of 1836, the Government has declared an intention of abolishing all appeal to the only courts of justice in India, independent of the executive Government, whereby the rights and property of British subjects resident in the interior are rendered insecure, and the application of British skill and capital will be checked; and it is, therefore, expedient to memorialize the Court of Directors and Board of Control to repeal or disallow this act."

This resolution was seconded by Dwarkanauth Tagore, one of the very few natives present at the meeting, who declared that he lived within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, where his life was secure: his property in the Mofussil the judges there might take away if they chose; his life they could not injure *

Let us dispassionately examine this resolution, and the consequences to be apprehended from abolishing the right of appeal, to the European and to the native. I believe it is an acknowledged principle in all countries, that every person residing in a state is amenable to its laws; and that a stranger can only, under the most favourable circumstances, expect equal justice with the natives of the country, with an equal right of appeal to the superior courts. Mr. Turton contends that, besides this, the British inhabitants residing in the interior of India, ought, as Englishmen, having English law as their birthright, to have a right of appeal from the decisions of the provincial courts, to the Supreme Court at the presidency, where the judges (as stated by Sir Thomas Munro, in the minute already quoted), "acting under the influence of English analogies, endeavour to find a resemblance in things that have not the remotest connexion." The consequences of this to the native would be, that, whenever engaged in a law-suit with an European, who appealed to the Supreme Court, he would be obliged to repair to the presidency, at, perhaps, 1,000 miles distance, to defend his cause, leaving his family and his property to go to wreck and ruin during his absence; or to give up his suit, and make the best compromise he could with his adversary. To bring the case more home, it would be as if an Englishman, having permission to establish himself in trade in France, the Low Countries, or Prussia, should insist that it was his birth-right, as an Englishman, to have the privilege of appeal from the legal decisions of the country in which he resided, to that of the Supreme Court in England, and to oblige those engaged with him in the suit to repair to England, to have their cause decided there, by English law.

Mr. Turton has declared that the right of appeal has only been exercised in two instances since 1813, and that it was not the exercise but the existence of the power that was useful. It is rather a singular circumstance that any law should be anxiously desired by a community merely for its existence, without the wish of putting it into practice; and it is but fair to suppose that there must be some cogent secret motive for this solicitude. As there were only two appeals since 1813, and the decisions of the Supreme Court on these two are not given, either the judgments of the Mofussil Courts, with these two exceptions, must have been satisfactory, or, as above stated, the oppressed natives were glad to come to a compromise, to avoid being dragged into the Supreme Court; in either case, the right of appeal should be discontinued; in the first, as unnecessary for the protection of the European, and in the

I think it right to notice this extraordinary declaration. The utterer of it may, like great men in other countries, prefer living at the presidency to looking after his estates; but I appeal to every one who has been in India, whether the life of every individual living under the protection of the provincial courts, is not as safe as it could be in England; and if, on the contrary, it is not a general complaint, that atrocious criminals sometimes escape, when tried before those courts, from the number of witnesses. required for their con ietion.

second, as tyrannical and ruinous to the native. Mr. Turton, towards the end of his resolution, states that, by the abolition of the right of appeal, the application of British skill and capital to the improvement of the resources of India would be checked. On the contrary, I maintain that, by its continuance, the natives will be deterred from having any dealings with Europeans, who will have the power of dragging them before the Supreme Court, whenever they may have a law-suit with them: the Hindoos, as Dwarkanauth Tagore states, being a wary race, who, if they have lost one eye, will take care of the other. Even this sad alternative is to be denied them by the next resolution.

Mr. Longueville Clarke, also an advocate in the Supreme Court, proposed the next resolution, to which I beg to call public attention. After a rather intemperate speech, in which the Fourth in Council was threatened with being put into a sack, and thrown into the sea (and the lie was plainly given by Mr. Clarke to his opponent in argument); the resolution proposed by this gentleman is: "That the native subjects of the Crown ought to be placed on an equal footing with the British subjects, in respect to the right of appeal to the Supreme Court." Here the real cause of the meeting is at once divulged. The existence and not the exercise of the power of appeal from Europeans in the interior, was merely a secondary consideration; the gaining of this point, from the Court of Directors, or from Parliament, was the principal object. This, if once obtained, would be for the advocates and attorneys of the Supreme Court, and their dependents, the opening of a mine of gold. It would be the renewal, with a much more extended field of action, of the good old times, when a barrister, after a few years' practice, could retire to Europe with an enormous fortune. The attorneys and their dependents would be looking to the provinces for fresh sources of litigation; and, on every succession in a wealthy family, would be on the watch for some one of them who, discontented with his lot, would be willing to dispute the succession; and thereby bring the whole property into court: the consequences of which would be, as in the case of the unfortunate Kullum Oolla Khan, that the family would be reduced to beggary; whilst the fortunes of the gentlemen of the court would be rapidly accumulating. This will, in some measure, account for the turbulent conduct of Mr. Clarke at this meeting, where, totally regardless of our political situation, he audaciously, I was going to say seditiously, -calls upon every European and every native in the country to unite, one and all, in opposing by every means in their power the orders of Government, assuring them that though "individually they may be lighter than the grains of dust in the desert; the wave of the sand-storm is not more overwhelming than the concentrated power of the multitude."

