PERKINS LIBRARY 
 
 DuL-e U niversitv 
 
 Rare Doolcs 
 
E 
 #635" 
 
EVIDENCES 
 
 KELATINO TO THE 
 
 EFFICIENCY OF NATIVE AGENCY 
 
 IN INDIA. 
 
 PUBLISHED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF 
 THE BRITISH INDIA SOCIETY. 
 
 REPRINTED WITH A SUPPLEMENT, BY THE BRITISH INDIAN ASSOCIATION. 
 
 CALCUTTA: 
 
 PRINTED BY SANDERS, CONES AND CO., No. U, LOLL BAZAR. 
 
 1853. 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arcliive 
 in 2014 
 
 littps://arcliive.org/details/evidencesrelatinOObrit 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following pages owe their origin to a Resolution of 
 the Bengal British India Society, passed on the 5th Janu- 
 ary, 1844, fb the ef!ect — 
 
 " That the Committee collect from all available sources, 
 and print in the form of a pamphlet, the evidences relat- 
 ing to the efficiency and character of Native Agency in the 
 administration of the affairs of this country, for transmis- 
 sion to England, in support of the Petition lately sent 
 through George Thompson, Esq., to the Proprietors of the 
 East India Stock, praying for effect to be given to the 
 87th Section of the last Charter Act." 
 
 Pursuant to this Resolution, the following selection of 
 evidences, compiled from papers relative to the affairs of 
 the E. I. Company and other publications on Indian sub- 
 jects, is published under the superintendence of the Com- 
 mittee of the Bengal British India Society. 
 
 The Committee having been anxious to add to this col- 
 lection the two following documents, viz. — 
 
 Is^. Sudder Court's letter to Government, No. 953, 
 
 dated 2nd June, 1843, on a proposed Act regarding ap- 
 peals in civil cases ; 
 
 2nd. Despatch of the Honorable Court of Directors, 
 
 No. 9, of 1843, dated 26th September, 1843, para. 3rd. 
 applied, on the 26th February, 1844, through their Pre- 
 sident, to the Government of Bengal, for copies of those 
 letters, stating the purpose for which they were required. 
 It appears, however, from Mr. Under-Secretary TurnbulFs 
 reply, dated 1st April, 1844, that the established practice 
 of the office will not permit of the application being com- 
 plied with. 
 
iv 
 
 As an introduction to these evidences, it will, perhaps, 
 not be deemed irrelevant to subjoin in this place a suc- 
 cinct statement of the offices conferred on the Hindoos 
 during the Mahomedan administration, and of those to 
 which the Natives of the country are now eligible under 
 its present rulers. 
 
 Though it is to be regretted that information respect- 
 ing the internal policy of the Mahomedan Government is 
 exceedingly scanty, yet the historical testimonies and no- 
 tices cited below are sufficiently explicit and distinct on 
 the subject : — 
 
 The administration of justice has been almost univer- 
 sally, by the Mogul conquerors of Indostan, devolved 
 upon the Hindus, the office of Duan being generally con- 
 ferred upon one of that people. — Orme. 
 
 The conquest of Hindustan, effected by the Maho- 
 medan nations, was to no extraordinary degree sangui- 
 nary or destructive. It substituted sovereigns of one race 
 for sovereigns of another, and mixed with the old inhabi- 
 tants a small proportion of new ; but it altered not the 
 texture of society : it altered not the language of the 
 country : the original inhabitants remained the occupants 
 of the soil : they continued to be governed by their own laws 
 and institutions : nay, the whole detail of administration, 
 with the exception of the army, and a few of the more 
 prominent situations, remained invariably in the hands of 
 the Native Magistrates and officers.— M/^. 
 
 As India was not governed by the Moguls, in the 
 character of a detached province, valued only as it could 
 be rendered useful to another state, which is the proper 
 idea of foreign conquest, but became the sole residence 
 find sole dominion of the J\Iogul Government, which there- 
 by found its interest as closely united to that of India, as 
 it is possible for the interest of a despotical Government 
 to be united with that of its people, the Mogul Govern 
 
ment was, to all the effects of interest, and thence of 
 behaviour, not a foreign, but a native Government. — Ihid. 
 
 Under the Mahomedan despotisms of the East, near- 
 ly as much as in republics themselves, all men are treated 
 as equal. There is no noble, no privileged class. Legal- 
 ly, there is no hereditary property, as the king is the 
 heir of all his subjects. The only thing which creates 
 distinction, is office ; or the exercise of some portion 
 of the powers of Government. For office, there is no 
 monopolizing class. Men from the very lowest ranks of 
 life are daily rising to the highest commands ; where each 
 of them is honoured, in proportion not to the opulence 
 of his father, but the qualities which he himself dis- 
 played. — Ihid, 
 
 The Hindus who are mentioned as military command- 
 ers, may perhaps have been zemindars, heading their 
 contingents, and not officers appointed by the Crown ; 
 there is no doubt, however, that many of them were em- 
 ployed in civil offices, especially of revenue and accounts, 
 and we have seen that Hemu and Medni Rai were entrust- 
 ed with all the powers of their respective governments, 
 and that, under Mobarick Khilji, the whole spirit of the 
 Court and administration was Hindu. — Elphinstone. 
 
 In Er shine's Baher, p. 232, it is stated, that when he 
 (Baber) arrived in India, the officers of revenue were all 
 Hindoos. 
 
 The following statement of facts, short as it is, will also 
 throw some light on the subject, with reference to the 
 policy and spirit of the Mahomedan Government in the 
 distribution of offices among the people subject to its 
 sway : — 
 
 A. D. 1317. — In the reign of Moobarick Khilji, Pur- 
 wary alias Mullik Khoosrow (a Hindu of low caste) had 
 the command of the army. — Brigg, Vol. I., p. 3S7. 
 
A. D. 1385— In the reign of Feroze III, Rajah Khanis 
 was the Governor of Bengal. — Stewart's Bengal. 
 
 A. D. 1552 — In the reign of Mohamed Shaw, Soor 
 Adily Hemoo, a Hindu, was the Minister. — Brigg, Vol. IL, 
 p. 144 
 
 A. D. 1580 and 1589.— In the reign of Akbar the 
 government of Bengal was twice conferred upon Hindoos, 
 viz., Rajah Tader Mul or Torel Mull, who was first appoint- 
 ed General, and Man Singh ; and Bhugwandas was the Go- 
 vernor of Lahore. — Steiuarfs Bengal, and Brigg, Vol. II., 
 20. 253. 
 
 A. D. 1606 to 1627. — In the reign of Jahangueir, Raja 
 Maun Singh was reinstated in the Government of Bengal, 
 and Rajah Bikramajitt, who bore the title of Rai Rayan, 
 was the master of ordnance, superintendant of artillery, 
 and at last Vezzeir-ul-oomra — Price's Jahangueir, p. 1 9 
 and 28. 
 
 A. D. 1713. — In the reign of Ferokeshere, Moorshed 
 Kooly Khan, (originall}?- the son of a poor Brahmin,) who 
 was the Nazim and Dewan of Behar, Bengal, and Orissa, 
 entrusted the collection of the chucJdas of Bengal to 
 Hindoos, viz.. Raj shay e, to one Ramjan ; Dinagepoor, to 
 one Ramnat ; Nuddea, to one Rughooram. — Marshman's 
 History of Bengal, p. 103. 
 
 A. D. 1725. — Soojah-ood Deen was the Viceroy of Ben- 
 gal. He appointed Roy Alum Chand deputy to the 
 Dewan of Bengal, and " soon after formed a Council of 
 State, whom he was accustomed to consult in all important 
 affairs." Alum Chand and Jugut Sett, "the imperial 
 banker," were two of its members. J eswunt Roy was the 
 Dewan of the Province of Dacca. Rajah Rajbullub was 
 the Peshkar of Morad Ally, the Governor of Dacca, and 
 subsequently its Deputy Governor. — Ibid., p. 109, 114, 
 and 153. 
 
vii 
 
 A. D. 1725 to 1756.— In the reign of Mohammed Shaw, 
 Aly Yerdy Khan, Governor of Bengal, raised various 
 Hindoos " to the principal places of power and emolu- 
 ment under his Government/' 
 
 He preferred the service of Gentoos in every office 
 and dignity of the state, excepting in the ranks of the 
 army, for which they neither wished nor were fit, and 
 seemed to regard the increase of their wealth as his own. 
 Roydulub was his duan, or treasurer, and his confidential 
 minister ; Ramramsing, the Rajah of Midnapore, the mas- 
 ter of the spies and messengers. The governments which 
 he gave to his nephews, the sons and grandsons of Hodgee, 
 as well as the interior establishment of their families, were 
 regulated by Gentoos. He encouraged the immense opu- 
 lence of the Seats, and admitted them to his most secret 
 councils ; he gave the government of Hughley and its 
 district, in which all the European settlements on the river 
 are situated, to Monikchund ; and after the assassination of 
 Zaindee Hamed, he would not trust the government of Be- 
 har, notwithstanding its importance as a province 'and a 
 frontier, to Meer Jaffier, although his brother-in-law, and 
 the first officer in his army ; but gave it to the Gentoo 
 Ramnarain. The Rajahs, both of Bengal and Behar, sought 
 their protection and exemptions, from their fellow Gen- 
 toos, who were established in his confidence, and contri- 
 buted not a little to increase their fortunes. Thus was 
 the Gentoo connection become the most opulent influence 
 in the government, of which it pervaded every depart- 
 ment with such efficacy, that nothing of moment could 
 move without their participation or knowledge ; nor did 
 they ever deceive their benefactor, but co-operated to 
 strengthen his administration and relieve his wants ; and 
 it is said that the ' Seats alone gave him in One present 
 the enormous sum of three millions of rupees, as a con- 
 tribution to support the expences of the Morattoe war. 
 
 I 
 
vlii 
 
 Warranted by such experience, Allaver Jy recommended 
 the policy of his own preference to his successor, and in- 
 structed his wife to inculcate the same maxims after his 
 decease ; but he did not foresee that the great inferiority 
 of abilities in Surajah Dowlah might turn to dangers the 
 very means from which his own had derived security." — 
 Orme, Vol II., p. 53, and Mill, Vol III, p. 239. 
 
 In A. D. 1756, Manick Chand was General in the army 
 of Seraj-ood-Dowla and was left in charge of the Govern- 
 ment of Calcutta and its dependencies. It was to him 
 that Mr. Holwell had applied for peace previous to his 
 defeat and confinement with several others in the Black 
 Hole, and it was he who afterwards went down from 
 Calcutta to offer resistance to Colonel Clive. 
 
 There were other natives who held high appointments 
 under Seraj-ood-DowJa. Mohun Loll was sent as his 
 General to attack Sokut Jung, Governor of Purneah, and 
 afterwards fought with the English at Plassey. Nund 
 Coomar was the Governor of Hoogly. — Marshman's Ben- 
 gal, p. 158, 163, 164, 175, and Mill, Vol III., p. 247. 
 
 Kajah Adul Sing is mentioned as having been the 
 Deputy of Purnea during the administration of Meer 
 Jaffier and Rajah Nund Coomar his deputy, when he was 
 the Subadar of Bengal for the second time. — Marshman's 
 Bengal, p.^S\, and Mill, Vol III, p. 321. 
 
 The Seir Muta Q/ierm mentions the following facts : — 
 
 Rajah Doolobram, who was son to a Prime Minister, was 
 the Governor of Orissa. — p. 512. 
 
 Ray Rayan Chein Ray was the Prime Minister of the 
 Viceroy of Moorshoodabad. — p. 594. 
 
 Biroo Dutt was superintendent of the finances of Ben- 
 gal, and Oowmid Ray, his Deputy, and latterly " Accomp- 
 tant General.'' Rajah Kyret Chund, son to the Ray Rayan, 
 Aalum Chund (Head of the Qhalissah office in Shudjah 
 Qhan's government) was Dewan or Prime Minister to Zin- 
 
IX 
 
 ed-din Ahmed Qlian, at Azimabad, and had latterly the 
 Dewanship of " all Bengal." — -^9. 637. 
 
 Rajah Djankirara and Rajah Ramnarain were the 
 Deputy Governors of Azimabad. Ramnarain had been 
 " first Secretary to Zin-ed-din-ahmed Qhan at the begin- 
 ning of his administration/' Rajah Doolobram (son of 
 Rajah Djankiram) was Dewan of the musters at Moor- 
 shoodabad. — p. 640 and 641. 
 
 In 1765 the East India Company became vested with 
 the Dewanny authority over the Provinces of Bengal, 
 Behar, and Orissa. The system of administration of civil 
 and criminal justice by Native Judges remained undis- 
 turbed till 1768. But in the following year, European 
 functionaries were employed to superintend Fiscal and 
 Judicial aftairs in different parts of the country, and gra- 
 dually the Natives were all put out of place. No provi- 
 sion appears after this to have been made for retaining 
 Natives in other than ministerial offices until 1793, when 
 Lord Cornwallis was at the head of the Government. The 
 first Judicial appointments then declared open to Hindoos 
 and Mahomedans were the Native Commissionerships 
 for determining suits for money or personal property 
 not exceeding in value fifty Sicca Rupees. The Com- 
 missioners at that time acted in three distinct capaci- 
 ties, viz., 1st, Ameens or Referees ; 2nd, Arbitrators ; 3, 
 Munseffs, and the emolument attached to the office 
 was one anna in every Rupee on the amount of 
 the money or personal property forming the subject of 
 every suit decided, or adjusted by Razinamah, and 
 not dismissed on any ground of nonsuit or default. In 
 1814, commissions granted to Natives, to act as referees 
 and arbitrators, were recalled ; but the original jurisdic- 
 tion of Munseffs was still maintained, and it has since 
 been gradually extended. 
 
 The office of Head Commissioner or Sudder Ameen, for 
 
trying referred suits for real and personal property to the 
 value of 100 Rupees, was established in 1803, and the 
 emolument attached thereto was an institution fee of the 
 kind originally allowed to Munseffs. The jurisdiction of 
 this class of officers has also been gradually extended. 
 
 Principal Sudder Ameens, having the power to try suits 
 upon reference from the Zillah Judge to the value of 
 Rs. 5,000, were appointed in 1831 : their powers have 
 likewise been since augmented. 
 
 The Judicial system introduced in Madras and Bombay 
 was upon the model of that instituted in Bengal, and the 
 same classes of Native Judicial officers have existed in 
 those presidencies, with jurisdictions which have been 
 gradually increased in tlie same manner. 
 
 The present emoluments and powers of the Munseffs, 
 Sudder Ameens, and Principal Sudder Ameens, are as 
 follows : — 
 
 1. Bengal. — 1. Munsefis of the first grade receive 150 
 Rupees, and those of the second grade 100 Rupees per 
 month, and a monthly sum of forty Rupees besides for 
 office establishment, including stationery. Suits for per- 
 sonal property to the value of 300 Rupees, or for real pro- 
 perty, the computed value of which does not exceed that 
 sum, are cognizable by them. They have no appellate and 
 criminal jurisdiction. 
 
 2. Sudder Ameens receive 250 Rupees per month and a 
 monthly sum of eighty Rupees for establishment, including 
 stationery. They try all suits for personal property from 
 300 upwards to 1,000 Rupees, and for real property, the 
 computed value of which ranges between those sums. 
 They have no appellate jurisdiction. In criminal cases 
 referred to them for trial, the highest punishment to 
 which they can sentence parties convicted of abusive 
 language or calumny, or of inconsiderable assault or 
 affray, is a fortnight's imprisonment, and a fine of fifty 
 
xi 
 
 Eupees, commutable on non-payment to a further confine- 
 ment of fifteen days more ; and in cases of petty theft, 
 two months' imprisonment with labour. 
 
 3. Principal Sudder Ameens of the first grade receive 
 per month 600 Rupees, and those of the second grade 400 
 Rupees, and the sum allowed to them monthly on account of 
 establishment, &c., is 150 Rupees. They try suits for real and 
 personal property to an unlimited amount, and also appeals 
 against the decisions of Munseffs and Sudder Ameens, 
 referred to them by the Judge. They have the same cri- 
 minal powers as the Sudder Ameens. When the Zillah 
 Judges are absent for a short time, the Principal Sudder 
 Ameens are sometimes directed to conduct the " current 
 duties" of their offices, for which they receive 125 Rupees 
 per month as deputation allowance. 
 
 All the above officers have the power of imposing a fine 
 not more than 200 Rupees on parties guilty of contempt in 
 open court, and of realizing the same without any refer- 
 ence to the Judge. 
 
 An act for authorizing the institution of original suits 
 in the Courts of the Sudder Ameens and Principal Sud- 
 der Ameens, who had hitherto no authority to try 
 suits, except on reference from the Judge, has just been 
 passed ; and it is spoken of as being in the contemplation 
 of the Government to invest experimentally a limited num- 
 ber of the Munseffs with criminal powers. The criminal 
 jurisdiction of a select number of the Sudder and Princi- 
 pal Sudder Ameens has recently been increased. The for- 
 mer are to exercise the special J udicial powers of Assistant 
 Magistrate as described in Clause 3, Sec. 2, Reg. Ill, 
 1821, and the latter are to exercise the Judicial powers of 
 Magistrate under Act XV. of 1843. 
 
 II. Madras. — 1. Village Munseffs have the power to de- 
 cide suits to the value of ten rupees and settle by arbitra- 
 
XII 
 
 tion suits to the value of 100 Rupees. This office is held 
 by the head inhabitants of villages. 
 
