the Oriental scholars in this and other countries, for the purpose of bringing to light texts and translations of valuable Oriental works, which may now lie in MS. in public and private libraries; and thus, by every available means, to endeavour to preserve what might otherwise be irrecoverably lost, and to make known original works and translations, which might otherwise never meet the public eye..

17. The Committee confidently expect that valuable translations will be obtained from Asia, as they feel assured that many civil and military officers residing there, have hitherto been deterred from translating Oriental works, by their having no opportunity for publishing the result of their labours in England. As that opportunity is now offered, it is hoped that they will be stimulated by the desire of improvement in the Asiatic languages, and the prospect of acquiring celebrity in Europe, to make translations, and avail themselves of the means of publication presented in this prospectus. For the purpose of obtaining translations and subscriptions from Asia, learned men in India, Ceylon, Penang, China, &c. will be invited to form themselves into corresponding Committees.

18. The willingness already evinced to further this design, induces the Committee to entertain the most lively hopes of success. From the list of distinguished names prefixed and appended to this prospectus, they have the greatest encouragement to proceed, and have every reason to expect that the execution of the plan will be materially assisted by the British Universities.

19. It is requested, that those individuals who are willing to become subscribers to the execution of this plan, will send their names and addresses to the Secretary, Mr. William Huttmann, at the house of the Royal Asiatic Society, No. 14, Grafton-street, Bondsteet, London; and that they will inform him where he may draw for the amount of their subscriptions. Subscriptions will also be received by such houses of agency as may be nominated by the corresponding Committees in Asia.

the substance with more certainty than envy and degradation attend on successful merit.

'Let us now examine, somewhat in the order in which they have been recently brought forward, (in Mr. Adam's Manifesto,) the objections urged to the expression of public opinion.

- 'To you, who know my habits of ready obedience to authority, and my deference for its dictates, I need not disclaim any intention of disrespect towards it, in the view I take of this interesting subject; and having, as you know, the good fortune to be united, by the ties of friendship, to two of the members of the Government, if I honour their talents, respect their virtues, and appreciate their exertions, as most assuredly I do, may I not claim from you, from others, from themselves, the full benefit, in the discussion of such a question, which the intimate friendship of such men is calculated to confer.

'It is admitted that the great body of our countrymen are the ultimate judges of the conduct of every public functionary in India; and to this constitutional control of public opinion, it is stated there is no objection. Indeed, I should not think there could be much. The late Marquis of Londonderry himself, who on these points was considered a little fastidious, would not have objected to the community of India exercising a salutary control over the public mind in England. Thus might the community of England express its opinion on the affairs of India, and the community of India pronouce at leisure on the affairs of England, and as both parties would necessarily have ample time to form their judgments, they would, no doubt, avoid the errors to which they are at present so liable. The utility of this species of control is readily acknowledged, but not the exercise of it, by a community constituted as the European society of Indians. It may facilitate the discussion of the question, to endeavour to state, in a few words what, the strength of the Government is, and what are the ingredients of the society over which it presides. It will not be denied that the powers intrusted to the Government, though not arbitrary, are ample. In the administration of public affairs, in all questions of domestic or foreign policy, it is unshackled in the deliberation; in the event of war, it fears no check in the prosecution of hostilities from the intervention of a popular assembly; no subsidies can be withholden, the public revenue is at its disposal. It has at his command a well-disciplined army devoted to its officers, and whose officers, if better and more sacred ties were weakened, would still be devoted to the Government, from motives of the most powerful self-interest, by all the hopes of an early and successful termination to an anxious and arduous service. On the other hand, the European community in India is composed: first, of officers, civil and military, of his Majesty and the Honourable Company; secondly, of persons engaged in mercantile pursuits, seldom wholly independent of the Government, and in general men

of liberal education; thirdly, of a lower but very small class of men of business, traders, and handicraftsmen. Is it from the public expression of the opinion of such a society, that such a Government can entertain reasonable grounds for apprehension? Is it from such elements that opposition can arise, or resistance be offered to its authority? It is precisely because the Government necessarily controls the fortunes and prospects of so large a portion of our Indian society, that its influence can never cease to be para

mount.

'Thus it appears, that the reasons for which this freedom of discussion is called a mere mockery, are among those for which the exercise of it may be considered safe as well as salutary. If the Government were less strong, were any popular forms intermixed with its texture, then, indeed, there might be danger, lest freedom of discussion, by exciting our hearts and thoughts to the search and expectation of greatest and exactest things,' might lead to the preponderance of those forms, and as a necessary consequence, cripple the exercise of salutary authority.

"The error lies in supposing that public opinion cannot exercise an efficient control, because it cannot legally manifest itself in systematic opposition under constitutional forms. Can Englishmen require to be reminded of the certain, though gradual effect produced by the mere expression of public sentiments by means of the press. How often has a Minister been deterred from proposing an insidious measure, by the certainty that it would be exposed, the moment his intentions were suspected? How often have such measures been defeated by the spirit of the nation being roused, and its talents arrayed against them, not in popular meetings and tumultuary assemblage, but by the bold expression of its opinion, in open and free discussion.

