Page images
PDF
EPUB

COMPANY'S FINANCES.

299

The following is a more detailed view of the revenues and charges of India for the years 1828-9, 1829-30, with the estimate for 1830-1:

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

* The receipts and charges of these residencies are now included in the Bengal account.

The company's debts are stated to have amounted, on the 1st January, 1831, to 32,213,7591. in India, and 13,916,431/. in England; in all, 46,130,1901. At the same date their property and the debts due to them in India were 36,691,7197., in England 12,372,975l.; in all, 49,064,694%. This would leave a balance in their favour of nearly three millions. But Mr. M'Culloch, in the valuable Dictionary of Commerce which he has just published, observes, that a great part of their Indian claims, consisting of arrears of tribute, is never likely to be realized, and that their forts and warehouses, though they may in some sense be estimated as above, would not, if put up to sale, bring perhaps a third of the amount.

This position of the company has prompted them to great

exertions of economy, and to every possible reduction upon their establishments; but these measures, so far as they affect the military, have only given rise to considerable dis

content.

The judicial arrangements introduced by Marquis Cornwallis proved, if possible, still less satisfactory than those relating to revenue. In India, as over all the East, this branch of administration was exercised directly and personally by the sovereign or his deputy. The zemindar, in this last capacity, at once collected the revenues, maintained the police, and decided in all cases civil and criminal. This he did by a summary process, hearing each cause from the mouths of the parties, and judging according to principles of equity without any technical rule or study. His sentences were often corrupt and prejudiced; but they were prompt, and founded upon an intimate knowledge of the persons interested. The British, on assuming the government, acted at first upon this principle, so far as to combine the offices of judge and collector. Lord Cornwallis, rejecting these arrangements, which were certainly false in principle, attempted too hastily to substitute the full and regular operation of English law. The country was divided into zillahs, each containing a court, in which presided a European judge, with native assistants. From these courts an appeal lay to superior tribunals at Calcutta, Patna, Dacca, and Moorshedabad, and from them a final appeal might be made to a supreme judicatory in the capital, called the Sudder Dewannee Adawlut, composed of the governor in council, assisted by Mohammedan and Hindoo lawyers. The judges of the four appeal courts, going in circuit, tried criminal causes; but their sentences might also be brought under the revision of a supreme tribunal, similarly constituted, called the Nizamut Adawlut.

This system, however plausible and well intended, was found in its operation very unsuitable to the habits of Indian society. Instead of the brief and summary process, founded on obvious and common sense principles, there was substituted a complex code, in a great measure unknown to the people; and, instead of stating their own case and obtaining a decision at once, they were obliged to employ pleaders, a new class of men whom it was necessary to create for the purpose, while they had also to endure the numerous

DEFECTS IN LEGAL SYSTEM.

301

inconveniences of protracted litigation. These were soon multiplied. It is a general practice in India never to discharge debts till compelled by necessity; and when it was discovered that by not paying till a lawsuit was instituted a long delay could be gained, this course was adopted to an extent which increased incredibly the number of processes. The time thus spent, and the temptation to profit by it, were more and more augmented, till the undecided cases swelled to an unprecedented multitude. These delays, amounting almost to a denial of justice, caused, as already observed, the ruin of the whole body of zemindars without any benefit to their dependent ryots. Even after the fullest examination the English lawyers found themselves very illqualified to form a correct opinion. The general indifference to the obligation of an oath, which the most respectable natives consider unlawful, joined to the ignorance of the judge in regard to habits and modes of thinking altogether foreign to those which prevail in England, rendered it impossible to discover the truth in many cases, where the shrewd sense and local experience of the zemindar would have discerned it by a species of intuition. In consequence of the difficulty of bringing the guilty to justice, the system of decoity for some time increased to a great degree. No complete remedy has yet been found for these defects in the legal system, and a complaint was recently made in a native newspaper, that every one who had brought a plea before the supreme court found it terminate in his ruin. The expedients from which intelligent writers entertain the greatest hope are the more frequent employment of natives, and the extension of the punchayets,—a sort of jury, which in many districts there is a great disposition to employ.

VOL. II.-C

CHAPTER IX.

British Social System in India.

Peculiar Situation of the British in India-Different Classes-Cadets or Military Officers-Writers or Civil Servants-Medical PractitionersOther Classes-Dangers of Extravagance-Society in the great Cities -Mode of spending the Day-Entertainments-Hunting-Splendour of Calcutta-Character of the English in India-Fast Indians-Mis sionary Exertions-The Baptist Mission-Translations of the Scriptures-London Missionary Society-Church Missionary Society-Scottish Societies-General Result of Missions-Abolition of Suttees -Its Effects-Pilgrim Tax.

THE British inhabitants of India form a population of a very peculiar description. They are completely the ruling class, perform all the functions of government, and fill all places of power and profit. Yet the country is in no degree their own; they cannot hold an acre of land unless in the close vicinity of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, nor without special permission make it their permanent abode. They consider their residence there as an exile, feeling that they belong to another people, separated by the navigation of half the globe. In short, their object is to go out to India before twenty, and to return before fifty with a fortune, or at least an independence, which they may enjoy in their native land.

The young men who go thither in the hope of returning with wealth or competence, belong to three professions,— the military, civil, and medical. The first of these, named cadets, receive their appointments from the court of directors. Those destined for the artillery and engineer departments are nominated to the company's military school at Addiscombe, though their particular service is not determined until they have undergone a public examination. Every candidate must produce a certificate of his birth,-he must not be under fourteen nor above eighteen years of age, -must have no bodily or mental defect to disqualify him for military service,-be able to write a good legible hand,

APPOINTMENT OF CADETS.

303

-read and construe Cæsar's Commentaries,-be expert in vulgar and decimal fractions, and have a good character from the master under whom he last studied. Such cadets as the public examiner reports duly qualified are appointed to the corps of artillery. Those who possess superior diligence, talents, and attainments are selected for the engineers, and sent, with the rank of ensign, to finish their education at Chatham, where they remain a year, and are clothed and maintained at the company's expense. Cavalry and infantry cadets receive appointments direct for India without going to the seminary, but are required to possess the same qualifications as the candidates for Addiscombe, except in point of age. They must be above sixteen, and under twenty-two, unless they have been one year in his majesty's service; in which case they are eligible, if not more than twenty-five. Their equipment and the expenses of the voyage, defrayed by themselves, always exceed 200l., and on a very liberal scale will amount to 400l. The arrangements for conveying them to India are explained by Captain Dalrymple in the succeeding volume.* As soon as they arrive there they begin to receive pay, and on the first vacancy are appointed to the rank of ensign. From this time, with ordinary good conduct, their promotion is assured, and they rise by successive steps, as vacancies occur, to the rank of colonel. The emoluments for such as have the full batta, or field-allowance, are somewhat more than double those in king's regiments at home, and after twenty-two years of active service an officer may retire on full pay. He has the option, in the middle of this period, of spending three years in Europe, during which he has only the ordinary British pay, while he thereby extends his servitude to twenty-five years; besides, if his absence is protracted beyond five years, he forfeits his commission. Where he has enjoyed no extraordinary advantage, the continuance of his pay for life is the only benefit with which he returns to England; the great expense of living, as well as of moving from one station to another, rendering it difficult to save any thing from his income. Some, however, by interest or talent, obtain separate appointments and commands, or are sent on missions to native courts, which

* Page 331,

« PreviousContinue »