and a most inclement winter, were driven back to their desert home. MADRAS. INTERFERENCE OF THE SUPREME GOVERNMENT.-There is a report that despatches have been received from the Home Authorities expressing their surprise that the Supreme Government of India should have interfered, on so many occasions, with the minor Presidencies; and intimating that, except in cases of peculiar importance, all the details of Government should be left to the respective Governors in Council. BREAK-WATER.-The Fort St. George Gazette contains the report of the Break-water Committee for the month of March. The disbursements are Rs. 2496 15 5, which added to the expense incurred up to the 29th February, amounts to rupees 16,999 14 4. The Break-water Committee are gradually progressing towards the accomplishment of the work they have undertaken; a great many huge masses of rock for the Breakwater have been brought down the Adyar and deposited at its entrance, ready for embarkation. The Newaub has granted leave to the Committee, to use an extensive bed of granite on the left bank of the Adyar, a little below Marmalong Bridge. THE GOVERNOR OF PONDICHERRY.-The Marquess De St. Simon, Governor of Pondicherry, arrived at Madras on the 1st April under a salute of nineteen guns. The Marquess has been splendidly fèted at MadOn the morning of the 11th April the garrison of Fort St. George were reviewed before him, and the Marquess was pleased to express his approbation of the precision with which the manoeuvres were executed and the steadiness of the troops. ras. READING AND CIRCULATING LIBRARY. -A reading and circulating library has been formed on the premises of the Roman Catholic Cathedral. MR. C. R. COTTON.-It is said that Mr. C. R. Cotton comes into the Revenue Board on the vacancy occasioned by Mr. Sullivan's accession to Council. SERIOUS ACCIDENT.—A soldier of H. M.'s 63d, whilst bathing in the sea in front of the saluting battery on the 22nd March, suddenly disappeared. It is supposed the unfortunate man fell a victim to the sharks which swarm in the roadstead. DEATH OF LIEUT. BROMLEY AND ENSIGN GIBBON. Lieut. Bromley and Ensign Gibbon, were attacked on their march, between Dorejuiepursaud and Oodiagherry, by a large body of Khonds, and being deserted by a great portion of the native force under their command, fell nobly, defending themselves and the charge which had been committed to them. THE NEILGHERRIES.-A large assemblage has been attracted to the Neilgherries this season, although great inconvenience is experienced on them from an insufficiency of rain. Sir F. Adam is in very fair health, and is said to take a great deal of exercise and do very little business. SUICIDE.-Capt. Neil Sinclair, of H. M.'s 55th Regt. who had been recently ordered down to the presidency to take his trial before a military tribunal, recently put an end to his existence by suspending himself by the neck in an out-house with a silk handkerchief. He was found next morning quite dead. MR. OLIVER.The Honorable Mr. Oliver embarked for England on the Duke of Argyle on the 17th ultimo. REDUCTION OF THE ARMY.-A rumour is in circulation, that the Indian Army is to be reduced by thirty regiments, and that Lord Auckland has been instructed to carry this reduction into effect. JAULNA.-Jaulna is to be re-occupied as a military station. THE INDUS. The Nerbudda, Lieut. Carless, returned to Bombay on the 3rd instant from the Indus, where she had been employed in surveying the river. It appears SHIPWRECKS.-The brig Rebecca, Capt. Heron, ran ashore on the night of the 22nd ultimo, to the north-that the river contains much less water than was expected. ward of the Custom House. The vessel was immedi-Lieut. Wood, I. N., was left at Hyderabad, in order to note the rise and fall of the river during the monsoon. ately pillaged of all her cabin stores by the natives, who endeavoured to maltreat the Captain when he remonstrated with them. The brig Hamanshaw, bound from Madras to Vizagapatam, ran ashore near Narsapore Point, in the Zillah of Rajahmundry, on the morning of the 6th April, and was obliged to put into Antrovai ly in distress. The Collector of the district had supplied the passengers, amounting to 600 souls with money to prosecute their journey. THE HUGH LINDSAY.-The Hugh Lindsay sailed from Bombay for Suez on the 18th March with 2,955 letters on board. The following are said to be the arrangements which have been made for the conveyance of the overland packets for the period from 1st December last to the 1st June next:-The Shannon is expected to bring the packets of 1st January and 1st Fbruary, and to arrive there early in May. The Hugh Lindsay may be expected in all May, with the mails of 1st March and 1st April. The Clive may be expected to arrive about STEAM NAVIGATION.-The subscribers to the Steam nav-the middle of August, with the inails of 1st May and 1st igation fund of 1833 met on the 1st instant, and resolved of June. to divide the remaining subscription of 10,000 rupees among the subscribers. The subscribers to the Fund of HORRIBLE MURDERS.