business to find out either that there is a flaw in their original title, or that they have forfeited their tenure by some default of taxes or service. These free, or copy-holders, have been decidedly sufferers under Lord Cornwallis's settlement, as have also been a very useful description of people, the "Thannadars," or native agents of police, whose

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Jaghires," or rent-free lands, which were their ancient and legal provision all over India, were forgotten, and therefore seized by the Zemindars, while the people themselves became dependent on the charity of the magistrate, and degraded altogether from the place which they used formerly to hold in the village society. The permanent settlement was regarded by some as a very hasty and ill-considered business. Many undue advantages were given by it to the Zemindars, at the same time that even so far as they were concerned, it was extremely unequal, and in many instances oppressive. Like our old English land-tax, in some districts it was ridiculously low, in others, though the increase of cultivation had since brought the lands more up to the mark, it was at first ruinously high, so that, in fact, quite as many of the ancient Zemindarrie families had been ruined, as had been enriched, while taking all the districts together, the Company had been losers to the amount of many millions. I should have supposed that by its permanency at least, it had been the chief cause of the prodigious extension of cultivation, which every body allows has occurred in Bengal and Bahar since they were placed under the immediate government of the

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Company. But that increase, I was told, might be accounted for by other causes, such as the maintenance of public peace, the perfect exemption from invasion and the march of hostile armies, and the knowledge that a man was tolerably sure of reaping the immediate fruits of his labour, and that the acquisition of wealth did not expose him to the malignant attention of government. In Bahar at least, the Zemindars had not, even yet, any real confidence in the permanence of the rate, and in fact there had been in so many instances, revisions, re-measurements, re-examinations, and surcharges, that some degree of doubt was not unnatural. all these cases, indeed, fraud on the part of the original contractors had been alleged by Government, but as some of the Bahar landlords had observed, they did not hear of any abatement made by the Company in those instances where the advantage of the bargain had been notoriously on their side, while, they also observed, so long as, in the recent measure adopted by Mr. Adam, the government possessed and exercised the power of taxing the raw produce of the soil to any amount they pleased in its way to market, it was of no great advantage to the landholder that the direct land-tax remained the same.

On the whole, what I heard confirmed my previous suspicion, that the famous measure of Mr. Law was taken on an imperfect acquaintance with the interests of India, and that in the first instance at least, a decennial valuation, executed in a liberal spirit, would have avoided many inconveniences

without losing any great advantage. Mr. Templer surprised me by what he said of the size of farms in this part of India. A wealthy "Ryut," or peasant, on one of the large Zemindarries, often holds as much as 200 English acres.

August 14.-I had this morning one christening, and Mr. Corrie had several. The child I christened was a very fine boy of two years old, the son of an invalid serjeant, who came, attended by his wife, a very pretty young half-caste, and by two of his comrades and one of their wives as sponsors. All these were very well-behaved decent old men; they stayed talking with me some time; they spoke well of India, but complained of the want of some occupation for their minds. A lending library, they said, would be a great comfort to their little society. I afterwards mentioned the subject to Mr. Templer, and, I hope, put him in the proper way to get one from Government, as well as a school for such of these poor men's children, as, by any accident, were prevented from going to the Military Orphan Asylum. I understand that these old soldiers are in general men of very decent character, and though poor, brought up their families very decently. Some of them, however, are liable to sudden fits of drunkenness or infatuation, sometimes after many months of sobriety, during which nothing can keep them from brandy so long as they have either money, credit, or clothes. Monghyr is the station generally chosen by the more respectable characters, the reprobates preferring Moorshedabad. The Company give

them the choice of residing either at Moorshedabad, Monghyr, Buxar, or Chunar, and they sometimes change repeatedly before they fix.

In consequence of the intention I had expressed to have service to-morrow, Mr. Templer told me that the Baptists had given notice that their own meeting should not open, so that he said we should probably have all the Christian residents of the place and vicinity. The Baptist congregation in this neighbourhood was first collected by Mr. Chamberlain, an excellent man and most active Missionary, but of very bitter sectarian principles, and entertaining an enmity to the Church of England almost beyond belief. He used to say that Martyn, Corrie, and Thomason, were greater enemies to God, and did more harm to his cause, than fifty stupid drunken "Padre ....." inasmuch as their virtues, and popular conduct and preaching, upheld a system which he regarded as damnable, and which else must soon fall to the ground. The present preacher, Mr. Lesley, is a very mild, modest person, of a far better spirit, and scarcely less diligent among the Heathen than Chamberlain was. He has, however, as yet, had small success, having been but a very short time in the country. Mr. J. Lushington, whom I found here, has been detained some days, owing to the dandees belonging to the horse-boat running away, a practice very common on this river, these people getting their wages in advance, and then making off with them. One of the party asked Mr. Lushington whether there had been any quarrel between the dandees

and his servants, or himself; on his answering in the negative, it was observed that one fertile cause of boatmen's desertion was the ill-conduct of Europeans, who often stimulated them to do things which in their weak and clumsy boats, were really dangerous, and, against all law or right, beat them when they refused or hesitated. A general-officer was sometime since heard to boast, that when his cook-boat lagged behind, he always fired at it with ball! I suppose he took care to fire high enough, but the bare fact of putting unarmed and helpless men in fear, in order to compel them to endeavour to do what was, perhaps, beyond their power, was sufficiently unfeeling and detestable. They are, I suppose, such people as these who say that it is impossible to inspire the Hindoos with any real attachment for their employers! I am pleased with all I see of Mr. Lushington, who is gentlemanly, modest, and studious; he is going to Nusseerabad, so that it is possible we may see a good deal of each other.

August 15.-Mr. Corrie read prayers, and I preached and administered the Sacrament, in the hall of Dr. Tytler's (the garrison surgeon) house. There were, I should guess, sixty persons in the congregation, among whom were two or three natives. The Monghyr proselytes were very young persons, probably brought over by the Baptist Missionaries; Mr. Lesley and the greater part of his flock attended, but did not stay the sacrament. There were, however, between twenty and thirty communicants, all deeply impressed and attentive.