of jurymen of each caste, taking particular care that no juryman is summoned out of his turn, or so as to interfere with any agricultural or manufacturing pursuits in which he may be occupied, or with any religious ceremony at which his caste may require his attendance. On the first day of the session the names of all the jurymen who are summoned are called over, and the jurymen, as well as all the Magistrates and Police-officers, attend in Court, and hear the charge delivered by the Judges. The prisoners are then arraigned; every prisoner has a right to be tried by thirteen jurymen of his own caste, unless some reason why the prisoner should not be tried by jurymen of his own caste, can be urged to the satisfaction of the Court by the advocate-fiscal, who on Ceylon holds an office very nearly similar to that held in Scotland by the Lord Advocate, or unless the prisoner himself, from believing people of his own caste to be prejudiced against him, should apply to be tried either by thirteen jurymen of another caste, or by a jury composed of half-caste, or European. As soon as is decided of what caste the jury is to be composed, the register of the Court puts into an urn, which stands in a conspicuous part of the Court, a very considerable number of the names of jurymen of that out of which the jury is to be formed; he continues to draw the names out of the urn, the prisoner having a right to object to five peremptorily, and to any number for cause, until he has drawn the names of thirteen jurymen who have not been objected to. These thirteen jurymen are then sworn according to the form of their respective religions, to decide upon the case according to the evidence, and without partiality.

The advocate-fiscal then opens the case for the prosecution (through an interpreter, if necessary) to the Judge, and proceeds to call all the witnesses for the prosecution, whose evidence is taken down (through an interpreter, if necessary) in hearing of the jury, by the Judge, the jury having a right to examine, and the prisoner to cross-examine any of the witnesses; when the case for the prosecution is closed, the prisoner states what he has to urge in his defence, and calls his witnesses, the jury having a right to examine, and the prosecutor to cross-examine them, their evidence being taken down by the Judge; the prosecutor is seldom or ever, except in very particular cases, allowed to reply, or call any witnesses in reply. The case for the prosecution and for the prisoner being closed, the Judge (through an interpreter, when necessary) recapitulates the evidence to the jury from his notes, adding such observations from himself as may occur to him on the occasion; the jury, after deliberating upon the case, either in the jury-box, or if they wish to retire, in a room close to the Court, deliver their verdict through their foreman in open Court, that verdict being the opinion of the majority of them; the most scrupulous care being taken that the jury never separate nor communicate with any person whatever from the moment they are sworn, till their verdict, having been de

livered as aforesaid, has been publicly recorded by the register. The number of Native jurymen of every caste on Ceylon is so great, and a knowledge before hand what persons are to compose a jury in any particular case, is so uncertain, that it is almost impossible for any person, whatever may be his influence in the country, either to bias or to corrupt a jury. The number of jurymen that are returned by the fiscal or sheriff to serve at each session, the impartial manner in which the names of the jurymen are drawn, the right which the prisoner and prosecutor may exercise of objecting to each juryman as his name is drawn, the strictness which is observed by the Court in preventing all communication between the jurymen when they are once sworn, and every other person till they have delivered their verdict, give great weight to their decision. The Native jurymen being now judges of fact, and the European Judges only judges of law, one European Judge only is now necessary, where formerly, when they were judges both of law and fact, two, or sometimes three, were necessary. The Native jurymen, from knowing the different degrees of weight which may safely be given to the testimony of their countrymen, decide upon questions of fact, with so much more promptitude than Europeans could do, that since the introduc tion of trial by jury, no trial lasts above a day, and no session above a week or ten days at furthest; whereas, before the introduction of trial by jury, a single trial used sometimes to last six weeks or two months, and a single session not unfrequently for three months. All the Natives who attend the Courts as jurymen obtain so much information, during their attendance, relative to the modes of proceeding and the rules of evidence, that, since the establishment of jury-trial, Government have been enabled to find amongst the halfcastes and Native jurymen, some of the most efficient and respectable Native Magistrates in the country, who, under the control of the Supreme Court, at little or no expense to Government, administer justice in inferior offences to the Native inhabitants.

The introduction of the trial by Native juries, at the same time that it has increased the efficiency and dispatch of the Courts, and has relieved both prisoners and witnesses from the hardships which they incurred from the protracted delay of the criminal sessions, has, independent of the savings it enabled the Ceylon Government to make immediately on its introduction, since afforded that Government an opportunity of carrying into effect, in the judicial department of the island, a plan for a permanent saving of ten thousand pounds a year, as appears by my report, quoted in page 8 of the printed collection of papers herewith sent. No man whose character for honesty or veracity is impeached can be enrolled on the list of jurymen; the circumstance of a man's name being upon the jury-roll is a proof of his being a man of unexceptionable character, and is that to which he appeals in case his character be attached in a court of justice, or in case he solicits his Government for promotion in their service

as the rolls of jurymen are revised by the Supreme Court at every session, they operate as a most powerful engine in making the people of the country more attentive than they used to be in their adherence to truth; the right of sitting upon juries has given the Natives of Ceylon a value for character, which they never felt before, and has raised, in a very remarkable manner, the standard of their moral feelings. All the Natives of Ceylon who are enrolled as jurymen, conceive themselves to be as much a part, as the European Judges themselves are, of the Government of their country, and therefore feel, since they have possessed the right of sitting upon juries, an interest which they never felt before in upholding the British Government of Ceylon.