 2. There are three classes of District Munseffs, and 
 their respective annual allowances are Rs. 1 ,680, 1,380, 
 and 1,200. They decide original suits to the value of 
 1,000 Rupees, preferred directly or referred by the Judge. 
 
 3. Sudder Ameens receive 2,400 Rupees per annum, 
 and try suits referred by the Judge, &c., to the amount of 
 2,500 Rupees, as well as referred regular appeals from Dis- 
 trict Munseffs. In criminal cases referred to them, they have 
 the same power of punishment as the officer by whom they 
 are directed to try them. Their sentences are, however, 
 liable to revision by the directing authority. 
 
 4. Principal Sudder Ameens receive 6,000 Rupees per 
 annum, and try original suits to the value of 5,000 Rupees, 
 and regular appeals from the decisions of District Mun- 
 seffs. They are also joint criminal Judges of their zil- 
 lahs, and have the same power and authority as the crimi- 
 nal Judge, except in cases in which the accused are 
 Europeans or Americans. 
 
 III. Bombay. — 1. Munseffs try suits to the amount of 
 5,000 Rupees. 
 
 2. Sudder Ameens, 10,000 Rupees. 
 
 3. Principal Sudder Ameens have unlimited origi- 
 nal jurisdiction, and the power of hearing appeals from 
 the decisions of the other Native J udicial Officers up to 
 100 Rupees. 
 
 None of these officers have any criminal jurisdiction. 
 
 In the Criminal Department, the only office of any con- 
 sequence, to which Natives are eligible, is the Deputy 
 Magistrateship, created in 1843. The powers annexed to 
 this office are — 1st, those of an Assistant Magistrate 
 (powers similar to those now exercised by the Sudder and 
 and P. S. Ameens) ; 2nd, those of a Special Assistant, 
 
Xlll 
 
 empowered to order six months' imprisonment raid one 
 month's forth er confinement in heu of corporal punish- 
 ment, or a fine of 200 Kupees, commutable to imprisonment 
 for six months ; and Srd, those of a Magistrate, viz., in 
 cases of burglary, theft, receiving stolen or plundered 
 property, or escaping from prison, imprisonment not ex- 
 ceeding two years, and one year in lieu of corporal punish- 
 ment: in cases of affray, one year's imprisonment and a fine 
 not exceeding 200 Rupees, commutable to another year's 
 further confinement ; and in other cases, a fine not exceed- 
 ing 200 Rupees, leviable by distress or commutable to six 
 months' imprisonment, and imprisonment not exceeding 
 six months. By Act III. of 1844, the Magistrates are 
 empowered also to sentence persons convicted in cases of 
 thefts of property not exceeding in value the sum of fifty 
 rupees, to corporal punishment not exceeding thirty 
 stripes of a ratan in place of any other punishment. The 
 emolument already allowed to some Deputy Magistrates is 
 from 250 to 400 Rupees per month. 
 
 The office of Deputy Collector was declared open to 
 Natives in 1833. The officers so appointed may be em- 
 ployed by the Collector, Independent Deputy Collector, 
 Special Deputy Collector, or Superintendent of Khas Me- 
 hals, under whom they may be placed, in the duty of 
 settling the revenue of any Mehal under the provisions of 
 Regulation VII., ] 822, in the management of the Govern- 
 ment Khas Mehals, in investigations previous to the re- 
 sumption of rent-free tenures, and generally in the transac- 
 tion of any other part of the duties of the Collector or other 
 superior officer. They receive a salary of 250 Rupees besides 
 fifty Rupees (in Chittagong 100 Rupees, and in some other 
 places probably a still hirger sum) for office establishment 
 and stationery ; and their personal allowance is susceptible 
 of increase from time to time under orders of Government 
 
xlv 
 
 within the limits prescribed in the case of the Principal 
 Sudder Ameens. The Deputy Collectors employed in 
 settlement business have the power of fining persons guilty 
 of resisting their processes to the extent of 200 Eupees, 
 and of levying the same ; but when engaged in the execu- 
 tion of any other part of the Collector's duties, and in 
 cases of contempt in open Court, their power is limited to 
 the recommendation of fines. 
 
 In the Department of Customs and Excise, the office of 
 Superintendent of Abkaree Kevenue is open to the Na- 
 tives. Such of these officers as are empowered by Go- 
 vernment to adjudicate cases of contravention of the 
 Abkaree laws, can sentence persons convicted of an infrac- 
 tion of the laws for the protection of the Abkaree revenue, 
 to a fine not exceeding 200 Rupees, or to imprisonment for 
 a period not exceeding three months, except for any repeti- 
 tion of the offence, which is punishable with six months' 
 imprisonment. They receive from 3 to 400 Rupees per 
 month as salary. 
 
 The Deputy Registership of the Sudder Court is also 
 open to the Natives. There are now two Deputy Regis- 
 ters in the Sudder Court of Calcutta, viz., one East Indian 
 and one Native. The duties of the first are to draft the 
 orders of the Court, and to sign circulars, precepts, and 
 copies given on stamped papers. He receives 600 Rupees 
 per month. The duties of the second are to prepare ap- 
 pealed cases for trial, and to execute the decrees and orders 
 of the Court. Properly speaking, his business is to see that 
 all necessary papers are received, to point out omissions, 
 and issue orders. His monthly allowance is 500 Rupees 
 including establishment. 
 
 There are some other situations which have been con- 
 ferred upon the Natives, although they are not declared 
 open to them by any enactments. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Bax, J 26 
 
 Bayley, W. B 15, 24, 53, 61 
 
 Bengal Government, 20, 74 
 
 Bentinck, Lord W 52, 53, 72 
 
 Blunt, W 55 
 
 Briggs, Major General 21 
 
 Calcutta Finance Committee. , 43 
 
 Campbell, A. D 66 
 
 Chaplin, W 49, 55 
 
 Clarke, R 48, 69 
 
 Commons Committee — digest of evidence given before 41 
 
 Court of Directors 2, 16, 22, 26, 58 
 
 Cox, E. W 4 
 
 Edmonstone, N. B 67 
 
 Elpliinstone, Hon. M. S 49, 59 
 
 Erskine, J. D 6 
 
 Ernst, T. H 3 
 
 Fortescue, T 46, 63 
 
 Governor General in Council 19 
 
 HiU, D 28, 67 
 
 Hodgson, J 50 
 
 Johnstone, Sir A 64 
 
 Lords Committee, — digest of evidence given before 39 
 
 Lushington, C 65 
 
 Macnaghten, W. H., Secretary to the Governor-General 53 
 
 Mackenzie, Holt , 32, 69 
 
 Madras Government (Fort St. George) , 21 
 
 Malcolm, Sir J , 39 
 
 Mangles, K. D 47 
 
 Metcalfe, Sir Charles 53 
 
 Mill, J. 65 
 
 Moira, Lord 14 
 
xvi 
 
 Neave, J 3 
 
 Eavensliaw, J. G 7 
 
 Rammohun Roy , 69 
 
 Read, G 7 
 
 Rickards, R 52, 55 
 
 Ross, A 27 
 
 Select Committee » 58 
 
 Shore, Hon'ble F. J 70 
 
 Smith, Sir L 56 
 
 Smith, Courteney, 48 
 
 Spry, H. H 74 
 
 Strachey, E 6 
 
 Strachey, Sir H 1, 5 
 
 Sudder Court, Calcutta, 74, 75 
 
 Sudder Court, N. W. P 76 
 
 Sullivan, J , 54, 60 
 
 Thackeray, VV 7 
 
 Turnbull, H. M 28 
 
 Walker, Col. A 8 
 
 Warden, F , 60 
 
 Supplement. 
 
 Munro, Sir T 78 
 
 Ryan, Sir E., and W. H. Cameron, 90 
 
 Sullivan, J 89 
 
 Table of Comparative Merits of European and Native Judges, 94 
 
EVIDENCES 
 
 RELATING TO THE 
 
 EFFICIENCY OF NATIVE AGENCY. 
 
 Sir Hexhy Strachey, Judge and Lragistrate, Calcutta 
 Division, Zillali Midnapoor, in his answers, dated SOth 
 January, 1802, to interrogatories circulated by Lord Wel- 
 lesly, says : — 
 
 I am incllQed to think that an intelligent Native is better 
 qualified to preside at a trial than we can be ourselves : and a 
 very few simple rules would perhaps suffice to correct the abus- 
 es of former times. He (the Native Commissioner) decides 
 with the greatest ease a vast number of causes. He is perfect- 
 ly acquainted with the language, the manners, and even the 
 person and characters of all who come before him. Hence 
 perjury is very uncommon in his court. I am fully convinced 
 that a Native of common capacity will, after a very little ex- 
 perience, examine witnesses and investigate the most intricate 
 case, with more temper and perseverance, and with more 
 ability and effect, than almost any European. I cannot 
 help wishing that these situations were more respectable in 
 a pecuniary point of view, and that they were empowered to de- 
 cide causes to almost any amount. Should it here occur 
 that very few, if any, are qualified, from habit and education, to 
 pronounce a decision or to comprehend a complicated case, 
 that the range of the ideas is too narrow, that their minds are 
 cramped, and that they possess not that vigour and perseverance, 
 and those enlarged views which would enable them to perform 
 the duties of Judges; if there is any of this opinion, I would 
 take the liberty to ask, how is it possible the Natives in general 
 
 A 
 
2 
 
 should, in the miserably subordinate^and servile employments to 
 which they are confined, have qualified themselves better ? I 
 would observe how very easily they all acquire the requisite 
 qualifications for the duties which we are pleased to entrust to 
 them. I would ask, who can doubt that they very shortly, if not 
 depressed and disspirited, become at least equal to the functions 
 they performed before we came among them ! I confess it is 
 my wish, though possibly I may be blamed for expressing it, not 
 only to have the authority of the Natives as Judges extended, 
 but to see them, if possible, enjoy important and confidential 
 situations in other departments of the State. 
 
 Extract of a letter from the Court of Directors to the 
 Governor in Council at Fort St. George, dated 16th 
 December, 1812 : — 
 
 We are, however, very far from meaning to detract from the 
 efliciency of the Native branch of the Judicial System. On the 
 contrary, we refer with satisfaction to the facts stated in the 
 report of the Sudder Dewanny Adawlut at Fort St. George, 
 wherein it is observed, that these Subordinate Judicatories are 
 operative to a very extensive " degree, in promoting the gene- 
 ral and speedy distribution of Civil Justice in causes," though 
 small, yet of infinite importance to the parties, who could not, 
 without the " most serious inconvenience, be subjected to the 
 necessity of leaving their families," and giving attendance at 
 the stations of the Zillah Courts. This report from the Sud- 
 der Adawlut furnishes a strong and convincing argument for 
 the employment of Natives, in the administration of Civil Jus- 
 tice, and satisfactorily demonstrates the absolute necessity of 
 availing ourselves of their instrumentality, to a much greater 
 extent than has hitherto been done. 
 
 The great argument which has been alleged against intrust- 
 ing the Natives with the exercise of any extensive Judicial au- 
 thority, is their proneness to corruption. The fact is certainly 
 not to be denied ; but it is at the same time necessary that we 
 should trace it to its cause, before we assent to the validity of 
 the inference which is deduced from it. This we believe to 
 
3 
 
 consist in the want of efficiency' which has marked the Native 
 Governments in the more modern periods of their history. 
 
 Shortly after the renewal of the Company's Charter in 
 1813, the Court of Directors appointed a special Com- 
 mittee of their own body, for the purpose of instituting 
 an inquiry into the administration of Justice and Police 
 that had been established in British India. The Com- 
 mittee called upon certain gentlemen, who had filled 
 Judicial situations in India, and who were then in Eng- 
 land, to answer a certain number of questions on the sub- 
 ject ; and the testimonies of the efficiency of Native 
 Agency in the administration of Justice contained in their 
 replies are as follows : — 
 
 Testimony of J. Neave, Esq., B. C= S. 
 
 I am of opinion that the Natives, in respect to integrity and 
 diligence, may be trusted with the administration of Justice. 
 Ally Ibrahim Khan is an instance in point ; he was Chief 
 Judge of the City of Benares, and deservedly obtained a high re- 
 putation. There were aiso two other Judges, Molovy Omroola 
 and Mahommed Nazir Khan, of whom I have every reason to 
 speak well during the time they came under my notice as As- 
 sistant to the Resident of Benares. Still I would not commit 
 exclusively to the Natives any branch of the administration of 
 justice on a large scale ; I think we ought to keep the Judicial 
 branch to ourselves, as a sacred deposit to raise ourselves in 
 the estimation of the Natives. Let our Judicial character 
 counteract the evil impressions created by our financial system. 
 On a small scale I conceive it to be very immaterial whether 
 the Natives be, or not, superintended by Europeans. 
 
 Testimony of T. H. Ernst, Esq., B. C. S. 
 
 At present the Natives have certainly more reliance on the 
 uprightness of European Judges than of Judges appointed 
 from their own people. But this distinction is chiefly to be as- 
 cribed, I think, to the unequal footing on which the Natives 
 are placed in all official situations compared with Europeans, 
 
4 
 
 a-nel in none more tlian in the Courts of Justice. The remune- 
 ration of the Native Judges consists of the institution fee, a 
 miserable pittance, seldom amounting to more than £50 a year, 
 and sometimes to less than half that sum ; yet, with few excep- 
 tions, 1 have found reason to be satisfied with the conduct of the 
 Moonsiffs and Commissioners, who were employed in the dis- 
 tricts of Burdwan and Hooghly, where I held the offices of 
 Judge and Magistrate for near six years ; and in point of dili- 
 gence and capacity for the trial of such causes as came before 
 them, I believe that they are quite on a par with most 
 of the European Judges. They get through more business, 
 and in general I have found their proceedings fair and 
 regular, and their decisions satisfactory. If pains were tak- 
 en to select proper persons for the offices, and they re- 
 ceived the tenth part of the salaries which are assigned 
 to the European Judges, I have no doubt that their conduct 
 would be so exemplary, as to inspire the Natives with confi- 
 dence in their integrity. They should certainly be more libe- 
 rally paid than they are at present. Their powers might, then, 
 I think, be enlarged with safety, and I should see no objection 
 to their being exclusively intrusted with the decision of causes 
 for debt and arrears of revenue and exaction to a certain 
 amount, say twenty Rupees. But in other suits and above 
 twenty Rupees I think that, for some time at least, there should 
 be appeals from the decisions of the Moonsiffs and Commis- 
 sioners to the Sudder Ameens and the Registers, and from 
 those of the Sudder Ameens to the Judges. 
 
 Testimony of R W. Cox, Esq., B. C. S. 
 
 I am of opinion that Natives of integrity and diligence 
 may be selected and entrusted with a portion of the adminis- 
 tration of Justice. In the Zemindary or Pergunnah Courts, in 
 which suits not exceeding thirty Rupees are proposed to be 
 cognizable, I recommend that the Natives be not superin- 
 tended by Europeans, and that only a monthly return of 
 the number of causes decided be transmitted to the Zillah 
 Judge. 
 
5 
 
 Testimony of Sir H. Strachey, Bart., B. C. S. 
 
 The Natives would undoubtedly, at present, confide in the 
 uprightness of Europeans. They have experience of it : they 
 have little experience of the uprightness of Judges appointed 
 from their own people. We have produced this state of things, 
 by entrusting Europeans only with the chief offices in the 
 country. 
 
 The Natives hold no Judicial offices but the lowest, and are 
 paid very ill. It is only since the Europeans were well paid 
 that they themselves became trustworthy. 
 
 I am of opinion that, with respect to integrity and dili- 
 gence, the Natives may be trusted with the administration of 
 justice. 
 
 I think no superintendence of Europeans necessary; I have 
 already, in my reply to question 4th, offered ray opinion upon 
 the subject. If the Natives are not qualified for these or any 
 other offices, I conceive the fault to be ours, and not theirs. If 
 we encourage them, if we allow them to aspire to high office, 
 if we pay them well, if we raise them in their own estimation, 
 they will soon be found fit for any official employment in India. 
 
 I beg to repeat what I long ago in substance said upon this 
 subject, that the Natives are depressed and humiliated, being 
 confined by us to subordinate and servile offices. Although 
 their education is most defective, and ignorance and credulity 
 pervade all ranks, especially among the Hindoos, they are 
 nevertheless found to acquire easily the requisite qualifica- 
 tions for the duties which we are pleased to entrust to 
 them. From temper, habit, and peculiar circumstances, they 
 are in many respects fitter for the office of a Judge than 
 ourselves. 
 
 But we place the Europeans beyond the reach of temptation. 
 To the Native, a man whose ancestors perhaps bore high com- 
 mand, we assign some ministerial office, with a poor stipend 
 of twenty or thirty Rupees a month. 
 
 Then we pronounce, that the Indians are corrupt, and that 
 no race of men but the Company's European servants are fit 
 to govern them. 
 
6 
 
 Testimony of E. Stracliey, Esq., B. C. S. 
 
 I suppose they would judge from experience. Now though 
 all prejudice must operate in favor of the Native, I think it 
 unliisely that any body would say experience has shown the 
 Native Commissioners and the Darogahs to be more upright 
 than the European Judges and Magistrates. But this requires 
 further observation. I cannot think an Indian would confide 
 more in an European than in a countryman of his own, if their 
 circumstances were the same ; but in this instance, their cir- 
 cumstances are perfectly opposite. Everything combines to 
 make the European honest and independent, and the Native 
 the contrary : reverse their circumstances, and I have no doubt 
 their conduct would be reversed. As it is now, the European 
 Judicial officer may, I think, be justly charged with want of 
 ability. I mean those things which relate to the ordinary trans- 
 actions of life can be well understood only by those who are 
 familiar with concerns of the same sort. A Judicial officer in 
 India is able, in proportion to his knowledge of the language, 
 manners, customs, habits, prejudices, and other circum- 
 stances of the people. This sort of knowledge appears to 
 rae to be the mxost essential part of ability; and I think that 
 our Europeans always have been, and always will be, mainly 
 deficient in it. 
 
