too good to be abstracted or abridged; it must be given at length, and in its original energy, without alteration or dilution. It runs thus:-"If (which GOD FORBID!) the British Government and the Maharajah shall be compelled to wage war with any other state, on account of such state attacking either of the contracting parties, or aiding or protecting the Pindarries, or other freebooters, the British Government having at heart the welfare of Dowlut Row Scindia, will, in the event of success, and of his highness's zealous performance of his engagements, make the most liberal arrangements for the consolidation and increase of his territories!!!” The moderation of Dowlut Row Scindia is here as conspicuous as his piety. He prays that Heaven may avert a particular event; but if, notwithstanding, it should take place, he is ready patiently to acquiesce in any advantage it may bring to himself. No one, after reading this, can doubt that Dowlut Row Scindia was a most religious, peaceable, and disinterested person, free from the besetting sins of too many of his fellows-ambition and covetousness; and though willing, as a prudent man ought to be, to take what may honourably fall in his way, desirous, as a good man ought to be, to avoid aggrandizing himself at the expense of his neighbour. After so rich a display of pious and virtuous feeling, the descent to the ordinary language of state papers is somewhat painful. It is proper, however, to mention, that the eleventh article provides for the continuance of such objects of the treaty of 1805 as were not affected by the new one, and the twelfth engages for the exchange of ratifications. Such was the treaty concluded with Scindia by Captain Close, and which provided for all the objects which the GovernorGeneral had in view. It was ratified early in November 1807, and shortly afterwards, the ninth article was rendered operative by the conclusion of peace with the Rajpoot states. A treaty with Ameer Khan was also concluded. This person, who has been characterized, and, it is believed, not unjustly, as "one of the most atrocious villains that India ever produced," was, on the whole, fortunate. The British Government agreed to protect him in his possessions, on condition of his disbanding his army, surrendering his guns, relinquishing his demi-Pindarrie habits, dissolving his connection with those plunderers, and keeping better company. Seeing that he was, at best, but one shade better than those whom the English sought to extirpate, Ameer Khan had certainly reason to felicitate himself upon his good luck.

The accession of Scindia to the object upon which the British Government was intent, was a fatal blow to the hopes of the Pindarries. But Scindia had engaged in the cause much against his inclination, and he would have rejoiced in an opportunity of withdrawing from it. The unsettled state of affairs in the Deccan materially affected his zeal, and there is no reason to doubt that, at this period, he extended to certain bodies of the Pindarries a degree of countenanec and support. The success of the British arms at Poona and Nagpore, however, turned the scale, and Scindia thought it best to remain faithful to his engagements. The Marquess of Hastings was sanguine enough to believe, or, at least, to

profess to believe, that "former estrangement had given place to entire cordiality and friendship." The "entire cordiality and friendship" entertained by Scindia, must have been qualities very different from what are usually understood by those terms. He was not capable of feeling them towards any state or any individual, and least of all could he feel them in relation to the British, whom he hated as much as he feared them.

It has been seen that the military preparations against the Pindarries were on a great scale; but, in truth, those lawless hordes were beaten rather in the cabinet than in the field, and the history of their suppression is rather a detail of negociations than of war. When the British troops crossed the Nerbudda, a special and confidential Bramin was despatched by Scindia to some of the principal chiefs, warning them to keep at a distance, as he was so situated as to be unable to protect them. The operations of Sir John Malcolm were principally directed against Cheetoo, whose name and character are already known to the reader. But Cheetoo had no desire to await the British force, and he fled with Pindarrie precipitation. Sir John Malcolm was prepared for a conflict, but in running he was no match for the agile freebooters, who consequently escaped with impunity. About the same time, Lieut.-col. Adams approached the camp of Kurreem Khan, and Major-general Maitland advanced on that of Wassil Mahomed, another chief, but both deemed it prudent to retire. This was the case whenever an attempt was made to attack the Pindarries. Their alacrity in flying rendered conflict impossible, and pursuit ineffectual.