-Several native children have 1823 have determined to give the balance, as soon as been suddenly missed at Amednuggur, and it is supposed received from England, to the Friend in Need Society. that they have been murdered by the emissaries of a The Steam petition has already 1,162 signatures attached Rajpootnee of distinction residing a few days' march to it. The new steam subscription gets on very languidly. THUNDER AND HAIL STORM.-A severe thunder hail storm occurred at Ellore on the 22nd March. disastrous consequences resulted from it. from the town, who being dangerously ill, has been persuaded by her medical advisers, that all endeavours and to restore her would prove ineffectual, unless she conNo sented to eat the hearts and livers of twenty young children, and which remedy she had in consequence determined to try. The body of one of the missing chil- and the two children were drowned. The Malay man dren, was found in a nullah, with the belly cut open, from was picked up after being some time in the water. which the heart and liver had been extracted. Two men have been imprisoned on suspicion of being connected with the murder. SINGAPORE. PIRACIES. The pirates are waxing bolder daily in their A woman and a man, her paramour, of the Koon-depredations in the Straits. An attack was made on the bee Vunjaree caste, were hanged on the 21st ultimo near the town jail of Poona, for having conspired and murdered the husband of the former. This is the first woman hung in Poona. On the 5th March a girl of eleven years of age was murdered and cut to pieces by some Mussulmen, for the sake of ornaments of thirty rupee's value which she had on her person. DEATH BY LIGHTNING.-The house of Talya Kakirday in the Shenwar Penth at Poona, was struck with lightning on the 11th April, and two of the boys belonging to the school held in it were killed. THE EUPHRATES EXPEDITION.--It is stated that Ibrahim and Reschid Pashas, have been positively ordered to oppose the Euphrates expedition under Col. Chesney. PRESENT TO GOVERNMENT.-A present has lately been received from the Ameers of Scind by the Bombay Government, consisting of eight handsome horses, two full grown tigers and two deer. DURBAR.-A Durbar was held by the Governor on the 23rd March in the Town Hall, to present a khilaut to Aga Mahummud Ruheem Shirajee. The durbar was very numerously attended by the principal native inha bitants of Bombay. VILLAGE TELLATEES.-The experiment which was tried some time since in the Conkan and Deccan, of investing the Deshmookhs and Deshpandyas with a sort of superintendance over Jullatees and Shekhdars, has succeeded remarkably well. FIRE AT SURAT.-A fire broke out at Surat on the 6th March near Seyd Pooree, by which 300 houses were burned to ashes and property valued at 200,000 rupees destroyed. APPREHENSION OF A GANG OF ROBBERS.-Twenty individuals of a gang of depredators, who had committed a gang robbery in the village of Warshana, in the SubCollectorate of Sholapoor, have been apprehended through the exertions of Lieut. F. Janvrim of H. M.'s 20th Regt, who arrived in the village the day after the robbery had been perpetrated. CEYLON. 12th February on the brig Fatal Gunnie whilst on her way to Lookoot, a tin district a little to the northward of Malacca, by three prahus. After an action of about half an hour, the pirates gradually retired to a short distance and lay too for six other boats which were pulling up to their assistance. One of the seacunnies of the brig being killed by a ball while serving a gua, and the people on board fearful of the numbers now approaching, the vessel put back to Malacca with a favorable breeze, where she arrived on the 14th February. A sampan pukat, with a crew of fifty men on board, was attacked in the Straits of Lambajin by four piratical prahus, and after a warm engagement, in which she lost five men and had nine wounded, and had killed about thirty of the pirates, the commander beach her, as she was ready to sink. The crew soon was obliged to run the pukat into a small river and erected a stockade for their defence, in which they were shortly attacked by the pirates who kept up the assault for about five hours and then retired. The pukat after remaining four days to repair damages, put to sea and arrived at Malacca in safety in five days. A boat belonging to H. M.'s ship Rose was attacked near Penang by pirates, but she succeeded in capturing one of the corsairs after having one of her crew killed and several wounded. Penang in quest of a horde of pirates, who, it was reHis Majesty's Ship Wolf, was about to start from ported, had established a depôt on the Ding-Dings. Several other native craft and fishing boats have been plundered by these ruthless corsairs and their dations have all been committed within thirty miles crews barbarously butchered. The sanguinary depreto the eastward of Singapore. His Majesty's sloop of war Wolf and the schooner Zephyr, had come to an engagement with a fleet of pirates, but the result of the encounter was not known, as the junk which brought the intelligence of the conflict, came away when boats of the men-of-war were in pursuit of the pirates. STEAMER JARDINE.