up by Sir W. Jones. Of the English criminal law, those Hindoos with whom I have conversed speak highly, and think it a great security to live in Calcutta where this prevails. The local judges (who are all English) are often very popular, and in general the people seem to allow that justice is honestly administered; and my informants have spoken of the advantages possessed in these respects by the Company's subjects over those of Oude, or their own former condition under the Mussulmans. In these points I have drawn my information partly from a few of the wealthy natives, who occasionally visit me, partly from my own servants, whom I have encouraged to speak on such subjects, in some small degree from what I have

picked up in my rides and walks round this place,

and still more from the different Missionaries who mix with the lower classes, and speak their language more fluently than most Europeans besides. Perhaps, as I myself improve in the language, I may find that I have been in some points misinformed or mistaken, but I think the accounts which I have had seem not unlikely to be correct, and their result is decidedly favourable both as to the general condition of this country, and the spirit in which it is governed. With regard to the questions which have lately occupied a good deal of the public attention, the free press, and the power of sending back Europeans to England at pleasure, so far as these bear on the condition of the natives, and the probable tranquillity of the country, I have more to say than I have now time

for. On the whole, I think it still desireable that, in this country, the newspapers should be licensed by Government, though from the increased interest which the Hindoos and Mussulmans take in politics, and the evident fermentation which, either for good or evil, is going on in the public mind, I do not think the measure can be long continued. But the power of deportation is, I am convinced, essential to the public peace. Many of the adventurers who come hither from Europe, are the greatest profligates the sun ever saw; men whom nothing but despotism can manage, and who, unless they were really under a despotic rule, would insult, beat, and plunder the natives without shame or pity. Even now many instances occur of insult and misconduct, for which the prospect of immediate embarkation for Europe is the most effectual precaution or remedy. It is, in fact, the only controul which the Company possesses over the tradesmen and ship-builders in Calcutta, and the indigo planters up the country.

Believe me, dear Sir,

Ever your obliged and affectionate,

Tittyghur, Jan. 27, 1824.

R. CALCUTTA.

TO SIR ROBERT H. INGLIS, BART.

MY DEAR INGLIS,

Tittyghur, January 27, 1824.

I have not now time to write more than a few lines, yet I think you will not be sorry to hear of our well-doing.

*

Out of the fort and streets of Calcutta, which are, and always must be, " black holes," the climate of India is, at this season, really delightful, and scarcely to be equalled, I think, by any which Europe can offer. But alas, the time is again drawing near when we must descend from Meru Mountain, to dwell, for four months, at least," with a fire in our heart, and a fire in our brain," for such the approaching hot season is represented to be. I am, however, well content with my situation, and almost all its circumstances: and though the good to be done must be, for the most part, of a very silent kind, and one whose fruits may not be apparent till the present race of husbandmen, and, possibly, many after them, shall be gone to rest, yet any man may count himself highly honoured in being thought worthy to labour here, however obscurely. A good deal of my attention, during my short residence, has been paid to the different sects of Oriental Christians, particularly the Greeks and Armenians, of whom a greater number than I had expected reside both in Calcutta and Dacca, and of whom many solitary individuals are scattered all

over the East. I find their Clergy well pleased by being noticed, and not unwilling to borrow books, &c., and trust that, eventually, some more extensive good may be done by these means.

Dear Inglis,

ever your obliged and faithful friend,

REGINALD CALCUTTA.

TO THE REV. E. T. S. HORNBY.

February 5, 1824.

MY DEAR FRIEnd,

Among the clergy I have several well-informed and amiable men, who are sincerely zealous in their calling, and active in the improvement both of their own countrymen, and the heathen. We are, however, sadly too few for the work before us. Of the small number of Chaplains which the Company supplies, nearly half are absent on furlough for ill health, and the few Missionaries. are quite unequal to supply the vacancies thus occasioned in many important stations, even if it were possible or desireable to withdraw them from their appropriate sphere of action, and more particularly, from the management of those schools

which are, of all others, the most likely means to open the eyes, and ameliorate the worldly and spiritual condition of the vast multitudes who are now not merely willing to receive, but absolutely courting, instruction. It is, in fact, the want of means on the part of the teachers, and not any of that invincible repugnance so often supposed to exist on the part of the Hindoos, which, in my opinion, must make the progress of the Gospel slow in India. Those who think otherwise have, I suspect, either never really desired the improvement which they affect to regard as impossible, or, by raising their expectations, in the first instance, too high, have been the cause of their own disappointment. We cannot work miracles, and it is idle to suppose that thirty or forty Missionaries, (for this is, perhaps, the full number, including all Protestant sects throughout all India,) can have, in ten or a dozen years, (for a longer time has scarcely occurred since the work was set about in good earnest,) so much as conveyed the name of the Gospel to more than a very small part of a nation containing 100,000,000 inhabitants, and scattered over a country of 1,500,000 square miles. It is no less idle to expect that any nation, or any great numbers in a nation, will change the ancient system of faith at once, or otherwise than by very slow degrees, and with great reluctance, a reluctance not likely to be lessened when the new creed is offered them by a race of foreign conquerors, speaking their language, for the most part, very imperfectly. But we have found, in spite of these obstacles, that some Hin