It will now be necessary to advert to a power once very important, but, at this period, sunk almost beneath contempt. When it became a fashion to tender adhesions to the British cause, a secret message was received from the notorious Toolsee Bhye, expressing a desire to place the young Holkar, his family and court, under British protection. Subsequently to the insanity of Jeswunt Row Holkar, the state had fallen into a degree of ruin barely short of dissolution. The government, such as it was, appeared welldisposed towards the British, and the principal apparent difficulty was interposed by a licentious soldiery, who preyed upon a country which they ought to have protected. A change, however, took place in the feeling of the government, arising, it was understood, out of the altered relations between the British authorities and the Peishwa, and Holkar's army commenced its march to the southward, with the avowed intention of supporting that prince. Sir John Malcolm, abandoning the pursuit of Cheetoo, drew towards Oojein, near which place Holkar's force had arrived; Sir Thomas Hislop, rapidly advancing on the same point, effected a junction with Sir John Malcolm, and this occasioned the renewal of negociations. These, however, proceeded languidly and unsatisfactorily, and were ended by a sudden revolution, in which the regent, Toolsee Bhye, perished, a life of profligacy being terminated by a violent death. All power was now in the hands of the Patan chiefs, whose first exercise of it was to plunder the foraging parties of the British. Sir Thomas Hislop now advanced upon the enemy, whom he found advantageously posted on the left bank of the Soopra, nearly opposite

to Mahidpore, their left flank protected by the bed of the river, and their right by a difficult ravine. Their line, which could be approached only by one ford, practicable for guns, was protected by several ruined villages. Perceiving that the bed of the river would afford considerable cover to the troops while forming, Sir Thomas Hislop determined to attack the enemy in front, and ordered the advance of the columns to the ford. The light troops immediately formed, and were followed by the horse-artillery, which opened on the enemy's guns. Another battery of the foot-artillery played from the right bank of the river in a direction which enfiladed some troops which the enemy had placed upon the left. The troops, as they arrived, were successively formed in the bed of the river, and took up the stations assigned them. A brigade of infantry having advanced to storm the enemy's batteries, a general attack ensued. The fire was destructive, but the troops pressed forward, regardless of it. The enemy maintained their post with great resolution, and continued to serve their guns till disabled by the bayonet from performing that duty. Their whole line was, however, forced at every point, and a charge of cavalry completed the rout. The action lasted three hours, and terminated in the capture of the enemy's artillery, amounting to seventy pieces of ordnance, and the complete defeat and dispersion of their army, with a loss of 3,000 men. The loss of the British was severe, but the victory was decisive as it was brilliant. The prostrate government of Holkar sued for peace, and it was granted on conditions not severe.

The Pindarries, who had received protection principally from Scindia and Holkar, were now without a resource. Driven from the lands which they had acquired, either by force or concession, they sought in vain for a place of security for their families and effects. Pressed on every quarter by the British detachment, a large portion abandoned themselves to despair; numbers relinquished their homes, fled into the jungles, and there perished miserably. Many died by the hands of the village population, whose vengeance was every-where roused by the remembrance of their former cruelties. Others fell in rencontres with regular troops. Some of the leaders sought the mercy of the conquerors, and among them Kurreem Khan. Cheetoo's horde survived rather longer than the rest, but it suffered severely in several abortive attempts to penetrate into Guzzerat, and was completely broken up in trying to gain its old lodgment on the Nerbudda. Cheetoo and his son then went to Bhopal, with the intention of submitting; but, from some unexplained cause, abandoned their design, and fled to the Mahadeo hills, where they joined Appa Sahib. They proceeded together to Asseer, and there separating, Cheetoo soon met a most appropriate end, being slain in the jungles by a tiger. His son fell into the hands of the British government, and was indebted to its bounty for the means of life.

The annihilation of these miscreants, as a distinct and recognized body, was complete. A large portion perished, and those who preserved life, settled down into more lawful occupations. The sound policy of their suppression is unquestionable, and it was the more meritorious in those who undertook it, because in such a contest no glory could be obtained.

Asiat.Journ. N.S.VOL.22.No.87.

2 E

REFORM IN BRITISH INDIA.

ACCELERATION of motion, which has wrought so many improvements in commerce, and in all the operations connected with the production of commodities and the interchange between nations, seems in a fair way of being recognized as a universal law of change in every thing, morals and politics included. "If it were done, when tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly," is an aphorism of a profound utilitarian (Macbeth), and, perhaps, it may be extended beyond the peculiar occasion which gave rise to it. But at a period when change is sought merely for its own sake, it may be doubted whether steam ratiocination and rail-road legislation will effect much permanent social good. The bridging over valleys, the levelling of hills, and the conversion of curves into straight lines, no doubt, lessen the practical inconvenience of distance between remote places; but, in considering political changes, it is not by shortening the concatenation of causes and effects, and by narrowing the sphere of intellectual vision, that we are enabled to jump to sound conclusions, though we attain speedy ones.

