trade for British merchants. Already the resources of Bengal are so great, as to present a prospect of eventual prosperity, even amidst all the calamities which the conduct of reckless men has produced; but under a better system, the aspect of affairs would probably be as favorable as in any country in the world. For a considerable time, however, great self-denial, great prudence, and much foresight, will be required. There must be a new system of measures, and for the most part, a new set of merchants. A renewal of the old system, will lead only to a catastrophe still more dishonorable to the British, and the Christian name than the history of the present crisis; the prosperity of the country will be indefinitely postponed; and painful lessons of experience will at length be learned, under the pressure of overwhelming misfortunes and the apprehension of final ruin. But we hope and we believe, that recent events have instructed many, and that the day is rapidly passing in which worthless men can with impunity trifle with the property of others, and degrade trade to a system of fraud and gambling. We hope and we believe, that many who were once thoughtlessly trusted, are now known in their true characters, and appraised, both in their ability and their principles, at their true value. It is well, that it should be so ;-well, for the purposes of trade, and well, for the general interests of society. If hereafter such men regain their former footing and are trusted once more, it will be in defiance of all reason and all justice, and those who next suffer in the insolvencies of Bengal, must chiefly blame their own credulity. Our warning is fairly given, and we hope that the press generally, both here and in England, will not fail to repeat it with emphatic reiterations, till the whole character of society in Bengal is elevated to the standard which becomes a Christian community everywhere, and most of all in the presence of the discerning heathen inhabitants of this country. warning extends not merely to the fatuity which would place fresh confidence in men, by whom confidence has once been betrayed; it extends also to the morbid craving for high interest which affects nearly every capitalist in India; to the worthless sensibility which dreads the world's opinion, and urges men in debt to keep up false appearances; and to the undue extension of trade by any class of the community. The evils against which we thus utter our caution have long been the banes of Indian society; they have caused the sacrifice of immense property, the beggary of many families, and extensive social demoralization. Their effects may be traced in the present loss of public confidence and in the restraints of private intercourse; and they are felt in Great Britain by numerous retired residents, who are Our suffering, in privations which affect themselves and their children, the consequences of the wanton folly and the pride of life, that marked their careers in this country. There has indeed been an improvement since the times when nearly all Europeans in India lived licentiously, prospered by bribery, and proved their infidelity by their conduct; and a further improvement will be experienced as the succeeding generation which garnished conversation with blasphemy and degraded hospitality into drunkenness, passes away. But the hankering for rapid gains; the discontent with moderate profits, with fair interest, and with the gradual accumulation of capital; the pride and the high pretensions that distinguish too many households, still affect most injuriously the character of the European population among whom we dwell. These are social diseases which are fatal in their tendency, and which urgently require the remedies which Christian principles alone can supply by elevating public opinion, and by affording eminent examples of moderation, self-denial, integrity, and moral courage. All this we are prepared to hear denounced as cant. But let those who so readily escape from facts and arguments by the stale device of using nick-names, and most of all by the repetition of this convenient word, first justify the world that enslaves them by a prevalent cant of its own. Let them denounce the cant which demands payments for "debts of honor" from insolvents who may leave tradesmen and others who are ruined by them, without sympathy or succour; let them expose the cant which has appropriated to the barbarous practice of duelling, the term "satisfaction;" let them enquire if it be not cant, which sings of the glory of aggressive war; and let them ask if it be not cant which rewards with fame, the votary of selfish ambition. Till the world's own cant is cured, we are not careful to discuss the justice of the accusation which designates as cant, the plainest principles of the Bible. We are content to wait to see the question settled by public opinion echoing the voice of truth in the course of time. The denunciations of our opponents and of the school to which they belong, were directed as vehemently against every christian enterprize by which Great Britain is now distinguished,-Foreign Missions, the Christian Education of the poor, and the Circulation of the Scriptures-as they are now against all who dare to assail fraudulent systems of commerce. But we call to mind that while the great causes which were thus assailed, have triumphed wonderfully, so that their foes are now themselves silenced and abashed, the patrons of the Stage and the Jockey club, on the other hand, are beginning to experience some of the despair which has already overwhelmed the advocates of the Prize Ring and Cock-fighting, and of other manly' and much applauded amusements. And so, doubtless will sound principles of social morals now make rapid progress, by whomsoever that progress may be deplored or resisted. In this confidence we leave the subject to the reflections of all good men. Their day of supremacy is coming, and its true glory will be rendered only more illustrious, by the few remaining traces which society will then retain of the effects of another ascendancy, and by which the contrary influence of righteousness, justice, and truth, will be conspicuously manifested in the sight of the nations. The delay in the approach of this happier period may however be very trying, for "a multitude will run together to do evil," and occasional transient successes of commercial audacity may appear to reprove the tardy progress of patient industry: yet still let honest men hold fast their integrity; let them look to the general tendency of events rather than to casual circumstances, and let them habitually shun the society of others who can teach them nothing but artifice, and intimacy with whom is a warrant of suspicion. Let them keep themselves pure, and live as reasonable and immortal beings. 