-The Steamer Jardine has arrived at Singapore and been tendered to the Government. THE SYLPH.-The Sylph hauled out from Sandy Point on the 24th March, to her anchorage in the roads all a PEARL FISHERY.-The Pearl Fishery, carrying on tanto, and sailed for Calcutta on the 2nd April. at Aripo, is not likely to turn out as profitable to: Government as the few previous ones; and this is STEAMER JARDINE. The merchants of Singapore principally owing to the absence of the Natacotayahs, contemplated to get up a Company to purchase the the most wealthy class of Native Merchants. Two Jardine, Steamer, in shares of one hundred Spanish reasons are assigned for the unwillingness of these dollars each, to be employed as a regular trader between people to attend one; the severe losses they experi- Singapore, Penang and Malacca. enced in their speculations at the last Fishery; the other, that one of their body, having committed an MR. D. MACINTYRE.-Mr. Donald Macintyre, late offence, received some punishment in consequence of assignee of the firm of Cruttenden and Co., died on board which he lost caste: this has so highly outraged their of the Lady Clifford on the 12th February, on the feelings, that they have determined, by coalescing in the way to Singapore. present manner, to be avenged on Government, for the insult offered to their degraded brother. PENANG. THE EX RAJAH OF KEDA.-The ex-Rajah of Keda has quitted Malacca, and was at Perak on the 5th March on his voyage to Delha, where he intends to reside permanently with his family and followers. ACCIDENT.-A Chulia boat laden with rice and paddy belonging to a Malay man, (who, and his two children, were passengers in her) was upset near Tallook Aier, CONQUEST OF SUMATRA.-It is stated that the Dutch, undeterred by the severe castigations inflicted on them by the ourang padrees, still continue to cherish the hope of subjugating Sumatra to their rule. For this they have collected about 2,000 of their climate-worn purpose soldiers in Padang, and sent them up to Ayer Boongy. VOLCANIC ERUPTION.-An eruption of Gunong Apie (one of the Banda isles) took place in October last, attended with a violent earthquake, which destroyed the barracks at Amboyna and caused the loss of a number of lives. The walls of the several forts on the island, have been much injured by the concussion, and great Banda, where the principal clove plantations are, has suffered considerably. ENTREPOT FOR OPIUM. wounded about as many, and burnt upwards of a hundred houses to the ground. They also succeeded in carrying away the arms from the thana, and rescuing a few prisoners. After this they attacked a large village called Raing-kiong, belonging to another hill tribe, where they killed upwards of twenty individuals, besides severely wounding many. CHINA. ATTROCITIES COMMITTED NEAR THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. -The authorities at Macao have declared that port a place of entrepôt for opium, and also for foreign goods generally, except from places on this side the Cape of Good Hope. They are allowed to remain in entrepôt six months, after which, if not previously re-exported, they will be subject-Several vessels have lately been attacked near the to the regulated duties. There is a deposit charge of 5 dollars per chest on opium, and one and a half per cent. on other goods,-besides fixed rates of godown rent. The edict is declared to be experimental, but to be in force not less than one year. BURMAH. Letters from Arracan state, that the province is still in a very disturbed state. Three companies of the 40th N. I. were at Akyab on the 8th ultimo, but owing to the nature of the country, they anticipated some trouble in restoring the district to order, even though the freebooter insurgents are few in number. The rebels having succeeded in getting the hill tribes of Lymro to join them, made an attack on the old town of Arracan. They killed four or five individuals, Sandwich Islands and their crews murdered. The tain, the first and second officers, and some of the seamen CHANGE OF EDITOR.-The editorship of the Canton Press has changed hands. REVIEW OF THE CALCUTTA MARKET. In (From A. E. Kuhn's Monthly Price Current, April, 31, 1836. our last number we alluded to certain alterations, contemplated by this Government, regarding the Inland Transit and Town Duties; those measures have been finally determined upon, and promulgated for the information of the public. The liberality of Government has been conspicuons on this occasion. The revenue derived from the Inland and Town duties, and now given up, amounted to about 13 Lacks, while, instead of levying imports upon the external com merce to nearly the same amount as was at first contemplated, they have been satisfied with drawing only one half of the revenue thus abandoned. The effect of these joint