The consequences that would result to the natives, from the passing of the above resolutions into laws, have been already described The certain consequences to the Government would be,-1st. Getting the English daily more detested in the interior; 2dly. Bringing the Government into contempt, by its being unable to protect the natives, who would daily see its decrees and regulations set aside by the Supreme Court; and, 3dly. Obstructing the officers of the Government in the collection of the revenue, and paralyzing their efforts to do so, by bringing them into collision with the Supreme Court.

The third and last resolution, to which I would wish to advert, is that proposed by Mr. Stocqueler, editor of the Englishman newspaper, who, thinking it probable that the Court of Directors would reject their memorial, moved, "That it is also expedient to provide for the chance of the failure of such memorial, and to petition Parliament to repeal the said act."

I trust that, whenever these resolutions are submitted to Parliament, the members of that honourable assembly will be aware of the nature of the requests so anxiously preferred to them, under the specious pretext of extending the liberty of the subject to both Europeans and natives under the Company's government; and that, instead of granting the prayer of the petition, they will at once reject it, as giving an unjust preference to the European over the native; and as likely to be the means (judging from what has already taken place) of involving the rich natives in the provinces in ruin and beggary, and of subjecting the poor to tyranny and oppression.

Let it always be borne in mind, that rendering to the natives of India impartial justice, and the amplest security and protection from foreign aggression and from internal foes, is a sacred duty imposed on us by our political situation. If we attend to this, and establish schools in the interior, for the dissemination of knowledge among the natives, and the improvement of their minds, so as to qualify them to fill higher and more responsible situations under government; and, above all, to give them the means of a ready access to our sacred volume, whereby they will be able to appreciate the purity of its precepts; and if, along with this, we grant to India an unrestricted export of her produce to England, on paying equal duties to those charged when the produce of England is exported to India, we shall be acting the part intended for us by Providence, when we were raised from being a Company of merchants to be the rulers of an empire, It is then that we will make India a prosperous and a happy country, having its interests so closely interwoven and blended with our own, that whatever conduces to the prosperity and happiness of the one, will be sensibly felt by the other.

I am, Sir,

Your most obedient servant,

A COMMANDANT RETIRED.

THE ARABIAN NIGHTS.

A Correspondent (Mr. Inman) writes:-" I know not whether it has ever been remarked, that, in the story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Pari Banou, in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, one of the magical curiosities procured by the three princes on their travels, is, what the English translator renders, an "ivory perspective glass," and describes it as "a tube of ivory, with a glass at each end." If this be not a forced adaptation of the original, does it not go far to add to the many discoveries in science and art which we owe to the East-that of the Telescope?"

MIRIANI.*

A GEORGIAN ROMANCE.

When he approached the capital, Zooloomat, in the disguise of a merchant, entered a caravanserai, and watched his opportunity to reconnoitre the castle in which Nomi-Awthab was confined. He perceived a part where it appeared easy to ascend and descend; and as soon as it was night, he flung a rope, which took hold of the battlements of the tower, and he thus scaled the wall. He glided into the citadel, and, finding the door of a chamber open, entered. Nomi-Awthab, being unable to sleep, had quitted Zora, and gone to walk in the garden, where she wept over the image of Miri, which her fancy presented to her. Zooloomat, being now in the chamber of the princess, and concluding that a young damsel, who was asleep on an elevated couch, was the person of whom he was in search, blew into her nostrils a powder which rendered her motionless, and placing her in an empty box, conveyed her to the sea-shore. There he liberated his fair prisoner from her confinement, and telling her he was transporting her to the son of the king of the Franks, left her to repose.

In the mean time, there was a div in these parts, named Boolghamoon-jadoot ('cameleon magician'), who ruled over a numerous people. He had one son and one daughter, and was constantly walking on the sea-shore. Mookhthal (wicked), the son of the div, having come to the place where Zooloomat slept, saw Zora, was smitten with her charms, and conveyed her quietly away into his castle. Zooloomat, when he awoke, was chagrined to find that his prize had escaped, and that he should be obliged, after all, to return with empty hands to Frankistan, On his way, he encountered the army of Miri, and asked who they were. He was told that it was the king of Egypt proceeding to Maghrib in search of a wife. "No doubt," thought Zooloomat, "these are they who have robbed me of my prize;" and he returned in a state of great dejection to his own country. Prince Sahib, who reckoned upon acquiring Nomi-Awthab, sunk into despair when he heard the news. He tore his collar, heaped ashes on his head, and uttered frightful cries. His father endeavoured to console him, by telling him that the king of Egypt should not rob him of his betrothed. He collected a large army, and placing Sahib at its head, said, "If you wish to be a son worthy of me, bring hither Miri, not alive, but dead; kill him, and rescue the young princess."

