, would be a real and essential blessing, without in any way violating feelings of attachment to native habits and institutions. It would at once simplify all proceedings, and make those in authority more accessible to the complaints of the people they are sent to govern. Much do I fear that all the opposition, which has hitherto been shown to any alteration of system in India, has arisen, not from the natives themselves, but from those who should have known better, but allowed self-interest to stand in the way of improvement. CASE OF THE LUCKNOW BANKERS. TO THE EDITOR. SIR: The stand lately made by the Court of Directors against Mr. Grant's ill-advised but strenuously-maintained intention, of interfering in the question of the usurious claims made by the Lucknow bankers upon the king of Oude, whether viewed relatively to the principles upon which their opposition was founded, or to the temperate firmness with which they resisted all authoritative injunctions demanding their co-operation in establishing a precedent for a baneful system, reflects so high credit upon that body, that I cannot but express regret that the correspondence on the subject is not likely to extend beyond a very limited circulation in India. As a servant of the Company, who confess that to myself, in common with my brethren, military and civil, the charge preferred by Mr. St. G. Tucker, in the concluding paragraph of his letter dated 5th February 1834, has been in a great degree applicable, I do most conscientiously declare that my respect-to use Mr. T.'s words-for the knowledge, experience, and political integrity of the members of the Court generally, and my estimation of the value to India especially—of their intermediate agency in the government of that country, have been greatly enhanced generated I might almost say-by the perusal of the documents in question. Appre ciating, then, as I do, most fully, the truth, emphatical truth, of the whole concluding remarks of the letter above alluded to, commencing with " Adjusted as are the powers," &c., I cannot refrain from expressing my humble but earnest wish, that means could be adopted, by a general or at least an extensive circulation of these papers in India, to enable the servants, as well as subjects, of the Company there, to form a more just estimate of the Leadenhall Street authorities than now prevails. While on this subject, I cannot but advert with peculiar satisfaction to the third paragraph of Mr. Loch's letter, dated 19th February 1834, as an admirable exposition of the duty, not alone of a Director, but of every public functionary. The acknowledgment that I am a servant of the Company may cast a shade of doubt upon the integrity of my opinion of the conduct of the Court on this occasion. I might plead that, being unknown, I ought to be exempt from any evil imputation, or yet more confidently, that were I known none would doubt me; to state, however, such approval is not my main object in addressing you, but to urge that an opportunity may be afforded to functionaries of the Company, serving abroad, better to appreciate the principles that guide their own immediate masters; also to comprehend the difficulties the latter have sometimes to contend with, in the crude, inexperienced views of the controlling powers. You will not, perhaps, object to give this letter a place in your Journal. London, May 1834. ROMANCES FROM REAL LIFE. No. VIII.-THE BEAUTY OF THE DURRUMTOLLAH. A PERSON attached to the service of the East-India Company, desirous of keeping pace with the changes,-or, as they must, in courtesy, be termed, improvements, of the times, should visit the seat of government occasionally. The state of society at the presidencies, particularly that of Bengal, differs widely from the modes, manners, and fashions, which characterize the Mofussil, and a protracted residence in the provinces usually contracts the ideas, rivets old prejudices, and produces a thousand eccentricities, which are not always to be rubbed off by collision with the great world. A regular Mofussilite, generally speaking, is a very curious specimen of the genus homo. He spends his time in railing at the life he is condemned to lead, yet imbibes opinions and habits which unfit him for any other, and can never be made to submit contentedly to the modes and manners which prevail elsewhere. His visits to the presidency fill him with disgust; he is dissatisfied with his position, amidst a crowd jostling him upon all sides, and interposing between him and the objects of his ambition. Perceiving that he is not the person of consequence he expected to be, he indulges in fanciful notions of England, and resolves to return home; forgetful that the restraints and observances, so intolerable in a place like Calcutta, will annoy him in a fourfold degree in a distant and, to him, a strange country, where there can be no reciprocity of sentiment between him and persons totally ignorant, and willing to remain so, of India and its ways, and who will give him the option of yielding to their manners and customs, or of living in an isolated state, shunned and pointed out as an eater of curry, and a hero of tiger-hunts. There are a few old Indians who, having lost all affection for, and all remembrance of, the land of their nativity, settle down to some engrossing employment, and vegetate in dullness and obscurity, perfectly satisfied with the gratification which a regular