measures must be most beneficial to our trade with Great Britain, as the relief afforded to the dealers and consumers in this country, will enable them to pay, for the articles imported, prices more than equal, to cover the present duties, and, when in addition to the removal of the pecuniary grievances, we consider the cessation of the vexatious delays and fraud attendant upon the old system, there is every reason confi. dently to expect, a decided progressive increase of the local consumption. With respect to our produce market, the state of comparative inactivity into which we have been thrown by the extraordinary scarcity of tonnage has not been relieved since our last publication; but, on the contrary, notwithstanding the general expectation, that the next arrivals must reduce existing rates, the few ships now loading, are obtaining rather more than formerly, £6 per 20 cwt. having been paid for saltpetre to London, 18 rupees per bale for cotton to China, and 3 rupees per bag of rice to Mauritius. From the great increase of the production of grain and seed in this country and also the extension of the cotton cultivation, it is not likely that hereafter freights in this port will decline below the average of the last twelve months. INDIGO.-The season may now be considered to be closed; there are some few parcels yet to arrive, about 400 mds. The stock comprises about 4000 mds. held by speculators; prices are nominal and nothing whatever is doing in the article. The prospects for the growing crop are generally unfavourable and certainly considerably worse than they were at this time last year, owing to the continuance of the dry weather. It is yet too early to form any correct calculation of the quantity that may be produced, the present appearances are however against an average crop, as the season is likely to be a very dry one. re OPIUM. Notwithstanding the unfavourable accounts ceived from China, (and the advices from Bombay confirm. ing the intelligence of an abundant crop of Malwa) the Opium Sale of the 29th April, was well attended, and the prices rather in excess of last year, but, as in the case of lac dye, have been driven up bigher than could possibly have been a remarkable increase is observable in our trade with the expected. The principal buyers are native and other specula United States. tois. The greater part of the limited orders were of course rendered inexecutable. RAW SILK.-The March band is now arriving, the produce is considered to be of a good quality and abundant; our prices may be expected to improve, as the demand for the home mar. kets is extremely active. SILK PIECE GOODS.-It will be observed that our prices have improved, there are no stocks at present in existence, and shippers are generally obliged to execute their orders by making advances to agents in the manufacturing districts The purchases of choppahs and bandanoes for the Americans have been very extensive during the last eleven months. The exports of corabs to Great Britain is about the same as last year, while the exports of choppahs and bandanoes have fallen off to a remarkable degree. RAW COTTON.-The present crop is stated to be large, and our prices have consequently declined. The accounts from China are very discouraging, and it appears that from Madras and Bombay, the supplies will be unusually liberal. Our exports to Great Britain have very materially increased of late years; shipments during the last eleven months hav. ing amounted to 88,289 bales, notwithstanding the scarcity of tonnage. SALTPETRE.-The shipments to America have been on a very large scale, more than double of last year's, and nearly equal to the exports to Great Britain. The stock of fine and good quality in the market is very inconsiderable, but the lower qualities are rather plentiful. RICE. The scarcity of tonnage already alluded to bas occasioned a complete stagnation in this trade, with the exception of a few cargoes dispatched to Mauritius and to Bourbon; to the latter place, our exports have been considerable. WHEAT. The new wheat is expected to arrive about the end of June; the little of the old that now remains is nearly worthless from the attack of the weavils. HIDES.-Shipments for England continue on a limited scale, owing to the scarcity of available tonnage. The Americans have purchased during the last eleven months 561,378 pieces, while the average of their shipments of the preceding three years, is only 231,872 pieces, showing an increase of more than the double. Prices remain as reported in our last. LINSEED. The last crop is now all arrived, the most part of which has been shipped to England, the remaining is in the hand of the persons engaged in the supply of the home markets, waiting for opportunities of shipping. SPICES, DRUGS, &c.-There have been some transactions in regard to the articles under this head. METALS.-Copper.