 For my opinion of the integrity of the Natives, I beg to 
 refer to my answer to the last question. In respect to dili- 
 gence I think they are entirely to be trusted. Some part of 
 the administration of justice is now with great success carried 
 on by Natives exclusively, I mean that which is in the hands of 
 the officers called Native Commissioners. But their decisions 
 are subject to revision by the European Judges ; and if it were 
 otherwise in the present state of things, I think the Native 
 Commissioners could not be safely trusted. 
 
 Testimony of J. D. Erskine, Esq., B. C. S. 
 
 We have hardly given the Natives a fair trial as Judges. 
 They hold only subordinate situations, and are ill paid. Upon 
 the whole I have generally been satisfied with the conduct of 
 
7 
 
 the Native Commissioners ; but I do not think that, at present, 
 it would be advisable to entrust them exclusively, to any great 
 extent, with the administration of Justice. The removal of 
 European superintendence and control should be effected 
 gradually. Let the experiment be first tried on Civil suits to a 
 small amount, and let the system be afterwards extended as the 
 expediency of the measure may be suggested by experience. 
 
 Testimony of G. Read, Esq., M. C. S. 
 
 I am of opinion that the Natives may, in respect to integrity 
 and diligence, be trusted with the administration of Justice in 
 cases of a limited amount ; but that few, very few Natives can 
 be trusted exclusively in causes of importance, without being 
 superintended, or their decisions made liable to an appeal. On 
 some future improvement of the system, it may be considered 
 unnecessary that the part in the Judicial branch of the admi- 
 nistration to be allotted to the execution of the Natives should 
 be superintended by Europeans; and I think it probable that 
 the increasing number of causes in the Zillah Courts may de- 
 termine the Government abroad to have recourse to some plan 
 for establishing Native Courts, open to an a2)peal to the Native 
 Law Officers in the Zillah Courts for accelerating the decision of 
 the causes. 
 
 Testimony of J. G. Ravenshaw, Esq., M. C. S. 
 
 The answer I have given to the foregoing question is a suffi- 
 cient reply to this. I have seen and known in Punchayet 
 Courts in Canara, as able and diligent Native Judges as exist, 
 I believe, in any part of India ; as far as ability goes, they are 
 equal to any task in that way, and in discriminating the mo- 
 tives of action, and the degree of credit to be given to the evi- 
 dence of their countrymen, they surpass most, if not all, Euro- 
 peans. 
 
 Testimony of W. Thackeray, Esq., M. C. S. 
 
 Under a great Native Government which trusted, honored, 
 and rewarded the Natives, men of perhaps as much inte^ritv, 
 and certainly of greater ability, than the European Judges, 
 
8 
 
 would spring up ; but, at present, a high sense of honour and 
 principle is not to be expected. 
 
 Natives may, however, be generally economically and usefully 
 employed in the administration of Justice. Most Civil suits 
 might be referred to a Punchayet, but the proceedings of the 
 Punchayet should be superintended and confirmed by the 
 European Judges. 
 
 Testimony of Colonel A. Walker, Bombay Service. 
 
 The most prominent feature in the Civil Government of the 
 Company is the almost entire exclusion of Native Agency, The 
 offices held by Natives are only those of the lowest description, 
 Bueh as could not be the object of ambition to any European : 
 and the salary attached to those appointments is such as barely 
 affords to themselves and families the means of subsistence. 
 To Natives of rank and liberal education no temptation is held 
 out, which can induce them to engage in the service of the 
 Company- Not only are the emoluments offered scanty, but 
 the want of confidence reposed in them, the general light in 
 which they are received, cannot fail to inspire them with insur- 
 mountable disgust. Hence none but adventurers of a doubtful 
 character are seen crowding the Company's settlements, and a 
 general suspicion, if not disgrace, is attached to Native Agency. 
 A very little consideration will be sufficient to show, that no cir- 
 cumstance tends more strongly than this to impair the efficiency 
 of our Indian Government, and even to render its duration pre- 
 carious. The first great objection to European Agency is that 
 it cannot be employed to the extent which is necessary for go- 
 verning well so extensive a country. This could be effected only 
 by a system of colonisation. But under the present system a 
 few hundred Europeans, scattered over a territory surpassing in 
 extent the largest kingdom in Europe, can never duly adminis- 
 ter to the wants of so numerous a people. We boast with rea- 
 son of having transferred the principles of our own just and 
 equal laws to our new subjects ; but small will be the benefit 
 unless there be a sufficient number of persons qualified to ad- 
 minister them. 
 
9 
 
 It is moreover a consideration of the highest importance to 
 the Company, that the expenses even of this imperfect Euro- 
 pean agency exceed what its finances are able to afford. No 
 European comes to establish himself in the country : nor does 
 he indeed receive any encouragement so to do. He comes merely 
 for a certain term of years, as short as possible, during which 
 he hopes to acquire a fortune with which he may return, and 
 enjoy in his own country. He expects therefore, and justly, to 
 receive such an income as will not only allow him to live after 
 the manner of the country, but will leave a surplus to be the 
 foundation of the fortune which he intends to save. The Na- 
 tive, on the contrary, who looks for nothing beyond a competence 
 in his native land, will exchange his services for a much more 
 moderate compensation. A liberal intermixture, therefore, of 
 Native with European agency would enable the Company to 
 effect a very considerable saving in the expences of adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 There is another circumstance, which deserves, perhaps, to 
 be still more maturely pondered. 
 
 The admission of the Natives to offices of honour and profit 
 is the only mode by which they can be effectually conciliated. 
 It is vain to expect that men will ever be satisfied with merely 
 having their property secured, while all the paths of honoura- 
 ble ambition are shut against them. This mortifying exclusion 
 stifles talents, humbles family pride, and depresses all but the 
 weak and the worthless. By the higher classes of society it is 
 considered as a severe injustice : but these are the men of in- 
 fluence and consideration in the country, the men by whom the 
 public opinion is formed. So long as this course of hostility 
 remains, the British administration will always be regarded as 
 imposing a yoke. A few indeed of the most necessitous of all 
 classes may be driven by want into our service : but even the 
 great mass of this body will secretly consider it as a hardship 
 to have their affairs administered entirely by foreigners, whose 
 language, manners, and religion are strange to them. The 
 question here is not respecting the integrity or the capacity of 
 the judges, but it relates to one of the unerring laws and feel- 
 
 B 
 
10 
 
 ings of human nature. The Romans, whose business was con- 
 quest, and who extended their yoke over the greatest part of 
 the civilized world, may be safely taken as guides in the art of 
 holding nations in subjection : that wise people always left a 
 great share of the administration of the countries they subdued 
 in the hands of the natives. 
 
 In addition to these considerations of profit and safety 
 which dictate the measure now recommended, I may add 
 that it would eminently conduce to the good government of our 
 Eastern settlements. There is a want in India of some link 
 to connect the Government and people, which are at present 
 too widely separated. Such a link might be formed by the 
 more intelligent and respectable of the Natives, were an inter- 
 course opened between them and the Government. Their ad- 
 vice in various affairs relating to their own interests and that 
 of the country, and their ideas of the best mode of managing 
 them, might be found of the utmost value. I hesitate not to 
 say that the Company would be better informed of the real 
 state of its own territories, did it possess a respectable channel 
 of communication with its subjects. To this is owing, besides 
 other evils, much of the exorbitant expense in which the Com- 
 pany have been involved. I particularly allude to the military 
 contingent expenses, by which the funds of India have been di- 
 lapidated. This has laid them open not only to imposition 
 from the Natives, but from their own servants. At present 
 there is no apparent remedy for this evil, nor any channel 
 through which the Government can acquire the requisite infor- 
 mation. They can never collect it from the low and mercenary 
 instruments, of whom alone, in the present state of things, 
 they are able to command the services : they must obtain the 
 confidence of that superior class, possessed of observation and 
 cultivated minds, who will alone be able to explain properly 
 the views and situation of their countrymen. It may be ob- 
 jected to this system that European influence might thus be 
 diminished, and that the natives might be tempted to mako 
 a bad use of the power and consideration which they would 
 acquire. It may be objected, that it would raise up a dangerous 
 
11 
 
 rivalship, and that it would impair the influence of Govern- 
 ment, but I conceive that the contrary would rather be the 
 case. It must always be remembered, that the real foundation 
 of our power, and of every Government foreign to the country, 
 must be force. No people ever submitted that had the power 
 of successful resistance. Good policy, however, will direct, that 
 Government should disguise, as much as possible, the principle 
 of its support. The most judicious and the most equitable expe- 
 dient is to permit the inhabitants to participate in the civil Go- 
 vernment. 
 
 We may again appeal to the Romans, and perhaps one cause 
 contributed more to the tranquillity and subordination of the 
 multitude of nations under their dominion. So long as our 
 army preserve its vigour and discipline, no Native, invested 
 merely with civil authority, would form the design of over-turn- 
 ing the Government. Without confidence, his hostility would 
 at least be as active. But it would be much more likely that 
 the admission of Natives to a moderate share in the adminis- 
 tration of the country would present the most effectual means 
 of deterring them from forming such hostile designs and of 
 checking them if formed by others. The Natives might bn 
 expected to become more attached to a Government, from which 
 they received not only protection, but the more envied boon of 
 confidence and distinction. Those who are promoted to office 
 will feel the necessity, as well as the inclination, of making the 
 Government of the Company respected by their countrymen, and 
 they will understand the best means of securing that object. If, 
 then, a due proportion of magistrates and civil officers were taken 
 from among the inhabitants, their local influence and know- 
 ledge must of necessity be exerted for the discharge of their offi- 
 ces, and if they were negligent and failed in their duty, they can 
 be displaced and punished ; and the Company will at least be 
 able to distinguish in whom they can place confidence. At 
 present, there is no organ by which the Government can com- 
 municate with the people, act upon their minds, or claim their 
 co-operation in any public measure. This would no longer be 
 the case did it possess a number of intelligent and respectable 
 
13 
 
 Natives, who were more attached to its interests. Another ar- 
 gument, often urged against the employment of Natives, is de- 
 rived from the prejudice so prevalent both in India and this 
 country, which represents the inhabitants as unfit for the dis- 
 cbarge of any important trust, from their dishonesty and want 
 of probity, which are alleged to be inherent in them. There is 
 scarcely any general proposition of this nature that is entirely 
 true. With respect to this indiscriminate reproach on the cha- 
 racter of the inhabitants of India, we may perceive that it is 
 inapplicable when we consider the circumstances of that coun- 
 try. Its inhabitants are composed, not of one single race, but 
 of a number of different people, who, by successive conquest 
 and colonisation, came thither to take up their abode. These, 
 Nvith some general features of resemblance, exhibit distinctions 
 of character as strongly marked as those which are perceived 
 between the different nations of Europe. The Natives, in fact, 
 are of the same nature with ourselves. They have the same 
 notions of right and wrong ; and if they do not always act up 
 to those fundamental tenets, the failure is more to be ascribed 
 to the force of temptation and the absence of restraint, than to 
 any innate want of principle. It is unfair to determine that to 
 proceed from innate principles, which may only be the effect of 
 a bad education, or the contagion of example. The Europeans, 
 in their first intercourse with India, were unrestrained, unless 
 by the feelings of their own minds. When the wealth of India 
 spread out its temptations, the consequences were such as hu- 
 man nature will too uniformly present, when placed in similar 
 circumstances. I should, however, be extremely sorry that any 
 instances of this description, the irregularities of an unfavor- 
 able period, should warrant a general inference to be drawn 
 against Europeans. The people of India are now better in- 
 formed of our character. They see the Company's laws and 
 authority exerted in earnest against peculation. With the 
 advantage of this experience, they are now convinced that the 
 Government of the Company will not connive at any deviation 
 from rectitude, and this conviction will work its effect on their 
 own conduct. It will be, therefore, more just and more con- 
 
13 
 
 formable to human experience, were we to suppose the Natives 
 of India as capable of improvement as those of any other 
 country. Those talents and principles are sure to become 
 objects of attention and cultivation that are found either useful, 
 or conducive to honours and emolument. The strength of 
 these principles will improve, as our intercourse and coofideuce 
 increase with the people. In support of this train of argu- 
 ment, it would not be difficult to produce examples of integrity 
 from among the Natives of India, which would do honour to 
 any people, and there is no source of deception, against which 
 it would more behove the company to guard, than the reports 
 which they receive concerning the capacities of their Native 
 subjects. They are, of course, transmitted through the medi- 
 um of Europeans holding employments in that country, but 
 they often under-value the qualifications of the Natives from 
 motives of prejudice or interest. There are many, indeed, who 
 would be superior to such motives, and few perhaps who would 
 act upon them deliberately. But still the principle is secretly 
 active, and will always have a powerful effect, though perhaps 
 unfelt influence, on men's views and opinions. 
 
 The aim of the preceding observations has been to show, 
 that the Natives of India may, in respect to integrity, be trusted 
 with the administration of justice, and that some of the civil 
 offices of Government may be confided to them with safety and 
 advantage. It has been attempted to show, that they may be 
 useful instruments in Government : that by admitting them to 
 some participation in the administration of the affairs of their 
 own country, a natural link of connexion would be formed 
 which does not exist at present : and finally, that this is the 
 only system by which we can hope to convert the Natives of 
 India to our opinions and sentiments. 
 
 With respect to the diligence of the Natives for business, 
 there can be less difficulty in forming a judgment; and, I 
 believe, there is no question of their sufficiency in this respect. 
 Of their talents and capacity for business, every person must 
 have had many proofs, who has ever transacted any consider- 
 able affairs in the country. 
 
14 
 
 The most difficult part of the question, probably, remains to 
 be discussed : for if the policy and justice of admitting the 
 Natives to a share of the administration should be admitted, it 
 is still to be determined to what extent it would be prudent 
 and expedient to diffuse their agency. The Natives have been 
 so long excluded from every official situation, that a change of 
 policy in their favour must be cautiously adopted. It would 
 not, perhaps, at first be prudent to entrust any particular 
 branch of justice to their exclusive administration ; probably 
 the best effects may be expected by an intermixture of Euro- 
 pean and Native agency. They may sit on the bench with the 
 European Magistrate : they may administer oaths : they may 
 examine evidences and decide causes : but they should be ulti- 
 mately responsible to the superintendence of Europeans. They 
 should report their proceedings to an European authority, and 
 an appeal from their decisions should be allowed. A variety of 
 local and petty causes, more or less important and intricate, 
 and often difficult to decide, are daily arising, which might be 
 safely left to their cognizance. Much of the judicial business 
 of the country might, in this manner, be transacted at little 
 expense ; and by reverting at the same time to the village 
 system of administration, the service of the Natives would be 
 eminently useful, a multitude of law-suits prevented, interior 
 order and tranquillity maintained. Much, however, remains to 
 be done before this system can be perfected : much to learn, and 
 many prepossessions to remove. In India it would be opposed 
 by the prejudices of some and the interest of others. Men even 
 of fortitude and ability will be found to disrelish a plan which 
 is to place the Natives on a footing of equality and confidence, 
 which is to restore them to a part of their natural rights. 
 
 Lord Moira, in his Judicial Minute, dated 2nd October, 
 1815, says : — 
 
 It is satisfactory to find that the recovery of small debts is 
 facilitated by these subordinate tribunals, and by the general 
 institution of Native Commissioners; and that their decisions 
 appear to be, in general, not only sufficiently prompt, but from 
 
15 
 
 the paucity of reversals of such decisions on appeal, sufficiently 
 correct. The benefit to the public might, perhaps, be more widely 
 diffused, and the relief to the Judge's Court from suits of minor 
 importance, be enlarged, by an adoption of the suggestions 
 which will be found in the Allahabad Report for a more general 
 reference of causes to arbitration, and a recurrence to the ori- 
 ginal institution of local punchayet. 
 
 The testimony which is borne in that Report to the utility of 
 Native Commissioners, applies with additional force to the case 
 of punchayet. Mr. Fortescue observes, that they reach the 
 truth, and unravel the cases which come before them, better 
 than we can, owing to their superior knowledge of the habits 
 and customs of the people, which are too minute for our domes- 
 tic view, that they consider the parentage, the caste, the connec- 
 tions and circumstances in life of the witnesses, when appreciat- 
 ing the credit due to their testimony, whether they are single or 
 married, have children or other near relations whose welfare is 
 superstitiously considered as identified with their own, all of 
 which are points of real importance in this country. 
 
