tagonal pavilion, also of marble, lined with the same Mosaic flowers as in the room which I first saw, with a marble fountain in the centre and a beautiful bath in a recess on one of its sides. We were then taken to the private mosque of the palace, an elegant little building also of white marble, and exquisitely carved. We went last to the 'Dewanee aum,' or hall of public audience, which is in the outer court, and where on certain occasions the Great Mogul sat in state, to receive the compliments or petitions of his subjects. This is also a splendid pavilion of marble, not unlike the other hall of audience in form, but considerably larger and open on three sides only; on the fourth is a blank wall, covered with the same Mosaic work of flowers and leaves, as I have described, and in the centre a throne, raised about 10 feet from the ground, with a small platform of marble in front, where the vizier used to stand to hand up petitions to his Majesty.” *

REMARKS ON THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.

The professed policy of the East India Company in their government over their Indian subjects, whether Christians or Jews or Mohammedans or Hindus, has been neutrality in all matters of a religious character. It was also a part of their policy to govern each class of people, according to their previous laws, and not in any way to interfere with their religious principles, rites, or usages. The laws and usages of some classes are very intolerant, and utterly inconsistent with any equitable religious toleration and protection. The laws of the Mohammedan and Hindus do not respect the rights of conscience, nor of private judgment in religious matters. If a Mohammedan should renounce his religion, their laws enjoin persecution even unto death. And if a Hindu should renounce his ancestral faith, he is declared to be an outcaste, and then, according to Hindu laws, loses all his marital, parental, social, and civil rights. He is to be expelled from his house and his home, be disowned by his family and his friends, and be deprived of every thing which in their view makes life desirable, we may almost say, which leaves it endurable.

* Heber's Journal, vol. 2, p. 297-304.

Here we see that the English in India were placed in peculiar circumstances. If they administered the government according to the previously existing laws, and any Hindu or Mohammedan in accordance with the dictates of his conscience, should change his religion, then he must suffer severe persecution, the government enforcing the intolerant and persecuting laws of these different religious systems, or quietly allowing the people to enforce them. And if the government should change these laws, with a view to secure full religious toleration and protection to such as should apostatize from their ancestral faith, then nineteen twentieths of the people would complain that the English had begun to interfere with their religion, and would soon be compelling them to renounce it. It has often been loudly and industriously proclaimed, and by many believed, though without any evidence, that the English in taking possession of the country either by treaty with the former princes, or by promises and pledges to the inhabitants, had solemnly engaged to make no changes whatever in their religion, or the laws and usages connected with it. Some English persons, high in authority, as well as many natives, affected to believe that any change in the religious laws, or interference with their superstitions, would be the signal for insurrection through all India, and not unlikely would soon terminate in the expulsion of all Europeans from the country. Such declarations were frequently and confidently made in speeches, journals, and pamphlets.

None of the Hindu superstitions have excited more horror than the rite of Suttee, and we cannot well conceive of any thing which called more urgently for the interference of the government. And yet Bengal, the part of India in which this horrid rite was the most frequent, and where 700 or 800 women were every year burnt alive with the dead bodies of their deceased husbands, had been subject to the English more than 75 years before they forbid this horrid and inhuman custom. And though no insurrection resulted from the prohibition, yet the native mind was strongly excited, public meetings were called, resolutions were passed, and memorials numerously signed were sent to the Governor-General against the law designed to put an end to this horrid rite. And when it was

seen that no means that could be used in India, would avail any thing, a large sum of money was subscribed, and an English barrister, well known in Calcutta, was sent to England to implore the interposition of the Parliament to annul the law of the Indian government forbidding Suttees. This effort showed the disposition of the native population in respect to any legislative changes in their religious customs.