-The state of our market although not active for the present, is however very satisfactory, and prices may be considered safe. Spelter. Our market continues calm owing to the declining consumption in the interior. Lead. The demand for the interior continues active and our prices are steady. Iron. With the exception of sheet iron, the supplies of which have diminished; our imports this year have been in creased nearly 150 per cent. The market has been however preserved from a more serious decline in prices by the extraordinary increase in the demand for the inferior. Steel and Tinplates.-Continue, as before, dull of sale. TWIST.-Mule. -Our prices have not improved since our last, notwithstanding a tolerably brisk demand. The discouraging accounts from home, respecting the cotton market appear to induce importers to realize with all due expedition. SUGAR. The new sugar may be expected to arrive in quantity about the latter end of the next month; in the Ghazeepore districts the cane has been very unproductive, owing to the decay occasioned by the excessive rains; the price of the to almost nothing. jaggry has in consequence risen about 30 per cent., and it is generally estimated that the crop of these parts, (producing the sugar known under the denomination of Benares,) will experience a falling off of about one-fourth. In the Burdwan district, the produce of which is not generally exported to Europe, the cane has thriven throughout and the crop is consequently abundant. The Americans have for the first time become purchasers of this article. Although there are many parcels of sugar in bands of the exporters, waiting for opportunities of shipments, the stock for sale in the baza is extremely reduced. LAC.-Lac Dye. -Our prices have advanced. The demand for England has been steady, and our exports nearly equal to those of last year. The Americans bave bought very freely, and their shipments have more than doubled the quantity taken by them last year. Shell Lac.-Our prices remain stationary with a sligh: tendency to decline. The amount exported to England is Red Twist. Is declining; the import of this year being rather too heavy for the market. Orange Twist.-Prices are the large supplies from England; this firmness is entirely maintained notwithstanding attributable to the considerable increase of our re-exparts to Madras. COTTON PIECE GOODS.-In plain cottons the amount of business done during the last month, is rather limited the warm weather has as usual restricted the sales of heavy goods; on the other band for Jaconets, book muslins, lappel and leuoes the enquiry has been brisk. Printed goods of dark colours such as neutrals, &c. have also been neglected, but of Bengal stripes and single coloured chintz the pur. chasers have been willing to take freely at improved rates. WOOLLENS. Our market is extremely inactive. The demand is not likely to revive before the opening of the rivers in June or July. 1 THE PETITION AGAINST THE REPEAL, 53 GEO. III. To the Right Honorable GEORGE LORD AUCKLAND, G. C. B., Governor-General of India in Council. The humble Memorial of the undersigned British-born inhabitants of the Province of Bengal in the East Indies. MOST RESPECTFULLY SETS FORTH,-That your Memorialists are British-born subjects of his Majesty King William 4th, and as such are entitled as their birth-right, to the enjoyment of the protection of British laws and institutions in whatsoever part of the British territories they may be placed, in as far, and to as great an extent as is compatible with the nature and circumstances of the country in which they reside. That recognizing this principle, the Legislature of Great Britain in the 53d year of King George 3d, passed an Act of Parliament, giving British born subjects resident in the interior of India, an appeal from the decisions of the Courts of Justice of this country to his Majesty's Supreme Courts established in the several Presidencies of Bengal, Madras and Bombay. That your Memorialists are fully and deeply impressed with the importance and reasonableness of establishing throughout his Majesty's dominions in India, held in trust for his said Majesty by the Honorable East India Company, one uniform and single Code of Laws, embracing one universal and equal system of jurispru dence, and administrative justice, based upon sound and equitable principles, and to which, every well-disposed and well-informed British subject, wheresoever born, will yield ready and willing obedience; but that from the variety of confused codes aud unsystematic judicatures subsisting throughout the interior of India, the united co-operation of much time, great labor and the constant exercise of the highest talent will be required, before the several codes of administrative justice, prevailing throughout India, can be shaped and framed into one uniform system, in any manner approximating to a perfect administrative code. That the Mahommedan and Hindoo systems of jurisprudence, which are the present prevailing codes of law in the interior of India, are for the most part founded on principles utterly at variance with the principles of English law, and consequently utterly at variance with