 Another effect of our system is tho disgust which it gives to 
 the higher classes of Natives, in the loss of all prospect of 
 respectable provision under the economical scale of our Native 
 establishments. The door to official emoluments and to sta- 
 tions of dignity, is necessarily closed against the Natives by the 
 exclusive employment of the covenanted servants of Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Mr. Chief Secretary Bayley, in his memorandum, dated 
 January, 1821, says : — 
 
 Opinion seems to be equally general in favour of the exten- 
 sion of Native agency. Even with the contracted powers at 
 present vested in the Native Judicial officers, most essential 
 assistance is acknowledged to have been derived from them, 
 and abuses have been seldom experienced where the zillah and 
 city Judges have been enabled to exercise over them a vigilant 
 and unremitting superintendence. By extending their powers, 
 and thereby relieving the European functionaries to whom they 
 
16 
 
 are immediately subordinate from much of the details with 
 which they are now burthened, the latter will have more leisure 
 to exert such a superintendence, and thus will Native officers 
 be placed in the state best adapted to their character and cir- 
 cumstances, namely, in the discharge of important and laborious 
 duties, subject to vigilant examination and control. The pro- 
 priety of augmenting the efficiency of the Native Judicial officers 
 is supported by numerous authorities both here and at home. 
 The measure has been tried at Madras with acknowledged 
 benefit; and the Governor-General, Mr. Dowdeswell, and Mr. 
 Stuart, in their several Minutes, dated the 2nd October, 1815, 
 the -^^nd September, 181.9, and the Q lst August, 1820, have 
 recorded sentiments favourable to its extension in the provinces 
 under this Presidency : it has been attempted with success in the 
 Delhi territories, as both Mr. Metcalfe and Mr. Fortescue have 
 fully attested in their respective reports ; it has been recommend- 
 ed by the Court of Sudder Dewanny Adavvlut in their detailed 
 Report on the points stated in the letter from the Honorable Court 
 of Directors, dated the 9th November, 1814, and the views and 
 reasonings contained in that letter itself are entirely consistent 
 witn such a measure. 
 
 The Court of Directors, in their despatch in the Judi- 
 cial Department to the Bengal Government, dated 23rd 
 July, 1824, say : — 
 
 But whatever may be the urgency for increasing your Euro- 
 pean civil establishment, and to whatever extent it may be 
 found necessary to carry that increase, we cannot let the pre- 
 sent opportunity pass without again inculcating that which we 
 have endeavoured to impress upon you on various occasions in 
 the course of the last ten years, viz., the advantage and neces- 
 sity of a more extensive employment of Native agency in the 
 Judicial department of the service. The regulations passed by 
 you with this object in the beginning of 1821 have our cordial 
 approbation, and we were greatly pleased with the valuable me- 
 morandum which was then submitted to you by your Chief Se- 
 cretary, Mr. Bayley, explanatory of the policy which had in- 
 
17 
 
 fluenced the framing of those regulations. But though under 
 the provisions then made, the powers of Moonsiffs and Sudder 
 Ameens were increased, and their number may be increased 
 indefinitely, we apprehend, from the large arrear of undecided 
 causes stated in Mr. Adam's Minute, to be depending in some 
 of the Zillah Courts, that both the number and powers of those 
 functionaries are still inadequate. 
 
 We are satisfied, that to secure a prompt administration of jus- 
 tice to the Natives of India in civil cases, Native functionaries 
 must be multiplied so as to enable them to dispose, in the first 
 instance, of all suits of that description, and, as appears to 
 us, without regard to the amount at stake, their decisions 
 being of course liable to revision under appeal, where this 
 check may be deemed indispensable, and, what perhaps is of 
 no less importance, their general conduct being subject 
 to a constant and vigilant supervision on the part of the 
 European functionaries in the districts where they are station- 
 ed. It should be the duty of the latter not only to hear 
 appeals, but to inquire into and to report to Government, peri- 
 odically, on the efliciency of the Native agents employed more 
 immediately under their eye, and the degree of estimation in 
 which they are held by the community, whilst it should equally 
 be the care of Government to reward the deserving and to tes- 
 tify, in the most marked manner, its displeasure against per- 
 sons of an opposite character. 
 
 The policy of restricting, as is done by the existing regula- 
 tions, the powers of the Native Judicial functionaries to hear 
 and decide on causes where the interest at stake is of a limited 
 value, appears to us to be questionable, for this reason, that a 
 suit of 500 Rupees may be more difficult to decide, and, with 
 reference to the circumstances of the litigant parties, of more 
 importance than a suit involving ten times the amount. We 
 are doubtful, too, whether corruption is not more likely to occur 
 in small causes than in those which, from their magnitude, 
 attract more general attention, and the progress and issue of 
 which are more narrowly watched. 
 
 It has frequently been objected to the employment of Na- 
 
 0 
 
 I 
 [ 
 
18 
 
 tives of India in Judicial offices, that they cannot be safely 
 trusted with the administration of justice. To this objection, 
 it might perhaps be a sufficient answer to say, that they are 
 already so trusted. But our principal reason for noticing the 
 objection is that we may impart to you our decided conviction, 
 that when we place the Natives of India in situations of trust 
 and confidence, we are bound under every consideration of 
 justice and policy to grant them adequate allowances: we have 
 no right to calculate on their resisting temptations, to which 
 the generality of mankind, in the same circumstances, would 
 yield. But if we show a disposition to confide in them and libe- 
 rally to reward meritorious service, and to hold out promotion 
 to such as may distinguish themselves by integrity and ability, 
 we do not despair of improving their characters both morally 
 and intellectually, and of rendering them the instruments of 
 much good. It will be gaining a most important point if we 
 can substitute a well-regulated and responsible agency for that 
 unauthorized and pernicious influence, which there is reason to 
 fear that the Native officers of the Adawluts are in the habit 
 now of too frequently exercising over the proceedings of those 
 Courts. 
 
 The sentiments above expressed are in perfect conformity with 
 the views which were communicated to you in our despatch from 
 this department of the 9th November, 1814, and which had been 
 in like manner imparted to the Madras Government in a des- 
 patch dated the 29th April preceding. On some of the sug- 
 gestions contained in those despatches, there were, as might have 
 been expected, differences of opinion among our servants in 
 India: the experiment, however, of employing Native Agency 
 in the administration of justice has been tried with success on a 
 larger scale in the Madras provinces, where it has greatly re- 
 lieved the Zillah Courts from a pressure of business, to the ex- 
 peditious despatch of which they had been found unequal, be- 
 sides having, as we believe, been attended with other important 
 benefits ; and we have derived much satisfaction from observing 
 a spreading conviction of its utility. Mr. Secretary Bayley, 
 in the memorandum already quoted, describes this employment 
 
19 
 
 of Natives subject to vigilant examination and control as one 
 of the " best adapted to their character and circumstances." 
 " The propriety," he adds, " of augmenting the efficiency of the 
 Native Judicial officers is supported by numerous authorities 
 both here and at home. The measure has been tried at Madras 
 with acknowledged benefit; and the Governor-General, Mr. 
 Dowdeswell and Mr. Stuart, in their several Minutes, dated the 
 2nd October, 1815, the 22nd September, 1819, and the 2 1st Au- 
 gust, 1820, have recorded sentiments favourable to its extension 
 in the provinces under the Presidency. It has been attempted 
 with success in the Delhi territories, as both Mr. Metcalfe and 
 Mr. Fortescue have fully attested in their respective reports ; 
 it has been recommended by the Court of Sudder Dewanny 
 Adawlut in their detailed reports on the points stated in the 
 letter from the Honourable Court of Directors, dated the 9th 
 November, 1814, and the views and reasonings contained in that 
 letter itself are entirely consistent with such a measure." 
 
 Extract letter in the Revenue Department from the Go- 
 vernor-General in Council to the Court of Directors, dated 
 29th June, 1826 :— 
 
 It must otherwise probably be a source of disquiet and in- 
 trigue among the Community, for unless Government shall open 
 some door for the employment of the talents which their own 
 liberality has in many instances elicited, and to a certain ex- 
 tent fostered, by making Natives of education and respectability 
 of character eligible to higher grades of the public service than 
 are at present open to their fair and honorable ambition, the 
 gift of superior knowledge, with whatever other advantages at- 
 tended, can scarcely fail to aggravate the discontent of the edu- 
 cated classes. Since, excepting the public service, the means of 
 reputable employment for men of education and respectable 
 family are comparatively confined ; and in the service as now con- 
 stituted, though situations of responsibility held by Natives are 
 numerous, it cannot be denied that the emoluments attached 
 to them are altogether disproportionate. On the other hand, 
 the advantages to be derived from a system which shall ensure 
 
20 
 
 the Natives of superior education aud knowledge a preferential 
 claim to employment in the public service, with adequate emo- 
 luments, are doubtless very great, such a system being indeed 
 apparently indispensable to any decided improvement in the 
 efficiency and economy of the civil administration of the 
 country. 
 
 But these are considerations too important and comprehen- 
 sive to be discussed in this place, though they must of course 
 be kept in mind when we are called upon to decide on any pro- 
 position such as that now in question. 
 
 Extract Judicial letter from the Bengal Government, 
 dated 5th October, 1826 
 
 We felt persuaded, however, that the services of the Sudder 
 Ameens in criminal as well as in civil matters, would gradually 
 be fully appreciated ; and we recorded our opinion, that it had 
 become indispensable to the due administration of justice, that 
 Natives of respectability should be entrusted with as large a 
 share of Judicial duties as could be legally and usefully confided 
 to them. 
 
 Extract Judicial letter from the Bengal Government, 
 dated 7th December, 1826 
 
 As connected with the administration of criminal justice by 
 Native agency, which we are most anxious to extend where it 
 can be done without the risk of leading to serious abuse, the 
 proposition for stationing a limited number of Ameens (of the 
 same class of persons as those now employed at the Sudder 
 stations) in the interior of the districts, and investing them 
 with original jurisdiction in criminal cases of a petty nature, 
 which was made by Mr, Ewer, in his report for 1822, naturally 
 attracted our serious consideration ; but although (as already 
 stated in our despatch to your Honorable Court, above advert- 
 ed to) we consider it indispensable to the due administration 
 of justice, that Natives of respectability shall be entrusted with 
 a considerable share of Judicial duties, there appeared to us to 
 be many serious objections to the immediate adoption of the 
 measure suggested by Mr. Ewer. 
 
21 
 
 Extract Judicial letter from Fort St. George, dated 
 27th April, 1827, to the Court of Directors :— 
 
 With respect to the District Moonsiffs, we think we have 
 clearly demonstrated in our proceedings before referred to, that 
 there is no ground for drawing the inference that their Courts 
 are not popular from the fact, that as the average of suits insti- 
 tuted in the Zillah Courts did not exceed the value of 175 
 Eupees, most of them might have been carried to the Native 
 judicatories if the parties had wished it: indeed the state- 
 ments of the business performed by all the Courts, European 
 and Native, throughout the country, laid before us periodically 
 by the Sudder Adawlut, show that the number of suits brought 
 before the District Moonsiffs is far greater than could have 
 been expected ; and from the information which we have been 
 able to collect, it appears that the proportion of appeals to deci- 
 sions in their Courts is extremely small ; and we have little 
 doubt that a statement of the decisions affirmed or reversed in 
 appeal would turn the scale still more in their favour. We 
 think we may confidently assert, from the increased resort of 
 suitors to the Native tribunals, that they have fully realized the 
 expectation formed of their utility, and, considering the respecta- 
 bility of the situations, the facility with which misconduct can 
 be brought to the notice of the local superior authority, and the 
 interest which the Zillah Judges themselves have in selecting 
 men of known integrity and ability for the office, we are of 
 opinion that there is no reason for supposing that the trust re- 
 posed in District Moonsiffs is abused. 
 
 Major-General Briggs, in an essay read before the Ben- 
 gal Asiatic Society in 1828, says : — 
 
 It has been my lot to pass a great part of my life in familiar 
 intercourse with the Natives of the East> and principally among 
 those who have lived for the most part beyond our jurisdiction, 
 and my opinion of them is drawn from such sources. I have 
 found the people, generally speaking, intelligent in a very high 
 degree, though, from education, deficient in the knowledge of 
 European history and sciences. They, however, are ready to 
 
22 
 
 admit their ignorance, and are desirous of instruction. They 
 are usually liberal in their opinions, and the Hindoos especially 
 are tolerant on the subject of religion; for though tenacious of 
 any interference in the exercise of their own, they oppose no 
 worship which does not affect themselves. Among their domes- 
 tic virtues, I should include affection and tenderness to their re- 
 latives, kindness to their servants, integrity in their dealings 
 with each other, and charity to the distressed and the poor. 
 Among the higher classes, I have found refined notions of de- 
 licacy of conduct and manners ; and among statesmen and 
 financiers, I have met with enlarged views of policy and a know- 
 ledge of political economy, which would not disgrace the minis- 
 ters of any Government. 
 
 Extract Public letter to Bengal from the Court of Di- 
 rectors, dated 18th February, 1829 : — 
 
 It is a subject of much regret to us, that although we have 
 been successful in training the Natives of our Indian empire 
 to become effective soldiers, we have not as yet succeeded in a 
 purpose, which, if it be more difficult of attainment, is not less 
 deserving of our endeavours, viz., of rendering their services 
 available in the internal administration of the country. 
 
 We are perfectly aware that they are extensively employed 
 in the details both of the revenue and judicial departments, 
 the business of which could not, in fact, be carried on without 
 them ; and that European agency is resorted to more for the 
 purpose (at least professedly) of check and control, than with a 
 view to an active personal performance of other executive 
 duties. 
 
 That European agency, to a certain extent, is indispensably 
 requisite, we are far from questioning ; but we have, neverthe- 
 less, been long of opinion, that were a more liberal confidence 
 reposed in the Natives generally, the public interests would 
 not materially suffer in any respect, whilst in some they would 
 be essentially benefitted. It is necessary to present them with 
 fresh incentives to honorable exertion, as well as to supply them 
 with the luoans of education, in order to elevate them in their 
 
23 
 
 own estimation, to call forth their energies, and to attach them 
 to our own Government. To do this is at once our duty and 
 our interest; for it will enable us to narrow the limits to which 
 European agency is now carried and thereby ultimately to 
 effect a great saving of expense. 
 
 The Natives are admitted not to be deficient either in capacity 
 or diligence : and we cannot join in the conclusion which we 
 think has sometimes been a great deal too hastily drawn, as to 
 their want of trustworthiness, until a fair experiment has been 
 made of their fidelity under circumstances of less powerful 
 temptation than those in which they have been usually placed. 
 In the ranks of our armies, their loyalty and devotion have 
 never been surpassed. In your domestic establishments, you 
 have daily proof that kind treatment as rarely meets with 
 unworthy returns as among any other people. It is chiefly in 
 public civil employments that inveterate propensities to false- 
 hood and fraud are imputed to them, often without due regard 
 to many palliating considerations, without sufficient adver- 
 tence to the causes which produced these defects in the national 
 character, and, we are afraid we must add, without a systematic 
 application of those means which are best adapted to improve 
 the nature of man. 
 
 In all countries, artifice and chicane are the natural resources 
 of the oppressed against the oppressor. Disregard of justice 
 and good faith on the part of a Government, and of those in 
 authority under it, soon spreads through the different gradations 
 of society by its pernicious example and influence, each person 
 taking advantage of his immediate inferior, who retaliates in his 
 turn, according to his means and opportunities, while all 
 combine in practising upon the credulity or weakness of the 
 ruling power, and indiscriminately withholding whatever it 
 cannot secure by intimidation or extort by force. This we 
 believe to be no exaggerated description of the state of things 
 which prevailed under the Native Governments of India. 
 
 And though a wiser system has been introduced, and better 
 maxims have been laid down since the establishment of the 
 British authority, it is unreasonable to feel disappointed be- 
 
$4 
 
 cause the change has not been accompanied by a sudden 
 eradication of bad habits and a total reformation of the manners 
 of the people . Good Government, by whomsoever administered, 
 will do much in process of time towards improving the character 
 as well as the circumstances of a people ; but when its benefits 
 are communicated and diffused, not by the agency of strangers, 
 but through the instrumentality of kinsmen, friends, and 
 neighbours, their value becomes greatly enhanced. 
 
 It is nevertheless essential to this result in India, that the 
 Natives employed by our Government shall be liberally treated, 
 that their emoluments shall not be limited to a bare subsistence, 
 whilst those allotted to Europeans in situations of not greater 
 trust and importance enable them to live in affluence and 
 acquire wealth. Whilst one class is considered as open to 
 temptation and placed above it, the other, without corresponding 
 inducements to integrity, should not be exposed to equal 
 temptation, and be reproached for yielding to it. 
 
 We readily admit that no considerable saving can be imme- 
 diately effected by the substitution of Native for European 
 agency, because it can only be safely effected gradually and 
 with circumspection ; but we are satisfied that it may be looked 
 to as a means of progressive economy, both in the Fiscal and 
 Judicial departments of your administration. 
 
