might have occasioned much inconvenience to those subscribers whose sets are otherwise complete. In truth, the suggestion was utterly indefensible, and finally abandoned on consultation with an eminent advocate, from whose exertions in the direction, the people of India confidently hope, the speedy reformation of the numerous abuses which were so often the themes of his indignant invective at Calcutta. The pasquinade in question, is entitled the 'Political Condition of Ceylon,' and in our humble judgment, it contains more really valuable information, than one would expect to find in a publication almost exclusively devoted to criticisms of ancient histories, and occasional dissertations on the antiquities and literature of the East. We extract one or two paragraphs for the satisfaction of our readers. 'Monopolies are so certainly the offspring of unchecked power, that the liberty of subjects may be judged of by the monopolies to which they are subject; their misery may be considered great when monopolies and other branches of revenue, are rented out to the highest bidder, the most daring publican. In Ceylon, the renting system is very prevalent; to do away with it, it would be necessary to abandon some of the monopolies, which would fall off under the management of government. The renters are greatly checked by their leases being printed in the different languages, and well known to the public; by the laws being known by the numerous magistrates, having on them the eyes of an intelligent public, often mixed with English; also by the magistrate, in many instances, not being interested in the collection of revenue; and in the maritime provinces, by his being subject to the Supreme Court; notwithstanding these checks, the encroachments and impositions of the writers are enormous.' 'In England, turnpike-renters have a simple duty, and meet mostly with persons they cannot intimidate; yet their frauds are notorious. In Ceylon, a rich and powerful man buys for the year the services of a herd of divers or diggers, sold because they are poor, poor because they are sold; another rich man, connected perhaps with the police and revenue officers, will put forward a needy relative, a poor gentleman, as arrack-renter; the quality and measure of the liquor retailed by him it would be needless to complain of. If complaints are made to the collector, of the renter's violence in enforcing the payment of debts, of his severity in checking smuggling, or of his smuggling into other districts, he will complain that he cannot pay for his rent; and, remembering that the next bidding for the rent will be influenced by the indulgence shewn to this renter, the collector will naturally interfere with him as little as possible, 'The grand Monopoly managed always by the government of Ceylon, with a view to revenue, is that of cinnamon; latterly, the acts concerning it are frequent and terrible. It is a disgrace to the age, nations ought to abhor the monopoly; and by treaties free themselves from its effects. After ten years' war, England illuminated at the permanent cession of Ceylon; her transparencies boasted of the acquisition of cinnamon; thirty years we have had the garden, but have destroyed much more than England has eaten; the finest spice the world produces is kept from the world; to make the sacrifice complete, we ought to avow that we burn it as our most acceptable offering to the shrine of the demon of monopoly; let us acknowledge whom we serve. Perhaps 60,000 persons are enslaved to cultivate cinnamon; then slavery, and the rent of the land, yielding so rare and desirable a production, might well produce 60,000l. per annum; but, if free, how much more would these men and these acres produce, even though they would then consume some of the cinnamon, which is not the case at present; for, in Ceylon, it is as criminal to have cinnamon as to have gunpowder or saltpetre. This branch of revenue is not in a prosperous state-there is no market. 'Freedom of the press is the first want of Ceylon; she has a reading public equal perhaps to that of Madras, though her population may be but a twelfth of the immediate subjects of Madras. This degree of liberty must be looked to as the first indication of honest intention in the government and in the governor; of course many a functionary would feel the lash, but every one of the reading public is immediately dependent, by hope, on the government. Government has monopolized every thing, and pervades every thing; the retail shopkeeper must look to government-servants for customers. It is to break this omnipotence that I desire the freedom of the press; to destroy this ruinous interference with industry, and to confine the government within its proper line of duties; also to give eyes and ears to the legislator who now, from his citadel, thunders destruction where he often intended to give refreshing showers. What source of information does the government at present possess concerning the state and interests of the country? In England, who is there that does not learn much concerning his own interests and profession, from the debates of parliament, and the reports of her committees? There, government is the wisdom of the wise, the counsel of the prudent. The press is also the proper mirror for the executive officers to look at themselves. No power ever forbade printing, that would not also have forbidden speech and thought. It