The beneficial consequence of this feeling is strongly exemplified in the difference between the conduct which the Native inhabitants of the British settlements on Ceylon observed in the Kandian war of 1803, and that which they observed in the Kandian war of 1816. In the war between the British and Kandian Government in 1803, which was before the introduction of trial by jury, the Native inhabitants of the British settlements were, for the most part, in a state of rebellion in the war between the same Governments in 1816, which was five years after the introduction of trial by jury, the inhabitants of the British settlements, so far from showing the smallest symptom of dissatisfaction, took, during the very heat of the war, the opportunity of my return to England, to express their gratitude through me to the British Government, for the valuable right of sitting upon the juries, which had been conferred upon them by his present Majesty, as appears by the addresses contained from page 6, to page 59, in the printed papers herewith sent. The charge delivered by my successor, the present Chief Justice of the island, in 1820, contains the strongest additional testimony which could be afforded of the beneficial effects which were experienced by the British Government from the introduction of trial by jury, amongst the Natives of the island; (see that charge in pages 289 and 290 of vol. x. of the Asiatic Journal.') As every Native juryman, wherever his caste or religion may be, or in whatever part of the country he may reside, appears before the Supreme Court once at least every two years, and as the Judge who presides delivers a charge at the opening of each session to all the jurymen who are in attendance on the Court, a useful opportunity is afforded to the Natives of the country by the introduction of trial by jury, not only of participating themselves, in the administration of justice, but also of hearing any observations which the Judges, in delivering their charge, may think proper to make to them with respect to any subject which is connected, either with the administration of justice, or with the state of society or morals in any part of the country.

The difference between the conduct which was observed by all the proprietors of slaves on Ceylon in 1806, which was before the

introduction of trial by jury, and that which was observed by them in 1816, which was five years after the introduction of trial by jury, is a strong proof of the change which may be brought about in public opinion by the Judges availing themselves of the opportunity which their charging the jury on the first day of session affords them of circulating amongst the Natives of the country, such opinions as may promote the welfare of any particular class of society. As the right of every proprietor of slaves to continue to hold slaves on Ceylon, was guaranteed to him by the capitulation under which the Dutch possessions had been surrendered to the British arms in 1794, the British Government of Ceylon conceived, that however desirable the measure might be, they had not a had not a right to abolish slavery on Ceylon by any legislative act; a proposition was, however, made on the part of Government ent by me, to the proprietors of the in 1806, before trial by jury was introduced, urging them to adopt OB slaves some plan of their own accord for the gradual abolition of slavery; this proposition, they at that time unanimously rejected; the right of sitting upon juries was granted to the inhabitants of Ceylon in 3181 hel odw nom bas 1950 90 to obпos 90 to bus --From that period I availed myself of the opportunities which were afforded to me, when I delivered my charge at the commencement of each session to the jurymen, most of whom

[able proprietors of slaves, of informing them of what was doiner

in England upon the subject of the abolition of slavery, and of pointing lout to them the difficulties which they themselves must frequently experience, in executing with impartiality their duties as jurymen, in all cases in which slaves were concerned; a change of opinion upon the subject of slavery was gradually perceptible amongst them, and in the year 1816, the proprietors of slaves of all castes and religious persuasions in Ceylon, sent me their unanimous resolutions to be publicly recorded in Court, declaring free, all children born of their slaves of the 12th of August 1816, which, in the course of a very few years, must put an end to the state of slavery which had subsisted on Ceylon for more than three centuries.lione

2

SIEGE!

SERVICES OF King's and Company's, Troops; aT{ THEĐ of BhuRTPORE, ed orziqo scen

[Communicated from India for publication in the Oriental Herald.]; 4511 O CONSIDERABLE misconception having gone abroad concerning his Majesty's 14th regiment having rendered aid to the column of attack commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John Delamain, whilst making an assault upon the bastion (it could not be called a breach) to the left of the Jhungeenah gate of Bhurtpore, it is the duty of an impartial observer to correct such misrepresentations as may have obtained to the prejudice of that completely successful, gallant, and distinguished column.

: 1

In order to give, the reader a clear and comprehensive understanding of the service performed by Lieutenant-Colonel Delamain's column, and of the conduct of the officers and men who led that attack, it is to refer to the arrangements which were con

templated for the cault, several days previous to its having taken

place.

His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief had wisely determined to have two strong columns of attack upon the two practicable breaches the right to be under the direction of Major-General T. Reynell, C. B,; the left under the direction of Major-General Jasper Nicolls, C. B., with several other smaller columns of demonstration to flank those two principal columns, and to divert the attention and the fire of the enemy from them, as much as possible, during the assault...

to The party to have flanked Major-General Reynell's column on the right by the first intended arrangement, was to have been commanded, at the suggestion of the Major-General, by Captain (now Major) J. Hunter, of the 58th regiment of Native infantry, and to have consisted of the left grenadier company of the 58th (his own), the light company of the 58th, Lieutenant Mee, 100 men of the Goorkah regiment, Lieutenant Kirke, and a European company not then named. This was in agitation from the 15th in the evening, until the evening of the 17th previous to the storm; but Captain Hunter having in confidence communicated the arrangement likely to take place in regard to himself, to the two gallant young officers of artillery, Lieutenants Garrett and Wilson, in charge of the right extreme batteries, they played their guns so successfully on the 17th upon the curtain where the assault afterwards took place, that his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, on visiting the batteries in the afternoon of the 17th, thought it advisable to strengthen the above intended party for Hunter's command to a more formidable force. Consequently, five companies of the 58th regiment