 !Mr. Butterwortli Bayley, in his Minute, dated 5th 
 November, 1829, says — 
 
 It is true, as stated in the letter to the Honorable the 
 Court of Directors, under date the 5th of October, 1826, that 
 the system when originally introduced in the year 1793, was 
 ill calculated to encourage the formation of a class of Natives 
 qualified by their education and character to fill high and 
 responsible situations in the administration of justice through- 
 out the country. They were employed at first either in matters 
 only of very inferior importance or under the immediate eye of 
 the Judges ; but as the necessity of having recourse to their 
 assistance became more and more obvious, the original principle 
 was gradually departed from, and an establishment of Native 
 
25 
 
 judicial officers has consequently grown up, who already ex- 
 ercise very considerable powers. At first they were entrusted 
 only with the decision of suits for money to the extent of 50 
 Rupees; but in the year 1803, a new class of officers, called 
 Sudder Ameens, was established, and invested with power to 
 determine claims referred to them for real and personal proper- 
 ty to the amount of 100 Rupees, In 1814 their powers, and 
 likewise those of the Moonsiffs, were increased, and their situa- 
 tions rendered in all respects more efficient and respectable. 
 In 1821, they were still more enlarged, the cognizance of the 
 Moonsiffs being extended to cases of 160 Rupees and the Sud- 
 der Ameens to cases of 500 Rupees ; and in 1827, a Regula- 
 tion was passed, authorizing the Sudder Dewanny Adawlut to 
 invest the latter with power, when necessary, to try claims to 
 the amount of 1,000 Rupees, so that, as stated in a Minute 
 of one of the Judges of that Court, nineteen-twentieths of 
 the original suits instituted in the Civil Courts throughout 
 the country are now determined by the Native judicial offi- 
 cers. Thus it appears, that although the system was ill 
 calculated originally for the encouragement of Native officers 
 of this description, yet at the present moment a very con- 
 siderable proportion of the administration of civil justice is 
 actually intrusted to them, and the mode in which they have 
 very generally discharged their duties, encourages their still 
 further employment. Referring to the testimony which has 
 been borne in their favor by many of the authorities to whom 
 they are subordinate, it is hardly too much too say that in the 
 districts where, comparatively speaking, the inhabitants enjoy 
 the benefit of an efficient administration of civil justice, it is 
 ascribable, in a very extensive degree, to the instrumentality of 
 those officers. The Sudder Ameens especially are now gene- 
 rally men of experience and legal learning. They are assimi- 
 lated in religion, manners, habits, and customs with the people; 
 and they are generally regarded with respect and confidence, 
 both by Europeans and Natives. The Moonsiffs, when proper 
 persons have been selected, are likewise found to be extremely 
 serviceable and are peculiarly well fitted, from the local posi- 
 
 D 
 
26 
 
 tion which they occupy, not only to render justice more easily 
 accessible to the great body of the people, but to execute a variety 
 of duties assigned to them in the interior of the districts by 
 the superior tribunals. In order, however, to render them still 
 more efficient, they should now be placed on a higher footing in 
 respect to emolument. If the Natives are put into offices of 
 trust and confidence, •* we are bound," say the Honourable Court 
 in their Despatch of the 23rd July, 1824, " to grant them ade- 
 quate allowance, and unless we do, we have no right to expect 
 that they will distinguish themselves by integrity and ability in 
 the discharge of the duties required from them." With our 
 past experience, moreover, we have, I think, every reason to be- 
 lieve that if the Moonsiffs, as well as the Sadder Ameens, meet 
 with liberal and due encouragement, the agency of both may 
 be safely employed to a much greater extent than it is at pre- 
 sent in the administration of civil justice, and that in course of 
 time, they may, as suggested by the Honorable Court, be made 
 available for disposing, in the first instance, of all suits now 
 cognizable by the Civil Courts. The points, therefore, for im- 
 mediate decision are, first, the extent to which their powers 
 may be enlarged without occasioning the evils arising from too 
 sudden and violent changes in the established system ; and 
 second, what other modifications will be necessary in order to 
 adapt the system to such an alteration. 
 
 Mr. John Bax, Member of the Calcutta Finance Com- 
 mittee, says, in his Minute, dated 1829 :— 
 
 In the civil branch of the Judicial Department, all original 
 jurisdiction should, I think, be exercised by Native function- 
 aries, excepting suits in which they, or their relations, are 
 interested. 
 
 Extract letter in the Public Department from the Court 
 of Directors to the Governor in Council at Fort St. 
 George, 29th September, 1830 
 
 You are moreover acquainted with our anxious desire to have 
 at our disposal a body of Natives qualified by their habits and 
 acquirements to take a larger share, and occupy higher situa- 
 
27 
 
 tions, in the civil administration of their country, than has 
 hitherto been the practice under our Indian Governments. The 
 measures for Native education, which have as yet been adopted 
 or planned at your Presidency, have had no tendency to pro- 
 duce such person. 
 
 Mr." Alexander Ross, when a Judge of the Sudder Court, 
 recorded, in his Minute bearing no date, but evidently 
 written after Mr. Bayley's Minute : — 
 
 Mr. Bayley has likewise recorded his testimony to the capa- 
 bility of the Natives to discharge the Judicial functions, in the 
 following terms : — " It is not too much to say, that in the dis- 
 tricts where, comparatively speaking, the inhabitants enjoy the 
 benefit of an efficient administration of justice, it is ascribable, in 
 a very extensive degree, to the instrumentality of those officers 
 (the Sudder Ameens and Moonsiffs). The Sudder Ameens 
 especially are now generally men of experience and legal learn- 
 ing : they are assimilated in religion, manners, habits and 
 customs with the people, and they are generally regarded with 
 respect and confidence, both by Europeans and Natives.'* 
 
 This testimony, from one so well qualified to form a judg- 
 ment on the subject, will, I hope, be considered by the Govern- 
 ment entitled to greater weight than the opinion of those who, 
 looking only to what has been the conduct of the Moonsiffs 
 under a system which has employed men of low character in that 
 capacity, without salary and without check in the exercise of 
 the powers given to them, think the administration of justice 
 cannot be improved by means of Native agency under any 
 system. Against this opinion there is the testimony of many 
 others besides that of Mr. Bayley ; but if there were nothing else 
 to oppose to it, this consideration would be sufficient that, tak- 
 ing the Native character to be as low as it can be and incapable 
 of amendment, even on that liberal and unfounded supposition, 
 a great improvement in the administration of justice by Natives 
 could not fail to result merely from attaching adequate salaries 
 to the offices of trust committed to them : it being obvious that 
 a bribe, which might be sufficient to induce the commission of a 
 
28 
 
 coiTupt act by a functionary of the low raoral character suppos- 
 ed, holding an office of little value, would not be sufficient to 
 induce the same functionary to commit the same act in an office 
 of greater value. In the one case the value risked, and of 
 course the premium required to cover the risk, would be greater 
 than in the other, and doubtless both the value and the risk 
 might be so raised, that in the majority of suits, the premium 
 required to cover the latter would be greater than suitors could 
 afford to pay. 
 
 Mr. H. M. Turnbull, Judge of the Suclcler Court, says, 
 in his Minute, dated loth January, 1830 : — 
 
 The professed object of Mr. Bayley's plan is to provide for 
 the more extended employment of Native agency, with a view 
 to the more prompt and efficient administration of civil justice. 
 This proposition cannot but command general assent. It is not 
 to be denied that our present means are inadequate, and there 
 can be little doubt that, if due care be taken in the selection, and 
 the situation of Native Judge be raised to a proper standard of 
 respectability, individuals will be found fully qualified by charac- 
 ter, talent, and learning, to discharge the functions proposed to 
 be confided to them. The only question on which a difference 
 of opinion may arise is as to the extent of the powers which 
 should be vested in the Native tribunals, without occasioning 
 the evils arising from a too sudden and violent change in the 
 established system. On this point the observation is, no doubt, 
 entitled to weight, that much of the success which has attended 
 our progress hitherto in the amelioration of the Native institu- 
 tions is to be ascribed to the slowness and caution which have 
 marked the several steps of our advance. But I am still disposed 
 to think, provided always, as above stated, that due care be taken 
 in the selection, that the principle of the new arrangement might 
 be carried further than Mr. Bayley's plan proposes, especially 
 in regard to the office of Moonsiff. 
 
 Mr. David Hill, Member of the Calcutta Finance Com- 
 mittee, in his Minute, dated Sth March, 1830, says : — 
 
 With regard to the extended employment of Native Agency, 
 
29 
 
 it is due of riglit to the people ; there is no apology for exclud- 
 ing them from any situations which they can fill with efficiency 
 and without danger. The degradation of a whole people to the 
 lowest offices in the state is an outrage upon reason and moral 
 principle. If it were supposed to be true that amongst sixty or 
 seventy millions of human beings none were fit to occupy the 
 higher stations in society, so monstrous a result ought to lead 
 to the abandonment of the system from which it followed. But 
 nobody supposes this to be true, and I concur in the opinion 
 of Mr. Mackenzie and Mr. Bax, that a prompt, equal, and eco- 
 nomical administration of justice is unattainable, unless 
 through the co-operation of the Natives. The protection of 
 the people from oppression as I have said is more a branch 
 of Executive than of Judicial administration, and what remains 
 for Judicial enquiry of a civil nature relates only to controver- 
 sies among the Natives themselves. Even if none besides 
 European officers were duly qualified for the adjudication of 
 such controversies, the ground of expense alone would present 
 an insuperable obstacle to employing them. But in point of 
 intelligence, of application, of knowledge of the languages, 
 manners, and circumstances involved in the cases to be investi- 
 gated, Natives have unquestionably a vast superiority over the 
 Europeans, whom it is in the power of Government to select 
 for such employment. If they are inferior in point of inte- 
 grity, that defect can only be remedied by the exercise and dis* 
 cipline of their moral faculties, and in the mean time, under 
 European superintendence, and with proper checks, it need not 
 prove a bar to their usefulness. The experience, however, ac- 
 quired at Madras, where Native Agency has been largely re- 
 sorted to for more than twelve years in Judicial duties, does not 
 justify the apprehension that Natives are liable to prove corrupt 
 Judges. During that period they have decided on an average 
 upwards of 60,000 suits in the year, to the general and grow- 
 ing satisfaction, both of the people and of their official supe- 
 riors. Authority has hitherto been much less freely entrusted 
 to the Natives in criminal than in civil jurisprudence, I am 
 not aware whether this distinction has been accidental or in- 
 
30 
 
 tentional : but I consider it to be unfounded. If it have origi- 
 nated in the idea that the Natives are prone to a tyrannical dis- 
 position, I know of no better cure for such a propensity in a 
 class of men invested with power than to accustom them to 
 substitute for discretionary severity on the impulse of angry 
 feeling a measured scale of penalties on recorded evidence. 
 Acting under European superintendence, their powers of 
 punishment could not be habitually abused ; and I feel con- 
 fident, that on trial they would prove no more disqualified by 
 cruelty for criminal than by corruption for civil jurisdiction. 
 
 i should approve ultimately of giving not only all primary 
 jurisdiction, but all jurisdiction whatever, in civil cases to Na- 
 tive Judges. The proper restriction of their authority seems to 
 be not in the amount to be adjudicated, but in requiring all 
 causes to be filed, decisions to be sanctioned, or new trials 
 ordered, and decrees to be executed under the superintendence 
 of a European officer. If appellate jurisdiction only were exer- 
 cised by European Judges, I doubt very much whether their de- 
 cisions would be entitled to respect. Judges, who had never tried 
 original causes, and who tried but a small number of appeals, 
 would be liable to proceed not upon Judicial principles, but 
 upon notions of expediency ; and when of totally different habits 
 of mind from the Judges by whom all original causes and the 
 great bulk of appeals were tried, it would be difficult, even if it 
 were desirable, for their decisions, to diffuse any prevailing influ- 
 ence over the jurisprudence of the country under the check of 
 European superintendence ; and under the ultimate control of 
 Government, it seems to me, that, gradually, civil judicature in 
 all its branches might be administered by Native Judges and 
 punchayets with perfect safety, and with a degree of intelli- 
 gence, promptitude, and economy, which never belong to Euro- 
 pean tribunals. Our officers, European and Native, and the au- 
 thorities in this country and in England, are not yet ripe for 
 the active transfer of Judicial functions to Natives ; but all of 
 them, as far as Madras is concerned, I believe are fully ripe 
 for allowing Natives to participate much more largely than 
 they have hitherto done in the discharge of those functions ; 
 
31 
 
 and I am satisfied that the entire transfer is sound in principle 
 and is the ultimate measure to which all our reforms ought to 
 tend. I am moreover of opinion, that the great mass of cri- 
 minal business, which at present is transacted hj the Magistrate 
 and the criminal Judge, might with advantage be transfer- 
 red to Sudder Ameens at the Sudder station of the district. 
 Their sentence should be sanctioned, or be liable to bo 
 revised, by the criminal Judge, and ought only to be executed 
 under that ofi&cer's directions; but with these checks, it seems 
 to me to be absurd to withhold from the most discreet 
 and respectable Natives, whom we are able to select, such cri- 
 minal authority as is habitually exercised by young men 
 recently emancipated from the tuition of a Moonshee. 
 It is not conceivable that the authority should in the latter 
 case be exercised with more judgment and temper and satisfac- 
 tion to the people than it would be in the former. Indeed one 
 great recommendation of extending the powers of Native Judges 
 in civil cases, and granting them criminal jurisdiction, would 
 be that of enabling Government to dispense entirely with the 
 office of Registrar. Whatever may be said for other parts of 
 our judicial system, nothing but necessity, real or supposed, 
 can be urged in defence of the powers, particularly in criminal 
 cases, vested in persons of the age and inexperience of those 
 who usually hold that office. 
 
 Again tie says — 
 
 It seems proper that I should explicitly describe the system 
 of civil administration for the Madras territories, which would 
 arise out of the principles I support, and which, in my judg- 
 ment, all our reforms ought at least to tend to : it ought 
 practically to be carried on as far as possible by the Natives, and 
 ought in all its branches to keep up an intimate connexion with 
 the Government. The European officers ought merely to super- 
 intend and direct the Natives, in the discharge of their duties, 
 and to form the links by which their connexion with the 
 Government is maintained. All civil jurisdiction ought to 
 be exercised by Natives ; but beyond a limited amount ought 
 
32 
 
 to be exercised only at the station of an European officer, who 
 ought to be empowered to order a new trial or to admit a special 
 appeal to another Native Judge, and under whose direction all 
 decrees ought to be executed. The great bulk of criminal juris- 
 diction now exercised by Magistrates and their assistants, and 
 by criminal Judges and Registrars, ought to be transferred to 
 Natives at the station of the European Judge, under whose direc- 
 tion their sentences ought to be set aside or executed. Higher 
 offences ought to be tried by the European Judge, with reference, 
 in certain cases, to the Fouzdarry Adawlut. The use of pun- 
 chayets ought to be freely resorted to in these trials ; but in 
 the beginning, unfettered by rules and left to the discretion of 
 the Presidency Judge, under the orders of the Fouzdarry 
 Adawlut and Government. 
 
 Mr. Holt Mackenzie, Member of the Calcutta Finance 
 Committee, in his Minute, dated 1st October, 1830, says — 
 
 But the existing system, which would make factotums of the 
 European officers, seems to render failure inevitable, however 
 well qualified they may be, since it necessarily renders them the 
 tools of their irresponsible and miserably paid subordinates, by 
 throwing upon them the necessity of meddling with endless de- 
 tails, which they can never really master, and depriving them 
 of the leisure and the means of exercising that general check 
 and control which properly belong to them. It would be out of 
 place to enlarge on the abominable tyranny of systematically 
 keeping in a state of degradation the entire body of our Native 
 public servants, or on the inconsistency of pretending to deplore 
 their want of moral worth and yet studiously placing them in a 
 position in which honesty would be a miracle. But the practi- 
 cal absurdity is even greater : the men in whom we profess not 
 to confide must in fact be largely trusted, or all business would 
 be at a stand, and being trusted, without confidence, without 
 respect, without distinct responsibility, and without emolument, 
 their temptation and the power of abusing the trust are multi- 
 plied ten-fold. The best men of our service are thus compelled 
 to waste their lives in petty details and in fighting against the 
 
33 
 
 effects of a system which makes rogues of all below them, in- 
 stead of controlling and directing the wonderful talent we could 
 cheaply command : and inferior men are left in the hands of 
 underlings, whose talents, when they possess them, Govern- 
 ment having refused to purchase or reward, are naturally turned 
 to the acquisition of illicit gains, and who may safely pursue 
 such objects under the name of their master, relieved from all 
 responsibility to their common superior. The labours of the 
 former are thus thrown away upon comparative trifles, and the 
 latter are more surely and completely made the puppets of those 
 they seem to direct. It is not perhaps necessary to say much 
 on this head, because the tide of opinion, both here and at 
 home, is clearly in favour of the more extensive employment of 
 Natives in situations of trust and emolument, and because at 
 Madras an example has been set which Bengal can scarcely fail 
 soon to follow. But though the theory be admitted, the prac- 
 tice is not, I fear, likely to find favour, since it will, of course, 
 naturally abridge a very desirable patronage. Therefore must 
 we again and again repeat, that the practical application of the 
 principle is quite indispensable to any real system of economy : 
 and to arguments against the reduction of the Civil Service, 
 founded on the results of the present system, it must be suffi- 
 cient to observe, that the admission of Natives to the fair share 
 in the administration of the country, will produce a state of 
 things to which such arguments must be utterly inapplicable. 
 The situation of the British officers indeed will be changed, 
 and not less for the better than that of the Native, and hence 
 possibly an objection, because it will, I have already heard it 
 urged, be impossible with any face to find employment for all 
 now who are employed in situations nominally of little impor- 
 tance. But if the Government think it reasonable to maintain 
 a bad system in order to provide for inefficient Civil Servants, 
 at a vast waste of the public resources and at a great risk of 
 such mischief to the community, it is for them to vindicate, not 
 for us to adopt, a policy that seems to us at variance with sense 
 and justice. 
 