is quite unnecessary for us to avow our cordial approbation of the principles here expressed. Read opium, salt, or tea, for cinnamon, and "India," for Ceylon, and the article from which the above is extracted, precisely meets our view of the principles on which the great question of Indian trade and government ought to be decided in parliament. We hope and trust that many papers of this description will appear before the expiration of the charter. "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," and we are content to read suggestions for the better government of India, under the title of " Political Condition of Ceylon." DEFENCE OF THE CHARACTER OF THE INDIGO PLANTERS of India. To the Editor of the Oriental Herald. SIR,-You will probably give insertion to a few remarks, as a reply to a letter signed" QUI HI," in the last number of "The Asiatic Journal.' Audi alteram partem, is not only a favourite maxim of the Judges of the land, as regards any individual case, but I trust is equally so with a generous public, and ere they condemn as tyrannical, arbitrary and lawless,' a great number of their Countrymen, toiling for an honourable independence, in the burning clime of India, they will be convinced, that they are deserving of such sweeping censure. About twenty years ago, I embarked for Bengal, and commenced life there, as an Assistant to an Indigo Planter; after the lapse of a few years, I became a joint Proprietor, and ultimately, after an absence of fifteen years from England, I returned with a competency.—I mention these circumstances in order to shew that I ought to have some knowledge of the subject I am about to defend.-That the Indigo Planters of Bengal, in common with the majority of Indian adventurers, commence life without a capital of their own, cannot be denied, and is likely ever (for obvious reasons) to be the case, in such a climate! it may, however, be readily believed, that the Agents of Calcutta (who have hitherto had the free Colonial trade in their hands) are unwilling to trust their funds to persons even of doubtful reputations, and that in India, as elsewhere, credit must depend upon a good character. But what can England desire more, than that her sons without " Family, Fortune, or Name," (which is reproachfully mentioned by "Qui Hi,") should boldly adventure to her Colonies, and after spending their best years in cultivating the soil, return with the fruits of their industry? Alas! how few live to return to enrich their native Country, or to diffuse comforts among their poor and aged relatives. The Bengal Indigo Planters are scattered over a large tract of country; there are at least 2000 factories, which occupy a cultivation of 600,000 acres, and make on an average 8,000,000 lbs. of Indigo, (three-fourths of which are sent to London and Liverpool), an article which, from the application of British skill and capital, has supplanted the product of other countries, and England, which fifty years ago imported largely of this raw material for her own consumers, now exports an immense quantity to foreign Europe, and America. The capital employed to produce the article, is most widely distributed, one Ryot may cultivate one Bigah (one-third of an acre), another two, and comparatively few exceed thirty.-The weed is sold to the Planters at a fixed rate, agreeably to a bond executed at the commencement of the season, when, as is usual in that country, an advance is always made. Upwards of one crore of rupees, or a million sterling, are annually divided among the Peasantry and Labourers of the countrya large proportion of which, without doubt, finds its way into the coffers of the India Company, in the shape of Land Revenue, enabling the peasantry to consume the produce of their rice and other crops. Although this great and peculiar interest had sprung up in the Company's territory, no effective law or regulation relating to it had been passed by the government up to the year 1823, the consequence of which was, that many circumstances occurred in which the Judge 134 Defence of the Character of the Indigo Planters in India. or Magistrate were unable to decide, and thus the planters were without any legal remedy. For instance, it not unfrequently happened (as asserted by "QUI H1,") that several Ryots took advances from two, or possibly from three Planters, for the product of one and the same field; and when the plant came to maturity, it became a prey to the strongest or most active; this necessarily produced criminal suits at law, attended with references to the government, who were at times probably puzzled how to act. However, in 1823 a regulation was passed, which defined a right of ownership, and then the planters came within the pale of legal protection. "QUI HI" states, that one gentleman in the Company's Service, and under cover of his authority, took away the land from the Ryots, who wished to cultivate Rice, and compelled them to cultivate Indigo. If they refused, they were seized and severely flogged, and one man was thus flogged to death in 1818, by his European Lady!