These reflections are forced upon us, by observing the rapidity with which what is termed "Reform" is marching in the metropolis of British India. In the wake of the petition, which the lawyer-led community of Calcutta has transmitted to England in favour of the Supreme Court and its practitioners (and which will arrive here just at the nick of time when the Privy Council has reversed some of the Court's most important decisions *), another is travelling hither, the object of which is to obtain a Legislative Council, sitting with open doors; a Legislative Council with a more liberal constitution, and which shall contain some members independent both of the Company and the Crown; and the extension of English law (in the English sense of the term, including the writ of habeas corpus and "other rights and privileges)" to every class of Christians in India, whersoever located and whatsoever their extraction. As soon as this petition was signed and despatched, the subject of" Elective Municipal Corporations for the provincial towns of India" was broached, and is probably by this time matured by the mastication which these matters undergo in the newspapers, for digestion at the Town Hall. The abstract principle of self-government being established, and the right of representation recognized, we see in prospect local parliaments, composed of all classes, castes, religions, colours, and costumes; the vote by ballot and universal suffrage, from the Brahmaputra to the Indus, and from Tibet to Cape Comorin!

These appear extravagant dreams, but they only partake of the quality of dreams, in being absurd and fugitive. Nothing is now too extravagant in practice which can be connected with some princible plausible in the abstract. Admitting, for example, that the opinions of the majority should bind the minority, why should not, it may fairly be asked, the legislative government of India, at least, be Hindu? Applying the same maxims, as are now applied to Ireland, to India-a country which came into our possession by

Young and others v. the Bank of Bengal, and the Martine case.

means which would authorize us less in this case than in the other, to rule despotically, and to regard it as a conquered country, we are withholding from the inhabitants of India rights to which they are entitled, and which are not claimed, only because the possessors do not know they have, or are incapable of asserting them. In fact, we have no business there at all.

Waiving, however, all these somewhat premature considerations, let us look at the inevitable effects of those moderate measures of reform, which the Calcutta petitions seek to introduce, namely, a more liberallyconstituted Legislative Council, composed of members not belonging to the King's or Company's service, and sitting with open doors, in conjunction with the extension of the English Common and Statute Law in the interior of India, and the omnipotence of the King's Courts. The whole system of Indian policy, domestic, and with relation to native states, must be adapted to this state of things; and what anomalies would this lead to! What, in the first place, would be the operation upon the natives of India of the publication of the debates in the Legislative Council, where the voice of opposition would be heard as well as in other Legislative Councils? What incalculable evils would spring from the introduction of our legal system, with all its whimsical remedies and fictions, into the interior, even if applied only to Christians (though why the other natives should be denied the benefit of this system, if it be beneficial, it is hard to guess, on the petitioners' principle), backed by the industry of the gentlemen of the profession! Why should there be a Commission to draw up a code of laws for India, if the mere introduction of English law be sufficient? How could our political interference with native powers, our subsidiary treaties, our depositions of sovereigns, our appropriations of territory, be justified under the common law of England? Suppose the rajah of Coorg, or any other deposed and imprisoned sovereign, were to declare himself a Christian, and commence a suit in the King's Court for the recovery of his states, the common law of England would restore them to him. The whole frame-work of Indian politics would be shaken to pieces, and the confusion which would be introduced may be calculated from what has been the result of the adoption of the alien law of England in respect to real property in India, which the Supreme Court of Calcutta has gravely recognized, but which decision the wisdom of a higher tribunal has thought fit to set aside.

Whatever opinions may be entertained of the tendency of the many political changes meditated at home, their consequences, should they be as mischievous as their bitterest enemies prognosticate, must be much less irremediable than those which would follow false measures in India. There never was a government of which it could be more truly said that its agents "walk over fires hidden beneath treacherous ashes." Under a government which force has imposed upon eighty millions of people, between which and its subjects there exists no sympathy, no community of language, manners, or religion; whose only efficient instrument of rule is a military force principally composed of mercenaries raised amongst the very people whom