pastoral and nomadic race, such as Arabs were and are; but are out of place when applied to settled populations which aspire to wealth and commercial prosperity.

The illustrations just adduced are simple cases, merely showing the extraordinary difference between European and Muhammadan law; but there are necessarily numerous other points which arise in a court of law which English judges are called upon to decide. Besides the ordinary incidents of property there are special rights and disabilities arising in connection with posthumous children, lost or missing persons, inheritance by other titles than those of relationship or marriage, and rights which take precedence of inheritance. Then there are questions respecting wills and bequests of specific articles or produce, bequests for pious purposes and the duties of executors. Marriage and dower, divorce and invalid marriage are all subjects connected with inheritance to property, as is also the status of slaves, infidels, aliens and captives. These and other subjects are now treated at length by Mr. Rumsey, and they give his book a completeness leaving little to be desired. But that little has been brought into prominence by Mr. Rumsey, who justly complains of the parsimony which leaves the administration of the law in India to rest upon the accuracy of translations from the Arabic, executed by the far-sighted statesmanship of Warren Hastings. It is surely time that one or two hundred pounds were spent on improving these old translations by aid of modern scholarship.

FREDERIC PINCOTT.

THE EMPEROR AKBAR.

A PAPER was read in April before the Indian Society by Mr. Syud Abdur Rahman, giving a good sketch of the reign and character of the renowned Akbar, the contemporary of Queen Elizabeth, who ruled for 50 years in Hindustan, A.D. 1555-1605. We shall present a short abstract of the lecture, with some quotations. Jellaluddin Muhammad Akbar was the grandson of the first Moghul Emperor Baber, who, invading India in the sixteenth century, established his throne by the great victory at Panipat in 1526. Baber's son, Humayun, had a hard struggle for his inherited dominion, and it was while he was in exile in 1542 that the great Akbar was born. Just before the birth of Akbar, Humayun had gone into Sindh; on receiving the happy news, having no presents at hand to give, according to royal custom, to his followers, he broke a pod of musk, and distributed the pieces "with a wish that his son's fame might be diffused throughout the world, like the odour of that perfume. And, indeed, Humayun's wishes were realised, for his son's name and fame. were spread through the world." During the first thirteen years of Akbar's life Humayun was constantly fighting to regain his throne. The boy was taken prisoner three times before he was ten years old, and he was in continual danger from the warlike life he was obliged to lead. At last his father was successful and re-captured Delhi, but Humayun died a few months later, and Akbar, who was only thirteen years old, ascended the so lately contested throne. A brave and capable adherent of the family, Bairam Khan, was appointed to the real command of the empire during the first

years of the young Emperor's reign; but his government became arbitrary, and he not only alienated many of his friends, but Akbar also, who, indignant at Bairam's acts of injustice and persecution, found and carried out a plan of freeing himself from the haughty minister's control. While on an hunting expedition, on pretence of hearing of his mother's sudden illness, he left his party, rode to Delhi, and there issued a proclamation by which he forbade obedience to any authority but his own. Bairam was dismissed from Court, and joining in a rebellion was defeated, and brought as a prisoner to the Emperor, who, remembering his past services, forgave him and restored him to favour. Bairam, however, was soon after assassinated, and now, at the age of 18, Akbar had to undertake the difficulties of his position. Aware of the insecure hold that his family had on India, he adopted the policy of making himself the head of its inhabitants, without distinction of race or religion, and this " policy was strictly and steadily pursued throughout his reign. He admitted Hindus as well as Mahommedans to every degree of power, raising them to the highest stations in the service, according to their rank and merit." Mr. Syud Abdur Rahman briefly described Akbar's military achievements, the course of conquest which occupied so large a portion of his reign. His territory at first was confined to the Panjab, and the districts round Delhi and Agra. Alwar in Rajasthan, Lahore, Ajmeer, Gwalior and Oudh were brought under his sway before his 25th year, he himself often heading his troops, and encouraging them by his bravery and warlike spirit. Akbar then attacked the Rana of Chittore (or Udaipur), but though he succeeded in taking Chittore, the chief city of that State, the Rana remained independent in his fastnesses, and it is well known that of the Rajput royal families, this one alone rejected all matrimonial connection

with the Emperors of Delhi, and maintained its proud isolation. Gujerat was next conquered, and then Bengal, and later Kashmir and the Deccan, where he encountered the famous heroine Chand Bibi, but though all these regions were over-run and then occupied they were constantly the scene of risings and disturbances, so that year after year, and especially for the first fifteen years of the reign, “we have little else but marches and counter-marches, at all seasons of the year, and through the worst of countries."

Leaving now the career of conquest which, unfortunately, absorbed so much of Akbar's energy, we will quote from that part of Mr. Syud Abdur Rahman's lecture which refers to the internal organization of his empire in regard to which the justice, magnanimity, and moderation of his character were conspicuously shown, entitling him to respect and admiration. Very early in his reign Akbar prohibited his followers from making slaves of prisoners taken in war. "It had been the custom of the royal troops in their victorious campaigns in India to forcibly sell or keep in slavery the wives, children and dependants of the natives. But His Majesty, actuated by religious, prudent and kindly feelings, put a stop to that inhuman practice." In the eighth year of his reign he remitted the Pilgrim Tax, exactions from the pilgrims to Mecca and Medina, and soon after "the tax called Jizya (poll tax on the infidels), which in a country as extensive as Hindustan amounted to an immense sum." In the more settled part of his reign the revenue and civil arrangements were carefully looked into, and Akbar appointed Raja Tadar Mal as minister of finance. "This unambitious man, who was acquainted with the mysteries of administration, was elevated to this important post. His clear judgment soon set matters to rights. Civil and revenue matters received his special attention. Careful to keep himself free from all selfish ambition,

he devoted himself wholly to the service of the State, and thus earned an everlasting fame. He directed his skilful and powerful mind to the simplification of the laws, and allowed no grasping or intriguing men to obtain any influence over him." This minister suggested several good laws, which were sanctioned by the Emperor.

Akbar's instructions to his collectors of revenue, as recorded in the Institutes of Akbar, a work compiled under his direction by his able minister Abul Fazl, were as follows:"The collector must consider himself the immediate friend of the husbandman, be diligent in business, and a strict observer of the truth, being the representative of the Chief Magistrate. He must transact his business in a place to which everyone may find easy access, without requiring any go-between. His conduct must be such as to give no cause for complaint. He must assist the needy husbandman with loans of money, and receive payment at distant and convenient periods. When any village is cultivated to the highest degree of perfection by the skilful management of the head thereof, there shall be bestowed upon him half a biswah out of every bighah of land, or some other reward proportionate to his merit. Let him learn the character of every husbandman, and be the immediate protector of that class of subjects. Let him promote the cultivation of such articles as will produce general benefit and utility, with a view to which he may allow some remission from the general rate of collection. In every instance he must endeavour to act to the satisfaction of the husbandman." In these instructions Akbar's love of fairness and consideration for his subjects. are very apparent.

"The Empire was divided into fifteen Subahs or Provinces, twelve in Hindustan proper, and three in the Deccan, and each was governed by a Viceroy who had the full con