British principles of taxation are introduced, British principles of Government, and British privileges, ought to accompany and reconcile them to the evil.

The revenues in India are not raised, as in England, from taxes voluntarily imposed by the people; they belong to Government by right, and are held and raised independently of the will of the governed. The East India Company found the Eastern system of finance in full force, and they have rigidly adhered to it as most productive, and perhaps best suited to the habits of the Natives, and the state of the country. The land is the great source of revenue; the right to the soil remains in the Government, and the whole population may be considered as tenantry, who reserve what is sufficient for existence, and render the residue to the ruling power. Where such a system exists, your petitioners submit, that it would be absurd in principle, and intolerable in practice, to superadd general taxation, as it prevails in England. Your petitioners verily believe, that the Stamp Regulation is only introductory to a system of general and oppressive taxation. The annual revenue expected to be realized from stamps is only computed at 6 lacs, (60,000l.,) and your petitioners cannot suppose that Government would have deemed it politic or wise to spread alarm and discontent by the exercise of a power both obnoxious and dubious, unless some greater return were contemplated.

Besides the territorial revenue, which constitutes nearly threefourths of the Indian finance, there are the great monopolies of salt and opium, duties of custom, and profits derived from trade. Your petitioners aver that these have hitherto been regarded as the only sources of Indian revenue. That the various statutes regulating and appropriating the finance of the country, advert to none other : and that general taxation has never been contemplated as a source of revenue, even in the interior where the power of Government is without limit or control. Your petitioners need not urge, that to each of these sources of revenue they mainly contribute. They are told in the reply of Government, that customs, though paid in the first instance by the merchant, fall ultimately on the consumer; and they should have thought that the same reasoning would render it equally obvious, that rent of land revenue, though paid by the cultivator of the soil, must fall on the consumer of the produce. Your petitioners will not trouble your Honourable House by details s; but such of them as are British-born cannot refrain from stating, that for the cultivation of indigo alone, the British merchants of Calcutta advance annually nearly two millions sterling. This fact is well known to Government, and the results, as affecting both territorial revenue and customs, will appear from inspection of the public accounts. It was believed by your petitioners who are Britishborn, that the Government could not have overlooked or undervalued such a cause of public prosperity and public revenue; and they had

hoped that the value of British capital and British industry pervading the Indian Empire, would have been acknowledged and admitted; and that they would not have been taunted with enjoying security and protection from establishments to the support of which they contribute nothing.

'In conclusion, your petitioners submit, that the power against which they respectfully but earnestly protest, is illegal, impolitic, and unjust. That the facts adduced in its support are erroneous, and the reasoning fallacious and inapplicable. Such of your petitioners, in particular, as are British-born, feel that their rights have been violated, and their property declared subject to constant and undefined invasion, without any intimation of the evil while it approaches, and without any means of address when it arrives. Thus situated, your petitioners have no tribunal to which they can appeal for relief, except the Parliament of Great Britain. Before your Honourable House, they humbly lay their wrongs and their entreaties; and although half the world intervenes between them and the seat of your councils, they feel confident that the distant voice of respectful remonstrance will be heard within your walls, and that protection afforded, which is not limited to climate or to colour, but equally extended to all living under British rule, whether in the East or in the West. Your petitioners, therefore, humbly pray that Parliament will be pleased to pass an Act, declaring that the 53 Geo. III. c. 155. s. 98, 99, is limited to duties of customs, and that such statute does not empower the Governor-General in Council, with the sanction of the Court of Directors and Board of Control, to impose any taxes within Calcutta, other than duties of customs; or for such other relief as to the wisdom of your Honourable House shall seem fit, and that your petitioners may be heard by their counsel at the bar of your Honourable House in support of their petition; and your petitioners shall ever pray,

GENERAL SUMMARY OF THE LATEST INTELLIGENCE CONNECTED WITH THE EASTERN WOrld.

THE latest Papers that have reached this country from India since our last, extend to the 20th of July from Bengal, the 2d of August from Madras, and the 12th of August from Bombay. The principal topics adverted to in these, we have made the subject of sepa→ rate consideration in the original articles of the present Number. But as there is generally much in the miscellaneous paragraphs of Indian News that is interesting to English readers, we select the most striking of those contained in the Papers before us, beginning from the earliest date in June, and extending through July and August to the date of the latest received.

One of the earliest of these Papers contains the following account of the origin of the war in the Punjab, in a more detailed manner than we have hitherto seen it stated, and which we therefore transcribe at length:

By advices from the Punjab, we learn that the war which has been so long impending between Raja Runjeet Sinh, and the Afghan chiefs, has at last occurred, and actual hostilities have taken place. The Native papers have, for some time past, adverted, although indistinctly, to the state of affairs in this quarter, and it appears that various causes have contributed to occasion disturbances. In the first instance, some dissension occurred between Jay Sinh of Atara, and Raja Seuchet Sinh, commanding a force upon the Atok, originating in private pique, felt by the former against Mian Dhian Sinh, the brother of the latter, some years since, on which occasion Jay Sinh entered the service of Peshawer, but subsequently returned to his allegiance; the parties came to blows, in which Seuchet was defeated, but no consequences seem to have followed the transaction, all other consideration giving way to the insurrection of the Afghan tribes, headed by a religious fanatic, and secretly encouraged by the ruler of Peshawer.