 Assuming that the European judges shall exercise both civil 
 
 s 
 
 1 
 
34 
 
 and criminal jurisdiction, it is necessary to define, in each 
 branch, the extent of their powers ; and this bj necessary 
 consequence leads to the consideration of the question, what 
 function shall belong to the Native Judges under them? 
 Now, whether one looks to the extent of the country 
 and the number of the people, or to the peculiar relations 
 in which we stand towards them, it seems to be equally 
 unquestionable that the functions of the European Judge 
 should be confined, as soon and as far as practicable, to that 
 of superintendence, direction, and control, for thus only can 
 they hope to ensure, to the utmost possible extent, a pure, just, 
 and prompt administration of the law ; and for this purpose it 
 seems to me to be indispensable that the primary jurisdiction 
 of all cases, criminal as well as civil, should be very largely en- 
 trusted to Natives. European officers can never be supplied in 
 sufiicient numbers to perform what the existing law requires 
 of them, and the effect of continuing the system must be that 
 much which ought to be done will not be done at all, and that 
 much which the law requires to be done by the European 
 Judges will, in fact, be done by Natives, under circumstances 
 infinitely more likely to lead to abuse than any extent of power 
 directly vested in them, with a corresponding responsibility and 
 suitable remuneration. It seems to be quite certain, that the 
 necessary talent and knowledge may be had in any required 
 quantity ; indeed, let Government demand what qualifications 
 it may, if it will only use its patronage to encourage their at- 
 tainment, the difiiculty will be not to find fit candidates for 
 ofi&ce, but adequate employment for the abilities it will call 
 into being. Nor do I see any sufficient reason for thinking 
 that honesty and a regard for opinion will be wanting, if the 
 proper means of checking corruption and creating self-respect 
 be adopted. Even indeed were I. forced to admit that, in their 
 present state of intellect and morals, the Natives cannot be 
 safely trusted with large powers, I should still be in favour of 
 gradually enlarging the sphere of their authority at the risk of 
 some temporary evil, and this, apart from all the financial con- 
 siderations that so imperiously call for their employment. Men 
 
35 
 
 are everywhere what their circumstances make them, and if we 
 would raise the character of the people, we must begin with 
 raising their condition : to say they shall be employed only in 
 slavish ofiaces, until they cease to exhibit the characteristics that 
 necessarily belong to their mean condition, is to condemn them 
 to perpetual debasement. Without under-valuing the efforts 
 made by Government and humane individuals for the diffusion 
 of knowledge, it seems to me to be obvious, that their success 
 must mainly depend on the degree in which objects of generous 
 ambition are held out as the rewards of superior attainment. 
 The indirect encouragement to the acquisition of sound know- 
 ledge, which may be given by a proper use of public patronage, 
 is likely to be far more efficacious than any direct measure, 
 however ostentatious and expensive, and the plan of promoting 
 education by admitting Natives to liberal employment has this 
 financial advantage, that it not only involves no additional ex- 
 pense, but will secure much economy. The other benefits, on 
 which it must be needless to enlarge, are far more important. 
 On whatever side, indeed, we regard the question, there is equal 
 ground for the persuasion, now happily very general, that our 
 Native fellow-subjects must be admitted to offices in all depart- 
 ments of much higher responsibility and emolument than they 
 are now permitted to enjoy, and in no branch of affairs is the ap- 
 plication of the principle likely to be more beneficial than in the 
 administration of justice, though it must be confessed that in 
 none are greater difficulties to be encountered. 
 
 As far as concerns civil suits, little difference of opinion 
 seems now to exist. Those who would withhold from Natives 
 the jurisdiction of cases of large amount, do in fact give up to 
 them so large a share of the field, that, were it not for the vice 
 of the principle, and its degrading tendency on those whom all 
 desire to raise, the remainder would scarcely be worth fighting 
 for. I have no doubt, indeed, that there will soon be a general 
 concurrence of opinion, that for the settlement of disputes of 
 civil right between man and man, the primary jurisdiction, in all 
 cases, of whatever amount, ought to be vested in Natives, as 
 soon as fit men can be found, and there seems to be little 
 
36 
 
 reason to suppose that they will not be everywhere forth- 
 coming on the offer of an adequate remuneration. The advan- 
 tages presented by the Sudder station of the European Judge 
 in point of publicity, a main security against mal-administra- 
 tion reader it apparently desirable, that all cases should be 
 tried there, in which the loss of time to the parties and their 
 witnesses (this, if arrears be kept down, need not be great) may 
 not offer a decidedly preponderating objection. Cases in which 
 Government or the community are mainly concerned on one 
 side, when not tried by the European officers, ought all to be 
 brought to that place, because the risk that the public inter- 
 ests will be sacrificed to those of the individual, must be very 
 great where there is no public spirit in the community. Civil 
 suits, in which, tlie amount at issue is considerable, should 
 be similarly disposed of at the option of either of the parties, be- 
 cause the loss of time to parties and witnesses is in them com- 
 paratively unimportant and may be compensated out of the mat- 
 ter in dispute. And, but for a consideration of the inconvenience 
 to which suitors and witnesses in trifling cases would be put if 
 there were no courts, excepting at one place in our extensive 
 districts, I should like to see all suits brought to the Sudder sta- 
 tion, especially those of the poorer people, for the suits of the rich 
 have the best chance wheresoever they may be tried, and it is 
 when the rich are opposed to the poor, or to Government, of 
 which the interests have rarely a zealous defender, that jea- 
 lousy is specially called for. Then, though we must probably 
 have Judges in the interior of the districts, care should be taken 
 not to strew them too thickly over the country, especially if the 
 emolument of each is to be reduced in proportion as their num- 
 ber is increased. If it were possible, I would confine the 
 Native Judges to original suits, making all cases appealable to the 
 European Judge ; and if one could hope, that the general results 
 would confirm the statements given from certain districts of 
 Madras, by which it appears that less than one-fifteenth part 
 of the appealable cases determined by the District Moonsiffs 
 were appealed, it would not be extravagant to anticipate the 
 establishment of such a system. 
 
37 
 
 At this Presidency, I fear wc cannot generally speculate on 
 such a result. We must, therefore, probably admit into the sys- 
 tem Native Judges of appeal for the minor and more numerous 
 cases, reserving a right of special appeal to the European Judge. 
 
 In the criminal department many appear to have a strong 
 repugnance to any considerable extension of the powers of Na- 
 tive Judges, yet in this department also it seems to be essentially 
 necessary that they should have the trial of a number of cases 
 that now occupy the time of the European officers, if, without 
 an inordinate expense, we would enable the latter actually to 
 discharge the duties that nominally belong to them and obtain 
 the satisfactory administration of criminal justice ; nor will it, 
 I imagine, be difficult to provide a security against the abuses 
 which are apprehended. These I suppose to be the corrupt 
 condemnation of the innocent and the corrupt acquittal of the 
 guilty : no one, I believe, anticipates any want of capacity in 
 the Natives. The reasons, therefore, that naturally influenced 
 Government in determining what cases should be referred to the 
 young assistants of Magistrates have no proper application to 
 the case of Native Judges, and it was probably through inadver- 
 tence that the criminal functions of Sudder Ameens were ad- 
 justed by the standard assumed in Regulation II. 1821. I see 
 no sufficient reason why it should not be competent to the zillah 
 Judges to refer to the Native Judges all cases which they are 
 themselves competent to decide, nor indeed why Magistrates 
 also should not exercise a similar discretion when they deem it 
 advantageous to refer cases brought before them directly to the 
 Native Criminal Court. 
 
 Without denying that some of the dislike under which we 
 labour is inseparable from the position we hold, much must, I 
 conceive, be charged to measures and arrangements by no 
 means necessary of adoption. Nothing can be more striking 
 than the scorn with which the people have been practically 
 treated at the hands of even those who are actuated by the 
 most benevolent motives, for since the world began, there is pro- 
 bably no example of a Government carrying the principle of 
 absolutism so completely through the civil administration of a 
 
38 
 
 country, if that caa be called civil which is in its spirit so 
 purely military, nay, which sets the people aside in the ma- 
 nagement of their own concerns much more than the Sepahee in 
 the government of the army. The principle pervades every act, 
 from the highest exercise of legislative power to the appoint- 
 ment of the meanest public officer. But of all the consequen- 
 ces of our errors, I would attach most importance to their effects 
 on the village associations, which form the great bond of society 
 throughout so large a part of India, but which have been great- 
 ly misunderstood and disturbed. These institutions seem to 
 afford one of the most important of all the instruments we 
 could use to insure the good government of the country and 
 the comfort of individuals. Without them, or some substitute 
 similarly resting on popular principle, we must, I fear, have a 
 miserable and disunited people, whom it is scarcely possible to 
 govern otherwise than as the slaves of our Native servants, 
 whereas with them these men might, I conceive, be made really 
 servants of the public, at the same time that our Judges and 
 Magistrates would assume their proper stations as Governors 
 according to their several degrees in all they ought to govern, 
 and would leave it to the people to transact, with their protection, 
 support, and control, the innumerable concerns of civil life 
 which they alone can tolerably administer. One cannot too of- 
 ten recur to the principles which ought to restrain us from the 
 error into which we constantly fall of doing too much, both 
 legislatively and executively, under a Government which ex- 
 cludes the idea of political freedom. The best chance for any- 
 thing like civil liberty is to be found in narrowing the sphere 
 of its interference and extending that of popular tribunals : 
 absolute power may thiis be made consistent with much civil 
 liberty, and this in large and divided nations, with no risk of 
 political disturbance ; but laws arbitrarily imposed by a despo- 
 tic Government, can have comparatively little effect in checking 
 the abuse of power, except as they restrict the occasions of its 
 being exercised, and it seems to be vain to think that we can, 
 by any legislative provision, secure the community from extor- 
 tion and vexation, if we once allow or require the Government 
 
39 
 
 officers to interfere perpetually in the minute details of the 
 people's business. We have unfortunately acted on an oppo- 
 site principle, interfering in almost everything, neglecting po- 
 pular institutions where they exist, and never attempting to 
 create them where wanting. 
 
 Sir John Malcolm, Governor of Bombay, in his Mi- 
 nute, dated 10th IN'ovember, 1830, says : — 
 
 The extent to which we have given Natives jurisdiction in 
 civil suits has been already noticed, and there is no measure 
 from which more advantage, financial and political, may be 
 anticipated. 
 
 Extracts from the digest of the evidence given before 
 the Lords' Committee, in 1830 : — 
 
 The Natives, both Hindoo and Mahomedan, are equally 
 trustworthy. There is no want of integrity where they are li- 
 berally rewarded for their trouble, and consideration is shown 
 them : where this has not been the case, there they have failed 
 to merit consideration. They are certainly equal, in point of 
 ability, to any duties ; but they require very great and constant 
 vigilance and superintendence, and without that they are not 
 to be trusted. 
 
 5i4 * * * * * 
 
 The Hindoos possess a very high intellectual capacity. There 
 are a number of persons (more particularly in the town and 
 neighbourhoood of Madras) capable of exercising Revenue and 
 Judicial functions. The state of society in British India might 
 be greatly improved by employing the Natives more generally 
 in the administration of the country. Too little regard is paid 
 to them, they are kept at too great a distance, and their experi- 
 ence and talents are estimated too lightly. There are, no doubt, 
 instances of corrupt and vicious conduct among those now em- 
 ployed, but lapses of this nature are to be accounted for from 
 the present state of Indian society. When moral improvement 
 is more generally introduced among them, their manners, as well 
 as their principles, will assume a higher scale. They might be 
 trusted with greater Judicial authority, and employed in higher 
 
40 
 
 offices. They might be employed with equal advantage both 
 in the revenue line and in the police. They have of late years 
 made such progress in education, that there can be no doubt 
 of a sufficient number being found to fill all the situations re- 
 commended ; but if those situations wcve open to the legiti- 
 mate ambition of the Natives, they would afford them an ad- 
 ditional stimulus for qualifying themselves. The higher ranks 
 in Guzerat are indisposed to take such offices as are open to 
 them, because they have been accustomed to great arbitrary au- 
 thority under the former Government, and would not be con- 
 tent with so limited a share of power as they would possess 
 under the British system. Besides it is probable that they would 
 be less attentive than persons of lower rank. The exclusion 
 of Natives from the higher offices must have a considerable 
 tendency towards debasing their moral character generally. 
 By giving them a share of the advantages of their own country, 
 we shall promote their interests, and secure their attachment ; 
 but a good deal will depend on the way in which it is done. 
 To elevate the character and improve the condition of the 
 higher orders, we ought to allow them a larger share in the ad- 
 ministration, and provide them with honorable and lucrative 
 employment. At present, all incitement to exertion is much 
 destroyed, and the moral character degraded, the Natives being 
 confined in a great degree to subordinate offices, and all paths 
 of ambition shut against them. They might be employed with 
 perfect safety to the British Government. They cannot perhaps 
 be raised to an equality in rank and influence with Europeans, 
 who must in general superintend them, but they can safely be 
 admitted to higher employments. They have been more em- 
 ployed of late, and the experiment has succeeded. They arc 
 adapted to all offices. In point of natural ability they are not 
 at all inferior to Europeans, and in many respects they are 
 superior ; in knowledge of the Native languages, for instance, 
 which Europeans never can acquire so perfectly. They might 
 be admitted to a very high description of office in the Revenue 
 and Judicial lines, but they should always be under the control 
 of Europeans. Their employment in the highest offices is not 
 
41 
 
 recommended, for the policy of our Government would always 
 require that those should be filled by Europeans. They might 
 be advantageously employed, where Assistant Judges and sub- 
 ordinate Collectors are now employed, on salaries from £80 to 
 £160 a month : not immediately, but gradually, as men of talent 
 were discovered. The ofifice of zillah Judge would often be con- 
 ducted with great efficiency by a Native, and there is no reason 
 why it should not be so conducted, if he were sufficiently well 
 paid to keep him honest. It would, however, be preferable to 
 confine the Natives at present to more subordinate offices ; and 
 the Natives found at the presidencies are not to be recommended. 
 Natives should be employed where they reside. If a Native 
 occupied such a situation as Assistant Collector, he would be 
 satisfied with a smaller salary than that now given to an Euro- 
 pean. The present salary of an European Sub-Collector, and 
 it is sufficient, is £160 a month : a Native would serve for half, 
 or two-thirds the amount. The administration of the revenue 
 and financial departments by Natives would be more satisfac- 
 tory to the people, more efficient, and cheaper. 
 
 Extracts from tlie digest of evidence given in the 
 Second Report of the Commons' Committee on East India 
 affairs, in 1830 and 1831 :— 
 
 Until the Natives are raised (and they can be so raised with 
 great advantage) to participate largely and actively in the Go- 
 vernment of themselves, India never will be justly or securely 
 ruled under any European sovereignty. Natives ought to be 
 admissible to the same employments as Europeans, 
 
 The best way of improving the character and condition of the 
 superior order of Natives would be to leave open to their ambi- 
 tion some of the higher and more lucrative offices of the Govern- 
 ment, and to allow them to participate as much as possible in 
 the administration of their own country : it may not be politic 
 to allow them to hold the highest departments, which should 
 always be filled by Europeans. They ought to be admitted to 
 the Revenue and Judicial departments : from the chief political 
 offices they should always be excluded. By permitting the Na- 
 
42 
 
 tives to fill a few of the high situations, we shall gradually raise 
 a Native aristocracy of our own, who, being indebted to our Go- 
 vernment, will feel an interest in maintaining it : they would 
 consider the security of their own fortunes identified with the 
 safety of the Government. Their exclusion from all offices and 
 places of trust, except the subordinate ones, has a tendency to 
 produce a deterioration of character. In this respect they sen- 
 sibly feel the consequences of foreign rule : they regard them- 
 selves as a conquered and degraded people. All the paths of ho- 
 norable ambition being shut against them, it may be feared that 
 discontent will increase, so that we may eventually become ex- 
 tremely unpopular. 
 
 Many individual Natives in the different departments are 
 highly deserving of confidence, but, generally speaking, our 
 revenue servants, from the inadequacy of their pay, are extreme- 
 ly open to corruption and intrigue of every sort. Those who 
 have the prospects of promotion for good conduct are more to 
 be depended on than others. 
 
 The degradation arising from not being employed in the 
 higher offices tends much to check improvement. The Na- 
 tives ought to be declared eligible to fulfil and execute all 
 civil offices, Judicial, financial and territorial. It is not to 
 be believed that a population of sixty millions does not contain 
 within itself talent, assiduity, and integrity to justify their being 
 largely admitted into those offices. The advantages in policy 
 and morals which would thence result are numberless. 
 
 The Natives ought to have all the privileges of British sub- 
 jects, and not be debarred, through distinction of colour, and 
 because they are Natives, from the benefits of the administra- 
 tion of the laws of their own country, but it should be done 
 gradually. The Natives ought to be brought forward, and the 
 preparation should be the introduction of the English language. 
 The most intelligent Natives will be found at the Presidency. 
 Natives can of course be got to serve for much smaller sums than 
 are paid to the European servants : they are much more easily 
 paid, but for many years they could not be employed exclu- 
 sively : there must be Europeans mixed with them. After 
 
43 
 
 some years they would be equally efficient : they should be gra- 
 dually introduced. All the details of public offices are now 
 managed by Natives. 
 
 The people must feel degraded from not being admitted into 
 the superior offices, and the feeling will increase with their in- 
 creasing intelligence : they ought to participate in the adminis- 
 tration of the country. 
 
 Where confidence is placed in Natives, it is very frequently 
 rewarded by a faithful discharge of their duties, but there has 
 no doubt been cause to complain of abuse of confidence. The 
 more they are encouraged and the more they are employed, the 
 more they will improve themselves. The best system that could 
 be established at this moment, would be to entrust all the details 
 of revenue, and all the original suits in Judicature, to Natives, 
 leaving the business of control to Europeans, The Natives would 
 do the details much more effectually than Europeans. The 
 most efficient officers of Government would be quite helpless 
 without the assistance of the Natives. No Natives, but those 
 duly qualified by previous education in the inferior offices of the 
 civil administration, should be permitted to occupy the higher 
 grades. 
 
