whether civil or military, under the Company's Government; and that in districts where, while the native princes remained in power, Christians were employed without scruple. Nor is this the worst; many peasants have been beaten, by authority of the English magistrates, for refusing, on a religious account, to assist in drawing the chariots of the idols on festival days; and it is only the present Collector of Tanjore who has withheld the assistance of the secular arm from the Brahmins on these occasions. The consequence is, that the Brahmins, being limited to voluntary votaries, have now often very hard work to speed the ponderous wheels of Kali and Siva through the deep lanes of this fertile country. This is, however, still the most favoured land of Brahminism, and the temples are larger and more beautiful than any which I have seen in Northern India; they are also decidedly older, but as to their very remote age, I am still incredulous.

You will have heard, perhaps, from your brother, that I had the pleasure of meeting him in Ceylon. That country might be one of the happiest, as it is one of the loveliest spots in the universe, if some of the old Dutch laws were done away, among which, in my judgement, the chief are the monopoly of cinnamon, and the compulsory labour of the peasants on the high roads, and in other species of corvées. The Candian provinces, where neither of these exist, seemed to me the most prosperous parts of the country.

You will perceive from the date and tenor of my letter, that I am again on my visitation tour; again too, I am grieved to say, separated from my family. Circumstances had detained me so late at Calcutta, that the cool season was quite spent, and it would have been tempting Heaven to take them with me, in such a journey, at this time of the year. It is indeed intensely hot, often from 98 to 100 in the shade; but I could not defer it to another year, and I thank God, continue quite well, though some of my companions have suffered, and I have been compelled to leave my surgeon behind sick at Tanjore1. My chaplain I feared, yesterday, must have remained there also, but he has now rallied. I am compelled to pass on in order to get to Travancore, where I have much curious discussion before me with the Syrian Christians, before the monsoon renders that country impassable. This I hope to accomplish, but, meantime, the hot winds are growing very oppressive, and must be much worse than they are before I reach Quilon. The hospitality, however, of Europeans in India, assures me of house-room at all the principal stations, so that there are not, I think, above 200 miles over which we must trust to the shelter of tents alone.

Ever your obliged and affectionate friend,

REGINALD CALCUTTA.

' Mr. Hyne died of an abscess in the liver the 4th of April.-ED.

IN the last letter which the Editor received from the Bishop is the following passage, in closing the volume with which, she feels that she discharges a duty equally to him and to those whose claims, if he had been spared, he would himself have brought forward in a more formal and more efficient manner.

"Will it be believed, that while the Raja kept his dominions, Christians were eligible to all the different offices of state, while now, there is an order of Government against their being admitted to any employment1! Surely we are in matters of religion the most lukewarm and cowardly people on the face of the earth. I mean to make this and some other things which I have seen, a matter of formal representation to all the three Governments of India, and to the Board of Control."

1 Extract from Regulations of the Madras Government.

1816.

Para. 6.-The Zillah judges shall recommend to the Provincial Courts the persons whom they may deem fit for the office of District Moonsif; but no person shall be authorized to officiate as a District Moonsif, without the previous sanction of the Provincial Court, nor unless he be of the Hindoo or Mahommedan persuasion. True Extract, D. M.-ED.

APPENDIX.

CIRCULAR OF MAR IGNATIUS GEORGIUS, PATRIARCH OF ANTIOCH, TO THE BRITISH AUTHORITIES IN INDIA, RECOMMENDING TO THEIR PROTECTION HIS ENVOY,

MAR ATHANASIUS.

TO THE CHIEFS OF THE BRITISH NATION IN HINDOSTAN.

From the humble Ignatius Georgius the 4th, by the mercy of Almighty God, Patriarch of the throne of Antake (Antioch) the apostolic, the holy over the Syrians and Jacobites of Derah Zefran, and rest of the Nast.

THE SEAL.

Salutation to the most holy God, the Creator of bodies, and the releaser of souls, may this prayer be received for my dear and fortunate friends the chiefs of the countries of Hindostan, the pure, the