'The ostensible chief is Syed Ahmed Ali, a native of Bareilly, and well known as a turbulent character. Having left India on a pilgrimage to Mecca, he has passed his time, on his return, in Sindh, and the countries on the Western frontiers, preaching a crusade against the infidels of Hindoostan, and latterly, in Afganistan, it should appear, with some success, having assembled a force of Yusef-zeis and Nur-zeis chiefly, in three divisions, one under his personal command, and the other two under that of Maulavi Ismaiel and Abul Hye. His movements were watched during the carly part of February, by Boodh Sinh, with a Sikh force, and several petty affairs took place, in the course of which Boodh Sinh advanced to Akora, beyond Atok, the Syed being encamped at Noshera, a

short distance on his front with between 30,000 and 40,000 men. Yar Mohammed Khan at first disavowed all connection with Syed Ahmed, but at last threw off the mask and joined him at Noshera. The force with Boodh Sinh was at first but 4000 men, but on these occurrences becoming known at Lahore, reinforcements had been sent to him, making his army between 15,000 and 20,000 men. The enemy threatening to cut off his communications, he fell back upon the Indus, near to the village of Seydoo, where he was attacked by the whole force of the Mohammedans, amounting, according to some accounts, to 90,000 infantry and 10,000 horse, on the 21st of February. The greater part of this host being ill armed, and worse organized, made no impression on the Sikh troops, who, after re- ‹ pelling two desperate but disorderly attacks upon their position, advanced to the charge with great determination, and put the enemy to the route. In the flight great numbers were sabred by the Rajah's cavalry, and a body that had taken shelter in the village of Saydoo, was surrounded and entirely destroyed. The Mohammedans lost eight pieces of artillery and about 100 swivels, and their camp was: plundered by the victors. It was not known in what direction the chiefs had fled. In consequence of the victory, the regular battalions and foot artillery, which had been sent off to join the army, had been remanded, .but Monsieur Ventura had been ordered to advance to Peshawer, and occupy the balahissar, or citadel, whilst Monsieur Allard, with the cavalry, was instructed to join the Prince Sheher Sinh, and remain with his force at Hesht Nagar near Peshawer. It was thought propable that the enemy would not be able to make head against the Rajah's troops, the dispersion having been complete. The date of these advices is the beginning of March. At this time the Rajah's health continued much the same, and he was uuable, to his great regret, to take the field. He was living in tents in the gardens to the east and north-east of Lahore, in which he was frequently shifting his quarters; latterly, they were near the Sumun Burj, on the bank of the small branch of the Ravi, which washes the north-west extremity of the city. Another French officer, we learn, has lately joined the Rajah's service, and one, on his way to Lahore, is still detained at Peshawer.'

The following account of the insurrection in Tartary, from the same Paper, will be deemed interesting:

We lately adverted to the insurrection in Chinese Tartary, upon the authority of the Malacca Observer.' Ili or Gulja, the headquarters of the Chinese military government of that country, is but little known, and the following account of it, from the Magasin Asiatique,' may not be uninteresting at this moment. The only notice of it, we remember to have seen elsewhere, is given by Mr. Moorcroft's Moonshee,' and precursor, Izzet Ullah, a translation of whose interesting travels is to be found in the Calcutta 'Quarterly Magazine.' As, however, Izzet Ullah did not visit Ili, his notice is less satisfactory than that which Klaproth has published.

Oriental Herald, Vol. 16.

M

The following account of the place is given by Poutimstew, who was there in 1811z les

* Gulja, or Gulja Kure, called also Jang-Khiun Khoto, or city of the military government, is built upon the right bank of the Ili, which is here very lofty. The river rises at the distance of two hundred versts in the Tekes and Talki mountains, and empties itself into the Balkhchi lake. Gulja is surrounded by a wall of square stones, three toises high, without a ditch or outworks, with the exception of a brick wall, extending along the banks of Ili for about one hundred toises, and much delapidated. This city, although the seat of the Government, is not at all superior to those of Yarkend, Khotan, and Koucha, inhabited by Mohammedans or Kashmir of the Kera Katay or Bayarder of the Manchoos. It contains about ten thousand houses, few of which are of any size, and the streets are narrow and dirty. There are several splendid temples, in which shows and entertainments are exhibited daily. The Mohammedans have several mosques. The principal part of the population is formed of the people called by the Chinese Kara Kitai Nogonlouk, and Topgan. The last consider themselves to be the descendants of the soldiers of Timur Askak, or Tamerlane. They are bigoted Islamites, but speak Chinese, and have adopted all the vices as well as the dress and habits of that nation.

'When the Chinese became masters of the six Mohammedan cities, Yarkend, Kashghar, Khoten, Kouna-urphen, Turfan, and Oochi, about sixty years ago, they sent one thousand men from each city, and six thousand more from different Tartar tribes, to the territory of Gulja, in order to cultivate the ground to raise grain for the troops stationed there. A small portion of these were fixed in the town, the rest were scattered over the adjacent country.

'Although the resident population of Gulja is still inconsiderable, it is a place of great resort, being the mart at which merchants from the heart of China meet those from western Asia, or from Bukharia Kokend, Mirgilan, Taskend, and even from Kashmir and Hindoostan. The latter bring inferior muslin, silk-cottons, shawls, and white cotton cloth, called beize. The traders take up their quarters without the town, the streets of which are always crowded with traders and artisans, and well supplied with taverns and tea-drinking houses. Travellers and unmarried men invariably dine and sup at the taverns, and even families send to them for their meals. In the tea-rooms there is constant smoking, occasioning a heat and stench quite intolerable to those unaccustomed to them. Gambling-houses are also common, and much frequented, especially by the Topgan and Kara Katai.

"The inhabitants of Gulja, and the neighbouring towns, are industrious, and addicted to commercial pursuits. The Chinese exercise different handicrafts, and are blacksmiths, cutlers, carpenters, and jewellers. The Topgan keep inns, cultivate gardens, and are retail shop