The consequence is, as I have stated to your Grace, that, so far as soldiers are concerned, the canons and Bishop Middleton's injunctions have, in most parts of India, remained a dead letter. The Chaplains have, nearly without exception, gone on in their former course of marrying soldiers and camp-followers on the simple certificate of the officers commanding the regiments to which they belong. They plead in excuse for this conduct, that a similar liberty is used by all his Majesty's military Chaplains, when on foreign service; that the marriage-act does not extend to India, and the canons are inapplicable, while an attempt to enforce them would embroil them with the military officers, on whose good-will depends all their comfort, and much of their usefulness, at the same time, that it would act as a direct encouragement to vice, and produce much inconvenience and misery to many helpless individuals.

Your Grace will have already perceived that I regard their case as a strong one, and I trust that I shall not be thought to have gone too far in my compliance to the necessities of the country in the following rules, which I have forwarded through the Archdeacon for the provisional guidance of the Clergy, till your Grace's further directions could be obtained, for which I at the same time stated my purpose of applying.

The first rule permits Chaplains to "celebrate the marriages of military persons, soldiers, female followers of the camp, suttlers, and others subject to martial law, under the rank of commissioned

officers, without banns or licence, and by virtue of a written permission signed by the commanding officer of the station, garrison, or detachment, to which such soldier or military person belongs." The second provides, that "such permission must be presented to the officiating Clergyman at least two days before the celebration of the marriage, unless, for some urgent cause, he may see fit to be satisfied with a shorter notice." The third directs the Clergyman, " if any doubts arise as to the propriety of the connexion, to make enquiry without delay, both personally from the parties, and otherwise; and should it appear to him that any lawful impediment exists, to suspend the ceremony till farther satisfaction, reporting the same immediately to the Commanding Officer, and, if need be, to the Archdeacon and the Bishop."

Your Grace will observe that I have directed the Clergy to receive the certificate of permission not (as now) from the Commanding Officers of regiments, but from the Commandant of the station, garrison, or detachment. My reason is, that this last is the usual person whom the Chaplain has to consult, and from whom he receives communications connected with the military part of his flock, and that I have found it desireable that, so far as can be done, all other military officers should be prevented from interfering on any ground with the Chaplain in the performance of his duties. And it is also probable, that in any difficulty which may arise as to the marriage of a soldier, the Commandant of the station will be more free from

undue bias, and more open to the Chaplain's objections. I have also thought it necessary to assign some period for the previous notice, in order to give the Chaplain time for seeing the parties, and making any enquiries which may be necessary.

With the same view of publicity I have suggested to his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief the propriety of having the names of all soldiers or military persons intending to marry, inserted in the orderly-book of their regiment or detachment, and read at the head of companies, at least four days before the celebration of the ceremony. That the permission to marry shall proceed from the officer commanding the regiment or detachment in the first instance, and having received the signature of the officer commanding the station, &c. be forwarded by him to the Chaplain, and that both these officers, be especially desired to make due enquiries as to the fitness of the union, and, more particularly, their age, condition, &c.

The measure which I have yet ventured on relates to military persons only beneath the rank of officers, inasmuch as the inconveniences which they suffered were the greatest, and they were the only description of persons from whom I had a direct complaint; while I was sensible that any thing which should extend further would be likely to produce a jealousy in the supreme courts, and might possibly (from its consequences with property, inheritance, &c.) lead to consequences which I was myself unable to foresee.

Your Grace will not fail, however, to observe,

that there are many subaltern officers to whom the payment of so high licence fees may be very inconvenient, while the publication of their banns is liable to the same difficulties as those of the soldier. And there are very many persons in India engaged in civil or commercial pursuits, in whose case the publication of banns is quite nugatory, while their means and rank in life are by no means such as to make a licence procurable or even proper.

There are many thousand families of what are called the "half caste," or "country-born," scattered up and down India, engaged in the cultivation of indigo, or employed in the different studs, farms, silk manufactories, &c. which the Government have established in their territories. A Christian of this description may be resident (where there are many such) in an humble sphere of life at Etawah, or Mynpooree, in the Dooab. If he desires to marry a female of his own degree, he must now, if the canons be complied with, go to keep a residence at Agra, where the nearest Chaplain resides, a distance of seventy miles from his home and property, in order that his banns may be published. Now, not to mention that such an absence from home would be ruinous, perhaps, in more ways than one, to both the parties, it is plain that the publication of banns so far from his own neighbourhood, and in a place where his face, and perhaps his name, is unknown, could answer no good purpose. On the other hand, if he prefers a licence, he must get two householders in Calcutta, a city which he has never seen, and from which he

is distant eight hundred miles, to make oath, and enter into a bond that he and his intended wife are of full age, and that there is no impediment to their union, and he is to pay high fees for an instrument, the issuers of which can know nothing of him or his connexions.

Accordingly, a man thus situated either goes to the nearest station for merely the day of marriage, having the banns published in his absence and pro forma, or watches the opportunity of some Chaplain passing through his neighbourhood, in which case he endeavours, generally with success, to persuade him to marry him without either banns or licence, though never, (as I am assured) without enquiry; or he has recourse to some of the neighbouring Priests, who ask no questions at all, or to the lay Magistrates, among whom there are many who feel a great reluctance, and some who display a very unfortunate facility in undertaking, not only this but other ecclesiastical functions.

I once was inclined to suggest as a remedy for these mischiefs the appointment of a sufficient number of Surrogates. To this, however, there are in the present state of India many objections. If these Surrogates were appointed by the Bishop, the legality of their licences would be hotly contested by the Supreme Court, a contest in which Bishop Middleton was by no means encouraged to embark, and which would very possibly lead to a painful and mischievous disunion between the Bishop and his Majesty's judges. If the Supreme Court had the appointment, I really do not know