supply of European eatables and drinkables can afford, never desiring to change their situation, or to enter into a larger or higher sphere. A few ɛlide into native habits, refusing to eat beef with the Hindoos, or eschewing pork and forbearing wine with the Mussulmans; but these are extreme cases, and instances of conversion to local prejudices are becoming rare. Without, however, going into the extreme of reverencing cows, and substituting a water beverage for pale ale and láll shraub, a vast number of strange notions may be acquired by those, who, confined to a narrow circle, contract their minds within the same boundary, and are as little fitted to mix with the world as if their faculties were benumbed by the wand of an enchanter. Fearing that I might almost "forget myself to stone," were I to remain quiescent at Cawnpore, until it should please the great folks at head-quarters to change my place of abode, upon the plea of urgent private affairs, I obtained leave to spend a few months at Calcutta. Shortly after my arrival, I received an invitation to take up my abode with a young military friend, who had established himself, oddly enough, as I thought, in a house in the Durrumtollah. I do not know whether there is any part of Calcutta called, par distinction, the black town; but, if there should be, and the Durrumtollah be not included in it, the nomenclators are to blame, the place being decidedly Asiatic in its hue. As there may exist persons unhappily unacquainted with the features of this grand thoroughfare, I will make an humble attempt to Asiat.Journ. N.S. VOL. 14. No. 54. describe them. Imagine a broad, unpaved street, or rather road, lined on either side with long rows of open native shops, principally inhabited by shoemakers, and boasting a vast display of Hindoostanee leather slippers, red, yellow, and green, hung along lines from bamboo to bamboo. Pottery of rude construction; gram, and grain of various kinds; plantains withering in the sun, and commodities of a still cheaper nature, are exhibited in the humble bazaars of this wide avenue. The rows of huts are frequently broken and interrupted by the court-yard walls of some pucka-built mansion, in the style, but not the splendour, of the best houses of Calcutta, where, over the portico, or in the balcony, some fat Baboo may be seen, inhaling the dust, and solacing himself with his hookah, but seated on a chair, after the European fashion. The servants, seldom so well-dressed and well-appointed as those of Anglo-Indian establishments, are lounging at the gate; and all manner of fowls and four-footed beasts, with the exception of pigs, promiscuously occupying the court-yard. In other residencies of a similar nature, the female domestics exhibit themselves on the roofs, or in the verandahs, hanging out clothes, either to air, or to dry, as the case may be; the windows, wide open to the sun, reveal groupes of ladies gaily-attired, in pink, yellow, or blue, seated on the floor smoking; in short, there are indications throughout that the Christian part of the inhabitants are Portuguese, with nothing European about them but their dress, and that the display of wealth is greater than that of elegance. The Durrumtollah is thronged by natives from morning until night; these crowds are chiefly remarkable for the quantity of white muslin, which flutters with every breeze from the persons of those above the poorest classes, and which imparts a singular effect to congregated multitudes all over India. A solitary physician's chariot may be observed traversing this district, and a few European buggies and palanquins, or palanquin-earriages, bearing rich natives to the places of their destination. My friend's residence was situated in rather an isolated spot, at a greater distance from the road than that of others in the neighbourhood; an extensive garden divided him from the labyrinths of native huts, which occupied the space beyond, and he was only overlooked by one mansion, to which his own was united by a terrace running over a range of warehouses, or godowns, below. Several days elapsed before I was at all aware of the reason which had induced Fortescue, who was somewhat of a fine gentleman,—an ex-aidde-camp, and a great declaimer against the Eurasians,-to fix his abode in this unfashionable part of the city. I saw nothing attractive in the next house, excepting the jewels worn by its mistress, an immensely-fat black woman, whose neck, arms, and hands, were literally covered with gems and gold. Though often appearing without her stays, and in a wrapping gown of no great pretensions to cleanliness, her rings and bangles were never laid aside, and their jingle might be distinguished from the less musical clatter of the silver ornaments worn by her women. I was ignorant, at this period, that Mrs. Costello possessed a daughter. The good lady, every evening, attired in some flaming-coloured satin, deposited her ponderous person in a London-built equipage, which, from long service, and the inattention of native domestics to the mysteries of cleaning and beautifying, had very much the air of a hackney-coach. Though somewhat addicted to watching my neighbours, when in a strange place, and thrown upon my own resources for amusement, I had contented myself with a casual survey of this vehicle, and Mrs. Costello, flashing along in couleur-de-rose on her progress towards it; but, one evening, I caught a |