Meanwhile, Miri advanced, by forced marches, against Maghrib. Arriving at a mountain, which was a place of resort for multitudes of serpents, he filled a coffer with these reptiles, and carried it with him. When he reached the sea-shore, he wrote to king İlayl, offering him the alternative of consenting to his marriage with his daughter, or war. In a letter to Nomi-Awthab, he painted the severity of his torments, and entrusting it to Nasib, desired him to bring her reply, whilst he prepared his vessels.

Sahib, in the mean time, came up with the army of Miri, and wrote to him thus: "You have carried off my cousin, Nomi-Awthab, and doubtless retain her in your power. I respect your noble birth; but either deliver up the damsel, or dread the consequences of refusal." This letter was like a thunderbolt to Miri. "What!" he exclaimed, "has she been put out of the way? Then farewell life!" His vizirs, however, prevailed upon him to consent to live till Nasib returned.

* Continued from page 323, vol. xxii.

+ More properly " Bookalamoon-jadoo,—a kind of Proteus.

When Nomi-Awthab found that, whilst she was weeping in the garden, Zora had been carried off, she was distressed at the thought that she had been the cause. The vizir, Otarid, hearing that his beloved daughter had disappeared, uncovered his head, tore off his collar, and vented his grief to the king. At this juncture, Nasib brought the letter from Miri, which threw Ilayl into a rage, and cursing the writer, he vowed he would not give him his daughter, defying him to do his worst. Nasib, then, attaching the bone of the babagoul to his arm, proceeded to the fortress of Nomi-Awthab, whom he found in mourning. Laying down the letter, the princess opened it, and reading the writing of Miri, broke into sobs. Then, wondering how the letter came, she bethought herself: "Miri is the son of a fay; a fay must have been his messenger." She took paper and reed, and wrote, in turn, a description of the sufferings she experienced, and the dream she had had, and, sealing the letter, put it before her. Nasib bore it instantly to Miri, together with the reply of king Ilayl. The latter fired him with rage; the former infused softer emotions into his breast.

The trumpet sounded to battle with the army of the Franks. For three days and as many nights did they fight, the victory remaining uncertain. length, Nasib, with the bone on his arm, penetrated to the tent of Sahib. He was struck with the majestic stature of the prince, who was surrounded by his vizirs and generals. "What a fine army is that of the Egyptians!" said they; "how they excel in military science!" "If Miri would release NomiAwthab," observed Sahib, I would not molest him further. Wretch !" said he, "addressing Zooloomat, "the sole author of this mischief; if you had not carried her away, she could not have fallen into their hands." “Speak the word," said Zooloomat," and I will bring her to you from the midst of the Egyptian army." "Go, then," replied the prince.

Zooloomat directed his course towards the camp of the Egyptians. Nasib followed him, and said, in the language of the Franks, "Sahib has sent me to assist you, as I know where the princess is kept, and being familiar to the Egyptians, I shall meet with no obstacle. Wait, therefore, for me here, and I will bring you the princess." Nasib immediately went to Miri, told him the case, and prevailed upon him to let him carry the box of serpents to Zooloomat, who bore off his prize in ecstasy. When Sahib saw Zooloomat approach, “Well,” said he; "how have you succeeded?" "The man you sent me," he replied, “has been of essential service." "What man?" asked the prince; bring him hither :" but Nasib was nowhere to be found. The prince, however, prepared to make a grand entertainment to celebrate the event, and commanded his attendants to liberate the princess, and conduct her to him. They opened the chest, when the serpents, famished with hunger, flew at all who came near: "it was, as it were, the day of judgment." Nasib, who was at hand, cried out, "All is lost! The Egyptians are upon us! Prince Sahib is killed!" At these words, the soldiers fell into confusion, and killed each other without knowing what they did at break of day, the army of the Franks was almost extinct. Sahib found that not more than a thousand men had escaped the general slaughter. Miri put his army in motion, and, pursuing his rival, slew him and all his remaining troops, leaving not a soul to carry the news of the disaster.

Ilayl fell into such a rage when he learned this event, that he was almost beside himself. Miri wrote to the princess by Nasib, who, by virtue of his talisman, could obtain easy access to the harem. He found Nomi-Awthab in the garden, weeping for Miri and Zora. He placed the letter before her; she