—He goes on to state, that this gentleman was suspended by the government, not, however, till after eight or ten years' continuance of this cruel system of torture! Here then is a gentleman, it must be presumed, of the Bengal Civil Service, (for the Military are not allowed to trade), under cover of his authority, accused of such mal-practices! During my sojourn in India, I resided only in one district, and any act similar to the above, never, to my knowledge, occurred whilst I was there. When I left, the planters throughout the district had mutual settled boundaries to the cultivation of their respective factories, the one not making advances to the Ryots of another, and thus a good and friendly feeling had been established among all.-Moreover, a club had been formed, which included the Civilians and Military of the district, where any infringement, or unhandsome conduct from one to another, would have been discussed and reprobated. At this club, Mr. Editor, I have spent some of the happiest days of my life, and I have lately had two of the old members with me, who have expressed themselves to the same effect-difference of rank, there was none-all were considered equal, and this promoted kindness towards each other. Our conversation frequently related to old England, whilst the king, (God bless him), had not a band of more loyal subjects throughout his dominions, and why should I omit, whilst writing these few words in their defence, that I have known these Indigo Planters, (who are so decried by "QUI HI,") although striving hard for an independence, to subscribe more towards a charitable object, than the rich merchants of London, rich and beneficent as they are, are accustomed to do! I cannot publicly mention individual names and cases, though I know of many munificent acts both to the orphan and widow. Had it been the fate of "QUI HI" to have visited this district, he could not have written such general censure of us; he would certainly have seen many planters of education and of gentlemanly conduct. I have had two brothers in the Company's Military service, one now in command of a Regiment, another (a protegeè of Sir P. Malcolm's) was killed in the navy, and two of us were planters, all having had the common run of education, which the middling classes of society in England afford themselves. We cannot then fairly be reckoned (although adventurers) among the illiterate and vulgar, and yet we might be considered as an average example of what the planters in that district were. I have the good fortune to possess friends in Tirhoot, Boylepore, and other Zillahs, pursuing the same occupation, who would be an honour to any profession. I can safely and solemnly declare, (and I do not Power Exercised by the Auditor-General at Madras. 185 pretend to be better than my neighbours), that I always considered the Ryots' interests, and my own, to be the same; for whilst they were flourishing and contented, my factories were enabled to secure its cultivation, and many thousands of rupees have I lent, (at half the interest they paid elsewhere), to enable them to purchase bullocks, or to pay their rents when they became due. I was placed, Mr. Editor, several miles distant from any other planter, and have been a month together without seeing a white face; you may then easily suppose, knowing the social nature of man, that I must have mixed much with the Natives: it was an amusement to me (and I am not ashamed to own it) to sit, during the evening, in my Verandah, surrounded by a groupe of Ryots, hearing an account of their customs, &c. and conveying to them some account of those of England, and of its mechanical powers, &c. To this, and to my not being above listening to their complaints, I ascribe the spirit of confidence which existed between us. I have settled innumerable differences between the Ryots and the Land-owners, and thus prevented much litigation; have given medicine to the sick, for which I had very frequent applications, and do conscientiously believe that I have saved the lives of several afflicted with the Cholera. On the whole, then, whilst striving to insure to myself an honourable independence for the Evening of my life, you will probably agree that I was not a pest to the people by whom I was surrounded. On the contrary, if there were thousands similar to myself, in addition to the number now there, they would prove an incalculable benefit to the Natives, instead of being the source of even a single injury. The Company's Service has hitherto been considered by many as the only legitimate channel through which to acquire a fortune in India,— and I regret to add, there are many individuals in that service, (especially among the senior branches of it), who look on all out of it, as interlopers and unwelcome intruders. To them, may be ascribed the remarks made by Bishop Heber, which he acknowledged were from hearsay, and not drawn from his own experience; in fact, he had not sufficient opportunities to draw any such conclusion, from his own personal observation. London, 25th May, 1829. INDICUS. POWER EXERCISED BY THE AUDITOR-GENERAL AT MADRAS. To the Editor of the Oriental Herald. SIR,-Well knowing the interest you take in the welfare of all classes of his Britannic Majesty's subjects in the East, I cannot refrain communicating to you, a species of injustice lately practised by the Madras government, in the Office of Audit, trusting you will give it publicity in your widely circulating Herald, as the only means of its ever meeting the eye of our Honourable Masters in Leadenhall-Street. It has for many years been customary for the Military AuditorGeneral, when the accounts of an Officer are in any way objectionable, to send in an Objectionable Charge,' for reply and explanation, |