 The advantage of employing Natives would be cheapness. 
 An opinion is very generally entertained that it would be good 
 for the Natives to be more largely employed in the business of 
 Government than they now are ; but really the great concern of 
 the people is that the business of Government should be well 
 and cheaply performed ; and it is of little or no consequence 
 to them who are the people that perform it. 
 
 The Calcutta Finance Committee, in their letter, dated 
 12th July, 1830, to the Governor-General in Council in 
 Bengal, say : — 
 
 It will be seen hereafter, that in the Judicial and Revenue 
 branches the arrangements we propose are • founded mainly on 
 the principle of substituting Native for European Agency in the 
 courts of primary jurisdiction and in the conduct of details. 
 The expediency of acting upon this principle, we are happy 
 
44 
 
 to believe, is now generally admitted, and experience having 
 shown that in no other way can the charges of the administra- 
 tion be kept within moderate bounds, a regard for economy 
 would alone suggest the policy of gradually raising the func- 
 tions and enlarging the emoluments of our Native fellow-sub- 
 jects, even if there were no higher considerations to induce the 
 adoption of tlie measure. But as on the one hand we do not 
 expect that all the arrangements we shall now venture to sug- 
 gest can be immediately effected, so, on the other, we would by 
 no means be understood to rest upon those arrangements as if 
 they carried the above principle to its fullest possible extent. 
 All the authorities at Fort St. George are, we understand, united 
 in opinion that an entire success has followed the plan of giv- 
 ing enlarged powers and better pay to the District Moonsiffs ; 
 and although in the permanently settled districts of Bengal, 
 where unfortunately nothing is settled, and little is known but 
 the Government assessment, peculiar difficulties may present 
 themselves, we see no reason to think that the same con- 
 sequence will not follow from the same measure : nor can we 
 doubt that at all the presidencies the above-mentioned principle 
 may, at no distant period, be much more extensively applied. 
 
 Assuming then tliat a change must be made, and that the 
 principles of such change shall be the substitution, as far as 
 safely practicable, of Native for European Agency, there will 
 remain the question how that principle is best to be applied. 
 On grounds which we have briefly stated in our report, relative 
 to the establishment of Fort St, George, and on which, as they 
 appear to be now generally admitted, we need not enlarge, it 
 seems to us that the first step should be to enlarge the powers 
 of the Native Judges ; ultimately we are of opinion the primary 
 jurisdiction in all civil cases ought to be confided to them. The 
 main business of the European Judges being to see tbat there 
 is no failure of justice through their neglect or corruption, and 
 their interference in individual cases, whether by appeal or 
 otherwise, being limited to what is requisite for this purpose. 
 In the criminal department also, we have no doubt that the 
 Native Judges might be extensively employed with general ad- 
 
45 
 
 vantage, the European officer seeing in all serious cases that 
 
 the orders passed had nothing unjust and improper on the face 
 of them, before they were carried into execution, and both in 
 that department and in the police the quantity of business 
 might, we conceive, be very considerably abridged and the cause 
 of the people promoted, if the wishes of the community were 
 more consulted in regard to the discovery and punishment of 
 minor offences. Pursuing these principles, we are persuaded 
 that the efficient administration of civil and criminal justice 
 might be fully provided for, not only without any increase, but 
 with some diminution in the number of European district 
 Judges, and that the intervention of an appellate court between 
 those Judges and the Sudder Court might be wholly dispensed 
 with ; ultimately, indeed, it may not be too much to expect that 
 one European Court will suffice for several districts, but the 
 change must of course be effected gradually. 
 
 Now it appears to us, that by adopting such an arrangement, 
 a large saving of expense may be effected, several Magistracies 
 may be abolished, and the number of Judges also may be dimi- 
 nished. We assume, as already intimated, that European Agency 
 is never to be employed beyond what the necessity of the case 
 may justify, that the proper function of the covenanted Civil 
 Servants of the Government is control and direction, not execu- 
 tion, that details are, as far as possible, to be left to the Natives, 
 and that we are never to waste our labour in attempting to do the 
 business of the country when we can succeed in causing it to be 
 done as well, or better, by the people themselves. We also assume, 
 that the integrity of the head Native officers shall be secured by 
 adequate pay and well-defined responsibility. By this system 
 we are satisfied that the burthen of the Collectors' duties may 
 be so reduced as to leave them ample leisure for those of the 
 Magistracy, if the latter be properly regulated. Further, it ap- 
 pears to us, that if the district Judges be relieved from Magisteri- 
 al functions and from the cognizance of original civil suits, and 
 that of the less important criminal cases, their authority may 
 be so far extended as not only wholly to supersede the necessity 
 of maintaining the courts of appeal, but as to enable Govern- 
 
46 
 
 ment to relieve the Revenue Commissioners from the duty of 
 holding the sessions, except in special cases ; and if the ordinary 
 duties of those Commissioners be restricted to that of control- 
 ling the Magistrates and Collectors, their number may certainly 
 be reduced, without any sacrifice of efficiency. 
 
 The Native Judges of Bengal appear to be in general under- 
 paid. The Moonsiffs especially, being in several districts far 
 too numerous, appear, in many instances, to receive a misera- 
 ble pittance, and their time is often taken up in mere executive 
 duties, which a common Mohurrir might discharge. These de- 
 fects of the system seem to admit of easy remedy, and we 
 doubt not that, with liberal pay, an ample supply of good Native 
 Judges will soon be at the command of Government. But of 
 course, in the application of what we would suggest under this 
 head, it is especially necessary to proceed gradually, and with 
 caution, the general scheme being kept steadily in view and 
 every fit opportunity being taken of adopting it, zillah by zillah, 
 with modifications suggested by local circumstances, but no at- 
 tempt being made to enforce an unnatural uniformity or to 
 anticipate the existence of fit instruments. 
 
 Evidence of Thomas Fortescue, Esq., B. C. S., before 
 the Select Committee of the House of Lords, in 1830 : — 
 
 What extent of authority was conceded to any Native Com- 
 missioner in the Judicial department ? — I cannot exactly recol- 
 lect. They have very trifling criminal jurisdiction ; but in 
 civil they have causes to the extent of a thousand Rupees to 
 investigate. They were more as Assistants in criminal matters, 
 to inquire into any little trifling things that required more 
 time than it was consistent with the other duties of the Assis- 
 tant or myself to attend to. 
 
 Did they appear to perform their duties faithfully and well ? 
 — I think so. I was very well satisfied with them. I think 
 their allowance ought to be more, and more confidence placed 
 in them. 
 
 From what you saw of the Natives, do you think they could 
 be introduced into higher situations than those they had before 
 
47 
 
 occupied ?— I think they might ; but they must have a propor- 
 tionable reward for their services. 
 
 You had no reason to complain generally of the want of in- 
 tegrity of the persons you had so employed ? — I wish to answer 
 that with a little reservation. I think not : where they have 
 been what 1 would say liberally rewarded for their trouble, and 
 consideration has been shown towards them, they are every way 
 deserving of trust ; but where this has not been the case, there 
 they have failed to merit that confidence- 
 
 You have stated that you thought the Native officers that 
 were employed in the Courts, both Indian and Mahomraedan, 
 when their appointments were such as they ought to be, for 
 their situation, were entitled to full confidence ; do you apply 
 that simply to those who came under your observation in the 
 province of Delhi, or do you apply it generally as the result of 
 information you have received in other parts of India ? — I ap- 
 ply it generally to all the provinces of Bengal in which I have 
 officiated. 
 
 Evidence of Ross Donnelly Mangles, Esq., B. C. S., 
 before the Select Committee of the House of Lords, in 
 1830 :— 
 
 What is the highest amount of salary any Native receives 
 in the revenue service ? — I cannot answer that ; the records 
 will show that. 
 
 What was the highest salary of any Native writer in the Ter- 
 ritorial Department? — There was one very clever man indeed, 
 who, I think, got thirty or forty pounds a month. 
 
 What was his situation ? — I think he had the management s^ 
 of the salt division of the duties of the office. 
 
 Where they have been in the receipt of suitable salaries, have 
 they proved trustworthy, and equal to the duties imposed upon 
 them? — They are certainly equal, in point of ability, to any duties. 
 
 Have they proved trustworthy, as far as your observation 
 goes ?— They require very great and constant vigilance and 
 superintendence. I do not think that a Native is to be trusted 
 without that. 
 
48 
 
 Did the Sudder Ameens in general administer justice sa- 
 tisfactorily ?— I believe so, when they were well superintended ; 
 all Native agency depends entirely upon that : and speaking 
 entirely upon personal knowledge, I never knew a Native who 
 could otherwise be trusted. 
 
 Is that owing to the smallness of their emoluments ? — Partly, 
 no doubt ; but chiefly the general depravation of society. 
 
 If they were well paid, do you think they would be trustworthy ? 
 —More trustworthy, certainly. The experiment has never been 
 tried, but it ought to be tried. 
 
 Evidence of Courteney Smith, Esq., B. C. S., before the 
 Select Committee of the House of Lords, in 1830 : — 
 
 Is much business done by the Sudder Ameen, or Chief Native 
 Judge? — He has causes referred to him by the Judge. 
 
 Have complaints been made of their decisions, or are they 
 generally considered good? — I think they are generally pretty 
 good. 
 
 Do the Natives discharge the duties that attach to them with 
 accuracy and ability ? — I think they are, certainly, accurate 
 and able. 
 
 As much as Europeans would be under similar circum- 
 stances ? — Quite so I think ; but I stop short at accuracy and 
 ability. 
 
 You mean that you exclude integrity ? — I think that a very 
 suspicious point. 
 
 Do you conceive that deficiency of integrity to arise from 
 something fundamental in the Native character, or from the 
 low emoluments attached to their situations ? — Government 
 thought in Lord Cornwallis's time, that even European integrity 
 might be increased and secured by increase of salary ; I sup- 
 pose it is pretty much the same with regard to the Natives. 
 
 Evidence of Richard Clark, Esq., M. C. S., before the 
 Select Committee of the House of Lords, in 1830: — 
 
 In what manner do the District Moonsiffs discharge their 
 duties principally ? — I believe upon the whole very satisfac- 
 torily. 
 
4d 
 
 Evidence of Honorable Mount Stuart Elphinstone, Go- 
 vernor of Bombay, before the Select Committee of the 
 House of Lords, in 1830 : — 
 
 How have the Native Judges, upon the whole, been found to 
 decide those causes? — Extremely satisfactorily. 
 
 Supposing such a system of education to be established, 
 will not natives, in your opinion, be elected to fill many higher 
 situations than they now fill under the Government, and fill 
 them advantageously ? — I think they would. 
 
 To what extent do you apprehend, after the completion of 
 such a system, it would be possible to employ Natives ? — The 
 progress would be very gradual ; but the ultimate result, 1 appre- 
 hend, might be the making over all civil business to the Natives, 
 retaining the political and military in the hands of Europeans. 
 
 The effect of the perfection of this system to which you have 
 alluded would be the establishment of a much cheaper Go- 
 vernment, accompanied by a great moral improvement of the 
 people ? — So I conceive. 
 
 What are the highest situations now held by Natives under 
 that Government? — I do not recollect any higher than the 
 principal judicial and revenue officers, who get a salary of 500 
 Rupees a month. There were in the Deccan, Dewans or Chief 
 Officers under the Collector, who at one time got as much as a 
 thousand Rupees a month, but I rather think they have been 
 reduced. 
 
 Do any particular measures occur to you for securing the fit- 
 ness and preserving the integrity of Natives in official situa- 
 tions? — In their present state a very strict superintendence by 
 Europeans : good salaries ; rewards by pensions or jaghires after 
 long and distinguished employment; and, above all, good educa- 
 tion. 
 
 Evidence of William Chaplin, Esq., M. C S., before the 
 Select Committee of the House of Lords, in 1830 : — 
 
 In what manner would you propose to elevate the character 
 and improve the condition of the higher orders of the people ? 
 — By allowing them to have u larger share in the adminiatra- 
 
 G 
 
tion, and providing theui with honorable and lucrative employ 
 ment. At present, all incitement to exertion is very much 
 destroyed, the Natives being confined very much to the subordi- 
 nate officcs.and all the paths of ambition being shut against them. 
 
 Do you think^that the Natives could be introduced into liigher 
 offices than those'they at present occupy, not only with credit 
 to themselves, but with perfect safety to the British Govern- 
 ment ? — Certainly: with perfect safety to the British Govern- 
 ment. You cannot perhaps raise them to an equality in rank 
 and influence with Europeans, who must in general superin- 
 tend them ; but they may be admitted with great safety to 
 higher employment, and (if I may be permitted the expression) 
 to a great share in their own loaves and fishes. 
 
 Have the Natives been employed lately to a greater degree 
 than they were in the first instance ? — Yes, they have to a very 
 considerable degree. A number of Natives have been appoint- 
 ed, on comparatively high salaries, to the Judicial and to the 
 Revenue offices. * 
 
 As far as the experiment has been tried, it has pretty invari- 
 ably succeeded ? — I think it has. 
 
 Do you think they are more particularly adapted to any one 
 description of office than another, from your observation ? — 
 No, I think they are adapted to all offices. In point of natural 
 ability, I do not conceive them at all inferior to Europeans, and 
 as they must necessarily be more acquainted with their own 
 habits and usages, they are in many respects superior to Euro- 
 peans. Their intimate knowledge of the languages is also a con- 
 sideration which must give them great efficiency in administra- 
 tion of all offices : a knowledge, which Europeans, even after 
 twentv-five years' residence, can never acquire in so perfect a 
 degree. 
 
 Evidence of John Hodgson, Esq., M. C. S., before the 
 Select Committee of the House of Lords, in 1830 : — 
 
 Are you of opinion that Natives might be more generally 
 employed, and in offices of a higher description, than they are, 
 both in the administration of justice and the collection of the 
 
revenue ?— Certainly : I think that Natives may be gradually 
 made fit for employments in the higher situations of revenue, 
 judicial, commercial, and even political. To a certain extent, the 
 experiment has been tried, since the Regulations of 1810, of ex- 
 tending the jurisdiction of the district Judges, with much success. 
 A further experiment has been tried of creating a Native Judge 
 in the town of Seringapatam, where an European Judge former- 
 ly presided ; and I have no doubt that the result will be satis- 
 factory, wherever the selection is properly made. There must 
 be occasional disappointment no doubt ; but unless a com- 
 mencement is made, no favourable progress or result can be ex- 
 pected. When I state this, I also wish to state, that in the 
 Revenue Department I should consider that a Native is quite as 
 fit to be the administrator of a province, and of his own con- 
 cerns, as he was to be employed in those situations of the 
 Judicial Department ; that consequently there appears, in my 
 humble opinion, a great inconsistency in advocating, that in 
 the Revenue Department no man shall become possessed of a 
 territory, or have the management of a territory, that all our insti- 
 tutions shall be ryotwar, and all money revenue collected by 
 means of stipendiary servants. It would follow, that a man being 
 capable of judging on the private fortunes of others, and com- 
 petent, in a criminal case, to act as a juror, or probably in the 
 higher office of a criminal Judge in minor cases, was not fit to be 
 trusted with the management of twenty or thirty villages as his 
 own property, without fear of his oppressing those under him, or 
 being guilty of acts of extortion and injustice. I am therefore 
 of opinion, that it would be wise to promote the Natives to offices 
 of higher trust in every department gradually, and under due 
 selections made for the purpose. There is a College established 
 at Madras for the purpose of educating pleaders in Courts of law, 
 law officers and pundits, and examining all those who are candi- 
 dates for office in all those laws. I think I have heard that it is 
 intended to extend it to revenue officers to be employed in the 
 interior. Advantages have resulted from it in the Judicial De- 
 partments, and T have no doubt the benefits may be made much 
 more general. 
 
52 
 
 Evidence of Robert Rickards^ Esq., Member of Coun- 
 cil at Bombay, before the Select Committee of the House 
 of Lords, in 1830 :— 
 
 I think it (the state of society) might be greatly improved by 
 employing the Natives more generally than we do in the ad- 
 ministration of the country. I take one great cause of our fai- 
 lure to be the little regard that has been paid to the Natives ; 
 the distance at which we keep them. We estimate their ex- 
 perience and talents too lightly ; the whole of our administra- 
 tion in India is consequently too much founded upon European 
 notions and doctrines, and if the Natives were more generally 
 employed in the administration of the country, I think that we 
 should succeed better in adapting our measures to their rights, 
 usages, and comfort, which it is obviously the wish of the Bri- 
 tish Government to do ; but as long as we keep the Natives at 
 such a distance and think so meanly of their capacities, I fear 
 that our administration in that country will neither be profita- 
 ble to us, nor ultimately secure. 
 
 Extract letter in the Revenue and Judicial Department, 
 from the Governor-General of India, Lord W. C. Bentinck, 
 to the Court of Directors, dated Simlah, ]5th Septem- 
 ber, 1831 :— 
 
 A more extended recourse to Native Agency, for the disposal 
 of Judicial business, has been so earnestly, so repeatedly, and so 
 recently urged by your Honorable Court, that I should almost 
 have deemed it my duty to give effect to your injunction, in 
 spite of any local obstacles which might have opposed themselves. 
 But concurring, as I do most cordially in the wisdom, the justice, 
 and the sound policy of those injunctions, and being fully satis- 
 fied that Native probity and talent may immediately be found, 
 if due caution be observed in the selection of instruments, in 
 sufficient abundance to justify the present introduction of the 
 system, I should have deemed myself criminal had I any 
 longer delayed to concede to the people of this country a mea- 
 sure so eminently calculated to facilitate their access to justice, 
 
53 
 
 to conciliate their attachment, and to raise the standard of their 
 moral character. 
 