all that an Englishman has been taught to esteem just and right. That not only in the estimation of British-born subjects, but in the opinion generally of well informed Natives of India themselves, the Courts of British judicature are far preferable in respect of the due administration of justice to the Courts of the country. That in the latter Courts, among the subordinate officers thereunto attached, bribery and corruption prevail to an enormous extent; evils which your Memorialists venture to suggest, are impossible in a Court of British judicature. That your Memorialists are led to believe from the provisions of the British Legislature touching the future administration of justice throughout India, that such a code of laws is now preparing by the Commissioners duly constituted for that purpose, as shall do away with the anomalies and contradictions, reconcile the discrepancies, conflicting codes, rules, and regulations, now subsisting throughout India, and in a word produce one uniform and equal system of jurisprudence and administrative justice to which British subjects, both Native and British-born, will yield ready and willing allegiance, and which they will hail with gratitude as the greatest blessing that can be conferred upon this country, and each and all of its inhabitants without discrimination of birth and country. D d But that as in the nature of things, allowing the highest talent and the most unremitting and undivided labour and exertion to be devoted to this great object by his Majesty's Law Commission for the correction of the jurisprudence of India, many years must elapse before such code can be promulgated, your Memorialists humbly pray that until such time as such code shall be compiled, made known, and put in operation throughout India, your Memorialists and other British-born subjects resident in India, may still enjoy the right and privilege bestowed upon them by the British Legislature of appealing from the decisions of the Company's country Courts of justice to his Majesty's Supreme Courts of the several Presidencies of Bengal, Madras and Bombay, wherein British Laws are administered. That your Memorialists, without presuming to question the general authority of the Legislative Council of India to make laws for the good government of the Indian territories, yet venture to suggest that as that authority is conveyed by Act of the British Legislature, it must be exercised strictly subordinate thereto, and conformably therewith; and consequently that the Legis'ative Council of India does not possess the power under the present Act of 3 and 4, of William 4, c. 85, of abolishing any Courts of Justice established by his Majesty's Charter without the previous sanction of the Honorable Court of Directors for the affairs of India, nor of abolishing a with that sanction; the 46th clause of the 3 and 4, W. Court of Justice, established by Act of Parliament even 4, c. 85, which gives implied authority to abolish Courts of Justice, with the sanction abovementioned, expressly limiting such power of abolition, to Courts of Justice established by his Majesty's Charter. But the Courts of Appeal in cases of British born subjects from the Courts of Justice established in the interior of India, are Courts of Justice established by Act of Parliament. Your Memorialists beg further to suggest, that as Englishmen and as constituents of that representative form of Government under, and subordinate to which, the Government of India exists, your Memorialists cannot by any constitutional or reasonable construction of law, be deemed either foreigners in the British territories of India or subjects of the Honorable Company. That by the wise and considerate provisions of the Supreme Legislature of Great Britain, the due administration of justice is secured to the Mahommedan and the Hindoo according to the different codes they severally recognize, and your Memorialists venture to hope that if trial by Hindoo law be secured to the Hindoo, by the Mahommedan law to the Musssulman, your Memo rialists are not asking too much if they require in their own case an appeal from Hindoo or Mussulman law, or the law of the Honorable Company's regulations to the laws of their country, a right already recognized and confirmed by Act of Parliament. That by the notification of the Legislative Council of India, promulgated on the 1st February, 1836, it is signified that the 107 section of the Stat. 53, Geo. 3. c. 55. by which the privilege of appeal from decisions of the country Courts of India to his Majesty's Supreme Courts of Judicature is given to British subjects, shall be rescinded. That the proposed rescission of 107 Sec. of the Stat. 53rd Geo. 3. c. 155, being made without any restriction or qualification whatever, it will necessarily follow, that suits or actions or criminal trials wherein British-born subjects are plaintiffs and defendants, will be tried by laws to which they are total strangers, that the whole proceedings will be in a language to them unknown, and |