'If, then, we have reason to believe that the Government is strong both from the nature of its constitution, and in devotion of its supporters, that the public, with reference to the possibility of resistance to authority, is weak, from the nature of its elements, and the influence which the Government necessarily exercise over it, in addition to the influence that the expression of its opinion cannot be attended with danger, may we not presume that it would be salutary? The greater the extent of delegated power, the more obvious the expediency that the exercise of it be not wholly unchecked. At the distance at which this Government is placed from the controling authorities, unsubjected to the interference of any popular assembly, or of any collective body whatever, what check can be devised, but that individuals be allowed freely to express their sentiments through the medium of the public press? Let it be remembered, that these sentiments would not be the sentiments of a body of Civil Servants, of a body of military, or of mercantile men, but of individuals who have not ceased to be British subjects, because they are become servants of the Company.

Oriental Herald, Vol. 16.

2 B

"It cannot excite surprise," we are told, "that doctrines so speciously presented to the young and inconsiderate, should make a powerful impression, and weaken, if not destroy, the habits of subordination and respect for their superiors, so essential to the discipline and efficiency of a military body."

These, indeed, would be baneful effects; and in a community, so large a portion of which is composed of military men, would more than counterbalance any advantages we could anticipate from the cause producing them: but I deny that they have been produced, nor can I admit the probability of their being so. At no period, during a service of six-and-twenty years, do I recollect that the principles of subordination were better understood, or more invariably acted on, than at the present moment. At no period have I observed, in the junior part of the army, with strict notions of honour and manliness, more ready and cheerful obedience to the orders of their superiors. Their minds, I acknowledge, are not in a state of torpor. Is this an evil? Is it an evil to keep alive those feelings by which a British soldier, at whatever distance from his native land, ought to be animated,-reverence for her institutions, and a lively hope of partaking of the happiness which those institutions are calculated to secure. If this be an evil, I certainly know not any means more likely to produce it; none more likely to keep alive such feelings, and to cherish such hopes, than that free and liberal spirit of discussion which tells him he has not ceased to be an Englishman.

Nor need we dread that a spirit of inquiry, and of eager curiosity, will often lead him to transgress the limits of military subordination; or that, in the instances in which it may occasionally do so, there will be any difficulty in recalling him. Every soldier, if endowed with an ordinary share of observation, knows that, in the political walk, he cannot take a step without feeling that he moves in shackles. When he forgets this wholesome lesson, which the experience of others, if not his own, must have taught him, it is easy to remind him of it.

If it be unavoidable sometimes to refer to a period, which all must wish buried in oblivion, instead of " figuring to ourselves the consequences of an unrestrained press systematically inflaming the discontents which prevailed on the coast in 1809," may we not picture to ourselves an enlightened press, assisting the Government in following the progress of this spirit of discontent, in many instances enabling it to check the evil in its origin, or at least to trace it to its source, and to apply an early, perhaps an effectual remedy? In the event of the well disposed part of the public not succeeding in correcting the evil, and in the approach to a crisis, in which men with arms in their hands, intrusted to them for the defence of the State, should demand a redress of their own grievances, measures which, in ordinary times, might be questionable, are justified by the neces

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sity which creates them. What the means are of extensive combination, which the press would have afforded, I am, I confess, at a loss to apprehend. Secrecy is the foundation of successful combination, and I should not have supposed that communications, through the medium of the press, would facilitate the means of concealment.

'A greater difficulty remains to be considered-the effects of a Free Press on the Native population. How to enlighten them, without exciting their curiosity? How to excite their curiosity, without rousing their passions? To direct their attention to our literature, and not teach them how intimately it is blended with our politics; to enable them to appreciate the value of our institutions, without proving to them, that the end of all Government is the benefit of the governed,'-are problems difficult to be solved; but not more so, than how to sap the foundations of an old and venerated superstition, by the gradual introduction of the mysteries of our faith; and how to substitute the Bible and the Gospel, for the Shasters and the Koran, without alarming the fears, and disregarding the habits and prejudices of the millions subject to our rule. As the intelligent and respectable members of our community, who in their different stations, and according to their different faculties, have fearlessly engaged in this laudable undertaking, do not lay claim to the gift of tongues, or that of miracles, I know not by what means they hope to effect their purpose, if not by those of a press which must necessarily be pregnant with whatever dangers they ascribe to that which the advocates of freedom of discussion are anxious to introduce.'

A CALL TO THE COURT OF DIRECTORS.

To the Editor of the Oriental Herald.

SIR,-I suppose you are aware that six of the extra regiments of Bengal Native Infantry, which were raised during the late war, still continue embodied that when raised they were officered from the line, it being at the same time notified to the army, that the removals and promotions consequent thereto were to be considered as subject to revocation, should the augmentation not meet with the sanction of the Court of Directors, and that officers should be prepared to descend to their former rank and return to their former regiments. It may be opined by uninterested individuals, that, as these corps, until such sanction should be granted, could only be considered as temporarily embodied, it had been more advisable to appoint officers temporarily from other corps to do duty with them, till competent authority should direct them to be enrolled on the strength of the