'Nor love thy life nor hate; but what thou livest 'Live well, how long or short; the rest permit to heaven. There is a certain lawful and scriptural disdain, if we may so express it, which should fill the mind in reference to all the lofty pretensions of wicked men who affect to be powerful in crime. "The King of Egypt is but a noise !” "The best of them is—as a briar!" This is God's estimate of the proud and daring; and it is one of the signs which He has himself given us of a good man, that in his eyes a vile person is contemned." The Great Example of embodied excellence and truth was described as separate from sinners." But in this country nearly all distinctions seem to have been lost, and almost the whole community has become diseased by the infection of a few corrupted members. “Truth has fallen in the streets and equity cannot enter." We ask with earnestness how long shall this continue, how long shall we be trampled on by unworthy men and be deluded by their unequalled effrontery? Is conscience silenced and courage lost? Are the untainted rulers of this country, are the men of virtue and honor among us, afraid to deal with the evils which contaminate society, and degrade commerce? Well may we echo the cry of the moralist : "In Christian hearts, oh for a Pagan zeal !" We permit here without public censure, conduct which would have been denounced in Heathen Rome, conduct which supplies the Hindu and the Mussulman with the most galling reply the Christian Minister can receive: "These swindlers are your Christians,-Physician heal thyself!" Shall this disgrace continue? Are we to witness another long course of commercial dishonesty, and another and worse commercial crisis? Our hope is sanguine that the end of this atrocious sytem is at hand, and that better men and better principles will soon have sway in this country. But if a result so long desired and so long delayed is to be attained, each man for himself must do his duty fearlessly. He may be brow-beaten by some, he may be ridiculed by others, but assuredly in the end he will know that he has gained much if he sacrifice the friendship of the associates who thus trouble and oppose him. For ourselves our stand has long ago been taken, and we can sincerely testify that the smiles of worldly society are not necessary to happiness, and that the excitement of its extravagant pleasures induce delirium rather than joy. We can say as Lord Chesterfield said after his career of apparent felicity and grandeur: “I have been behind the scenes. I have seen all the coarse pullies and dirty ropes, and smelt the tallow candles which illuminate the whole decoration to the astonishment and admiration of the ignorant multitude. When I reflect back on what I have seen, what I have heard, and what I have done, I can hardly persuade. myself that all this frivolous hurry and bustle, and pleasure of the world, had any reality. I look upon all that is past as one of those romantic dreams which opium commonly occasions, and I do, by no means, desire to repeat the nauseous dose for the sake of the fugitive dream!" This is the language of experience the experience of one whose lessons were learned under the most favorable circumstances. And if such be the result of a knowledge of the world in its greatest and grandest displays, much more may we expect to be dissatisfied if we live on the favor of a small vitiated community, where our aristocracy is manufactured by temporary incomes squandered in extravagance, and where vulgar tastes and groundless pretensions too often assume the place which hereditary honors and the highest refinements of education and intercourse secure at home. To such enjoyment as such society can afford, we leave the butterflies who bask in its beams. Their time is short. There is a good day coming, and soon may its approach vindicate the honor of our country and the purity of the Christian name! ART. VI.-1. An Account, Geographical, Statistical and Historical of Orissa Proper, or Cuttack. By A. Stirling, Esq. 2. The Bengal and Agra Annual Guide and Gazeeteer. Calcutta, 1841. 3. Minute by A. J. M. Mills, Esq., on the Tributary Méhals, 1847. (Manuscript Copy.) 4. Various Official Documents (hitherto unpublished.) SOMEWHAT similar to the cloud which overshadowed the West of Europe during the tenth and eleventh centuries, when the feudal system still prevailed, was that which darkened the Cuttack Tributary Mehals,* when the province itself was conquered by the British in 1803. The administration of the Mahrattas in Cuttack, during a period of forty-seven years, had sown the seeds of "misrule, anarchy, weakness, rapacity, and violence," among the people of the province, generally; but in no parts could these enormities have proceeded in so uninterrupted a course, as in those hill estates, where chiefs reigned independent over an ignorant and fanatical race-their mountain palaces protected by nature herself;-for what the works of Vauban and Cormentaigne are to us, were those sublime forests, those rocky hills, those mountain fastnesses to them! Between the barons, then, of the middle ages, and the chiefs of the Cuttack Tributary Mehals, at the present day, there is, at least in point of circumstance and character, some resemblance; and there is little doubt that if we could go back half a century, and trace the Government in these hill estates, during that period, we would discover that its workings and effects were somewhat similar to those of the feudal system of old. Lands distributed into portions-principal officers appointed-the territory held on the sole condition of serving in the defence of the country-serving accordingly, at their own expense-the administration of justice, and collection of the revenue in peace, and the superintendence of the army in war, in the hands of the head of each district,— such are some of the leading features of the old feudal system. And what were the consequences of such a Government?-robberies and disorders; merchants cheated of their dues; a depressed state of trade; licentiousness and ignorance. Till within a very late period this has been the state of things in some portions of the Tributary Mehals of Cuttack :-and we may view with pleasure the recent operations against Ungool, * Mehal simply means a hilly, jungly country. |