The conquest and government of India by England, a country situated at such a distance, not one tenth of its size, and containing not more than one fifth of its population, form one of the most remarkable chapters in the history of the world. No nation but the English ever had the moral and intellectual power and the pecuniary means of accomplishing such a work, and in no country but India could such a work be done. England, by the conquest and government of India, has greatly increased her wealth and power. And what has been the effect upon India? On this subject there are different opinions, as all know who have read the proceedings in Parliament and the English journals, as often as the merits of the East India Company's government has come under consideration. In some respects, the change of India's having become subject to England, is of advantage. There is now general religious toleration and protection for all classes of people who live in the English territories, a state of freedom or liberty which never existed, and which could scarcely be expected ever to exist, certainly not for a long time to come, under any native government, Mohammedan or Hindu. This is certainly a great change, and cannot but prove of great advantage in various ways to the country. Again there is more security to life and property, better laws and better administration of justice under the English government, than there was generally, perhaps better than there ever was, under the native governments. The country is preserved in a state of more quietness in respect to internal difficulties and agitations and to external wars, than it was when under a number of separate and independent native governments, or than when nearly all India was subject, as it once was, to the emperors of Delhi.

In the early history of the East India Company, many ample fortunes were soon acquired in India. Salaries, mercantile

adventures, monopolies, presents from native princes for political influence, and bribes for judicial favor, all contributed to enrich the fortune-seekers in India. The East India Company also often paid large sums of money from the revenues of India to persons and parties for which the public in England and in India could see no sufficient reasons. Near the close of the

last century various laws and regulations were passed by Parliament and the Directors of the Company, restraining the official conduct of the agents, and defining their privileges, rights, and duties. These laws reduced the affairs of India to system and order, and exacted responsibility from those who administered them. Since the commencement of this century, there has seldom been any good reason for complaint of the abuse of power or confidence in the European agents of the government. Large fortunes are now often accumulated in India, but they are the avails of salaries which are large in the service of the government, or of legitimate mercantile pursuits in which the English, from their superior knowledge of business and foreign commercial connections, have many advantages over the natives.

The lower and middle classes (if there can be said to be any middle class in India), are better satisfied with the English government than the higher classes. The former are better protected than they were under the native governments, while they are as well rewarded for their labor. Formerly, all places of honor and emoluments were in the hands of the higher classes of natives, but now, all the power and the high situations are in the hands of the English and are filled by them. The fixed salaries and emoluments of office generally, under the native governments were not large, often not so large as some natives now obtain in the service of the English government, but the honor and the number of persons employed were much greater. Many were employed merely to furnish them with the means of support, and to secure their good-will and influence. But the policy of the English is to employ no more natives than are necessary to do their work, while the order and system they have introduced into all the departments of the government, enable them to accomplish the same work with far less help. The salary of an English secretary of the government, or a judge, or a collector of the revenue, is often sufficient to support 100 native families in

respectable style, and this sum, under native governments, would be distributed among many families and support them comfortably and respectably, who now for want of employment are often in very straitened circumstances.*

But while many of the higher classes, who formerly found employment and support in connection with their governments, and who feel from their caste, or social position or family connections that they still have a claim for similar favor from the present English government, are dissatisfied because this claim is not realized, there is a portion of the higher class who are more satisfied with the present state of matters and the course of the government. This class consists of the wealthy merchants, bankers, and those who live upon invested and accumulated property. These classes are better protected in their property and all their rights than they would be under any native government. These classes of people live in the large cities, chiefly in Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, and their suburbs. The native governments were often very oppressive to these classes of people, not unfrequently exacting heavy and arbitrary contributions of money, and sometimes seizing and confiscating all their property for some merely pretended reason. No such arbitrary oppression and violence have ever been suffered under the English government in India, and none are feared. This is is a kind of protection, which those can appreciate who enjoy it, and as these classes are generally wealthy and intelligent, their opinions and influence do much to strengthen the English government in the country. Still these classes regard the expenses of the government, especially of the European agency, as much too high, and urgently requiring reduction. They also complain, and not without good reasons for it, that the English government has done but little to develop the natural resources of the country. Yet as they enjoy protection and security of life and property, and as the taxes bear more heavily upon the agricultural than upon the commercial and wealthy population, few of this class of persons would wish to change the English for any native government.

There has long been much dissatisfaction among the mercan

* See pages 300-304. Also Pamphlets on Indian Reform, No. 1 to 6.