 Mr. W. H. Macnaghten, Secretary to the Governor- 
 General, in his letter to the Deputy Secretary of the 
 Bengal Government, dated 26th January, 1831, says ; — 
 
 As to the impolicy of employing irresponsible individuals on 
 a miserable pittance, his Lordship fully concurs ; and he ap- 
 proves Mr. Mackenzie's reasoning in favour of increasing the sa- 
 laries of the head Native officers of the Collector's establishment. 
 As to the injustice of excluding the Natives of the country from 
 all offices of trust and emolument, there can, he should hope, 
 at the present day, be but one opinion. 
 
 Lord William Bentinck, W. B. Bayley, Esq., and Sir 
 Charles Metcalfe, say in their letter, dated 9th October, 
 1831, to the Judges of the Supreme Court, suggesting for 
 their consideration certain alterations and additions in 
 the Bill to be entitled an Act for establishing Legislative 
 Councils in the East Indies : — 
 
 You will thence observe that the Native Judges already dis- 
 pose of about fifteen-seventeenths of the regular civil suits 
 (original and appeal) tried and determined throughout the 
 country, that it is chiefly in the superior Courts that the suits 
 in arrear are of long standing. Of the original suits pending 
 before the Judges and Registers, a large proportion will be found 
 to relate to things of a value under one thousand Rupees, and 
 although therefore the jurisdiction of the Native Judges were still 
 restricted to that sum, zillah Judges might be greatly relieved by 
 a different distribution of the business, insomuch that, — if they 
 were at the same time freed from their magisterial duties, we 
 have little doubt that, with occasional aid in particular districts, 
 they would be able promptly to decide all the cases requiring 
 their decision, and thus to obviate any reasonable ground of 
 complaint on the score of delay, excepting what may arise from 
 defects of process, susceptible, we conceive, of easy amendment. 
 
 We are disposed to doubt whether Natives could advantage- 
 ously be associated with the European officers as Judges in the 
 
54 
 
 zillah Courts. Men of admirable acuteness and talent, we 
 certainly could command ; and in a few years, probably the pros- 
 pect^of honour and liberal emolument would produce an abun- 
 dant supply of any species of knowledge, for the acquirement of 
 which means may be afforded. But moral character depends 
 not less on the general sentiment of the community, than on 
 the workings of the individual mind; and its improvement, 
 however ultimately sure to follow, will not necessarily keep pace 
 with the progress of knowledge. Independently, therefore, of 
 considerations resting on the peculiarity of our position in this 
 country, it seems to us that, for a considerable time to come at 
 least, the Natives must be kept distinctly in subordination to 
 the European zillah Judges, though they, as well as other 
 Native persons, may probably be rendered very useful in the 
 capacity of assessors or jurors ; and we are not prepared to say, 
 that they ought not eventually to be vested generally with the 
 primary jurisdiction of all civil suits. 
 
 Evidence of Mr. John Sullivan, who was cliiefly in 
 Coimbatoor, as a Collector and Magistrate, before the 
 Select Committee, in 1831 : — 
 
 Are you of opinion, that giving greater trust and responsibili- 
 ty to those persons, and at the same time a liberal and fair in- 
 crease of pay and of consideration from the Government they 
 serve, will tend to render them men of integrity, whose duties 
 may be enlarged with perfect safety to the state ? — I have no 
 doubt that will be the result. 
 
 Are you not of opinion that the more they are encouraged, 
 and the more they are admitted into the employment of the 
 Government of the country, the more they will improve them- 
 selves ?— I am decidedly of that opinion, and I should think 
 that the best system that could be established at this moment 
 would be to entrust all the details of the revenue and all the 
 original suits in Judicature to Natives, leaving the business of 
 control to Europeans. The Natives would do the details much 
 more effectually than Europeans. 
 
 You have stated your opinion of the Native character, as far 
 
55 
 
 as you have had an opportunity of observing it, to be generally 
 very favourable : do you confine that opinion to the Natives of 
 the district of Coimbatoor or to the Peninsula generally, as far 
 as your knowledge extends ? — It is a general opinion as far as 
 I have had an opportunity of observing it. 
 
 You have visited Calcutta and Bombay? — Yes, I have. 
 Consequently you can speak from your own experience ? — 
 Yes, my impression was very favourable, particularly of the 
 Parsees of Bombay. 
 
 Would you not be disposed to place as much confidence in 
 the Natives of India as you would in your own countrymen ? — 
 Yes, if equally well treated. 
 
 Evidence of Mr. W. Chaplin, who held offices for 
 years in the Madras and Bombay Presidencies, before the 
 Select Committee, in 1831 : — 
 
 I conceive the best way of improving the character and con- 
 dition of the superior orders would be to leave open to their 
 ambition some of the higher and more lucrative offices of the 
 Government, and to allow them to participate as much as pos- 
 sible in the administration of their own country ; it may not 
 be politic to allow them to hold the highest departments, which 
 I conceive should always be filled by Europeans. 
 
 Mr. W. Blunt, in his Minute, dated March 24th, 
 1881, says 
 
 All must, I think, agree in the main point, namely, that it 
 is expedient and necessary to employ the agency of respectable 
 and well-qualified Natives, more extensively in the civil ad- 
 ministration of the country, provided always that they are so 
 employed under European superintendence. 
 
 Mr. Kobert Eickards, Member of Council in Bombay, 
 who was in the service of the E. I. Company for about 
 twenty-three years, states, in his evidence before the Select 
 Committee, in 1831 : — 
 
 Until the Natives of India are raised (and sure they can be 
 
66 
 
 so raised with great advantage) to participate largely and active- 
 ly in the Government of themselves, I feel persuaded that 
 India never will be justly or securely ruled under any European 
 sovereignty. 
 
 Evidence of Major-General Sir Lionel Smith, (who re- 
 sided in Western India for upwards of twenty-two years,) 
 before the Select Committee in 1831 : — 
 
 Will you explain what you mean by a great deal more ? — 
 Giving the Native all the privileges of English subjects in other 
 parts of the world : not keeping them down with a distinction 
 of colour, and because they are Natives that they should be 
 kept out of all the benefits of the administration of the laws of 
 their own country. 
 
 You conceive they should have the benefit which all British 
 subjects have in legislation, or in institutions : that they ought 
 to participate ? — Yes ; but gradually introduced. I would not 
 take too many at once in the present state of the country, but 
 I would let them feel that they are open to them. 
 
 In one of the petitions the Native inhabitants of Bombay 
 solicit to be rendered eligible to serve as Justices of the Peace in 
 connection with Europeans. Have you known any individuals 
 whom you consider, from knowledge and integrity, capable of 
 being intrusted with the Commission of the Peace, acting as the 
 petition claims in conjunction with a British- born subject? — I 
 do know many Natives, and I think it ought to be conceded to 
 them. Comparing small things with great, before I came away 
 from Poonah, in a little charitable institution I got up, and to 
 which all the Natives subscribed, I sat in Committee myself 
 with some Native shop-keepers and people of that kind. It 
 was necessary to set an example : they are always humble and 
 they were every way respectful: we took orphan ci.ildren to edu- 
 cate, and I was afraid they would take prejudice that we intend- 
 ed to make Christians of them. They were remarkably intelli- 
 gent, and gave me a great deal of useful information how to con- 
 duct it. I would not scruple myself as to trusting them with 
 magisterial authority. 
 
57 
 
 Do you think they would be useful as Magistrates ?— I think 
 they would. 
 
 Did you not find them very shrewd in the examination of 
 witnesses and searching out the truth ? — The only way I can 
 judge of that is by Native Courts-martial, where they are re- 
 markably so: the Native sepoys are tried by Natives, and their 
 spirit of research is, I might say, quite equal, if not superior, 
 to that of European Officers. 
 
 You have had a great deal of experience enabling you to 
 know the character of Native Officers? — I have. 
 
 You have had also great means of knowing what European 
 Officers have done ? — I have. 
 
 Speaking of the conduct of both deliberately, what is your 
 opinion of the comparison ? — I think, generally speaking. Native 
 Officers are, on all questions of evidence, and certainly in re- 
 ference to their own customs and laws, infinitely more to be 
 depended upon than European Officers. 
 
 You state that there are many of the Natives who might be 
 fairly entrusted with the Commission of the Peace, on condition 
 of their acting in conjunction with British Justices : have you 
 any means of forming any comparison of their power of acting 
 in conjunction with Justices of the Peace in England?— I 
 have never held the situation and I could not judge ; but I 
 think they would discharge those duties with equal advantage 
 with any Magistrates in England : I am pretty sure many of 
 them would. 
 
 They are not ignorant of English laws ? — No, that is, the 
 Natives of Bombay : they are not a people who, if they were 
 ignorant, would commit themselves : they 'would have them- 
 selves well informed : they are a very cautious people. 
 
 Do you consider that the objections which have been made 
 against Natives acting as Justices of the Peace, as to their being 
 ignorant of the customs and practices, would continue for any 
 length of time, if they were once put into the power of occupy- 
 ing that situation ? — No, I do not think it would, I think they 
 would qualify themselves rapidly. 
 
 You consider that it would be perfectly safe to place the 
 
 H 
 
58 
 
 Natives in coDjunction with Europeans on the bench to inflict 
 those punishments ? — I do. 
 
 In one of the petitions the Natives of Bombay claim to be 
 admitted into financial, territorial, and judicial offices, in com- 
 mon with British-born subjects. Are you of opinion that such 
 admission might be safely granted and that it would add to the 
 stability of the British Government ? — I am, and I think it is 
 one of the most important things to be now introduced. 
 
 Extract Judicial Letter to Bengal from the Court of 
 Directors, dated 1st February, 1832 : — 
 
 Your letter of the 15th June, 1830, relating entirely to your 
 correspondence with the Madras Government on the operation 
 of the system introduced under that presidency in 1816, does 
 not require any particular notice in this place. We learn from 
 it, however, that the beneficial effects of the agency of Natives, 
 as District Moonsiffs and Sudder Ameens, are fully acknow- 
 ledged, although, in other respects, the report from Madras is 
 not favourable. 
 
 On the subject of the extension of Native agency in the 
 administration of justice, our sentiments are well known to you. 
 The civil jurisdiction of the Sudder Ameens, now extended to 
 suits of 1,000 Rupees value, includes a very large proportion of 
 the litigation of the country, and you are aware that we have 
 never prohibited you from enlarging their jurisdiction to any 
 extent which you may think advisable. Their powers in crimi- 
 nal cases will, we presume, be, if necessary, increased; and you 
 will have observed, from the instructions contained in our 
 letter of the 23rd July, 1828, that it is our wish to extend the 
 agency of Natives to a large class of those cases now described 
 as summary suits. 
 
 The Select Committee, in their Eeport, (ordered to be 
 printed on the 16th August, 1832,) being the digest of the 
 Evidence given before them, state as follows : — 
 
 Intimately connected with every plan for the good government 
 of India and for the introduction of ameliorating changes into 
 the present system in all that relates to the habits, character. 
 
59 
 
 and capacity of the Native population. It appears that at 
 present they are only employed in subordinate situations in the 
 revenue, judicial, and military departments. They are said to 
 be sufficiently observant of the practical merits and defects of 
 our system, and to be alive to the grievance of being excluded 
 from a larger share in the Executive Government, a disadvantage 
 which is not considered as compensated by the increased secu- 
 rity enjoyed under British protection compared with the pre- 
 cariousness of all tenure under former Governments ; it is 
 amply borne out by the evidence that such exclusion is not 
 warranted, on the score of incapacity for business or the want 
 of application or trustworthiness, while it is contended that 
 their admission under European control into the higher offices 
 would have a beneficial effect in correcting the moral obliquities 
 of their general character, would strengthen their attachment 
 to British dominion, would conduce.to the better administration 
 of justice, and would be productive of a great saving in the 
 expenses of the Indian Government. 
 
 Extract letter from the Honorable M. Elphinstone, to 
 J. Hyde Yilliers, Esq., dated August 5th, 1832 :— 
 
 The first object, therefore, is to break down the separation 
 between those classes, and raise the Natives, by education and 
 public trust, to a level with their present rulers : but even in 
 this a foreign Government has difficulties to overcome, as its 
 improvements may fail from the want of preparation in the 
 people to receive them : they may occasion violent resistance, 
 from their objects being misunderstood : and in particular in- 
 stances, they may produce great danger even from their success 
 if they are ill suited to the general state of society, or clash 
 with particular parts of the ancient system which have not yet 
 been removed. 
 
 With respect to the employment of Natives, they are already 
 very largely admitted into the judicial department. It seems 
 desirable gradually to introduce them iuto offices of higher rank 
 and emolument, and afterwards of higher trust. I should see 
 no objection to a Native member of a Board and I should even 
 
60 
 
 to see one district committed experimentally to a Native 
 Judge, and another to a Native Collector. At the same time I 
 think very strict supervision requisite, and many Europeans 
 necessary for the purpose. If this be not attended to, the 
 Natives will introduce their old corrupt practices into the system 
 at the first outset, and we shall never be able to eradicate them. 
 
 Extract letter from Francis Warden^ Esq., formerly 
 Member of Council at Bombay, to J. Hyde Yilliers, Esq., 
 dated 3rd April, 1832 :— 
 
 For the administration of justice, the Natives have proved 
 themselves pre-eminently qualified. The first step towards their 
 improvement, is to admit them to a larger share of official 
 emoluments. In the provinces they cannot be more extensively 
 employed. In the judicial line they are entrusted with a higher 
 degree of responsibility at Madras and at Bombay, than at 
 Bengal. It is only necessary to classify the situations Natives 
 are to fill, and to fix suitable salaries to each. This reform will 
 naturally render a smaller number of Europeans necessary : 
 but we must take care not to reduce it to too low a standard, 
 for a vigilant control over Native functionaries, and European 
 also, is indispensable. 
 
 Whilst we thus open to the Natives the avenues to employ- 
 ment in the civil administration afi'airs, it does not require 
 much sagacity to predict that, unless we similarly improve the 
 situation of the Native officers of the army, we shall sow the 
 seeds of disaffection in a soil which also stands in need of im- 
 proved cultivation. The Native army was much more respect- 
 able, and our sepoys were more attached to the service, when 
 we had Native commandants of battalions, than they are at 
 present. A proportion of Natives of higher caste and of education 
 should be admitted as otficers in our Native army, with the 
 prospect of rising to the rank of commandants. Our security 
 would not be endangered in my opinion by the concession. 
 
 Extract letter from John Sullivan, Esq., M. C. S., to J. 
 Hyde Villiers, Esq., dated 21st February, 1832 :— 
 
 The disadvantages under which the Natives labour, are their 
 
61 
 
 exclusion from all offices of trust and emolument ; their degra- 
 dation from the station which they held in society under the 
 Native Governments : the appropriation by Europeans of the 
 merit due to public service, although, in fact such service may 
 have been rendered by Natives : the precarious tenure upon 
 which they hold their offices, and the incomes of those offices : 
 the inconsiderate treatment which they too frequently meet with 
 from Europeans, and our heavy system of taxation, imposed 
 for maintaining expensive European establishments. To this 
 list of grievance may be added, this crowning one, that we never 
 think it worth our while to consult them upon any of those 
 measures of Governmentwhich have the interests of the Natives 
 for their professed objects. 
 
 Evidence of Mr. William Butterworth Bayley, before 
 the Select Committee, in 1832 : — 
 
 It was the principle of Lord Cornwallis's system to provide 
 for the administration of civil as well as of criminal justice by 
 the almost exclusive agency of European functionaries. The 
 districts into which the country was parcelled out, were far too 
 extensive and too populous to be successfully superintended by 
 the individuals, to whose charge the judicial administration was 
 entrusted ; and where the population amounted, as it did in 
 many instances, to upwards of a million, the duties required 
 from the Judge and Magistrate were far beyond the powers of the 
 most active and intelligent officer. The difficulties thus experi- 
 enced have been since augmented in the degree in which the 
 extension of trade and cultivation, tlie advance in the value of 
 land, and the progressive increase of population have multiplied 
 the demands of the public on the time of the civil tribunals. 
 It is obvious that we began by aiming at more than could pos- 
 sibly be accomplished : that the expectation of being able to carry 
 on the administration of justice, civil and criminal, by European 
 agency, was utterly fallacious : that no addition of numerical 
 strength to the European portion of the judicial establishments, 
 which the public finances can at present afford, will do more 
 than yield a partial or temporary relief, and that we must 
 
62 
 
 necessarily look to the still more extended employment of 
 Natives (subject to European superintendance.) The system, 
 when originally introduced in the year 1793, was ill calculated 
 to encourage the formation of a class of Natives qualified by 
 their education and character to fill responsible situations in 
 the administration of justice : they were employed at first either 
 in matters only of very inferior importance or under the 
 immediate eye of the Judges, but as the necessity of having 
 recourse to their assistance became more and more obvious, 
 the original principle was gradually departed from, and a body 
 of Native Judicial Officers has been formed who now exercise 
 very considerable powers. At first they were entrusted only with 
 the decision of suits for money to the extent of fifty Rupees, 
 but in the year 1803, a new class of Officers, called Sudder 
 Ameens, was established. They were invested with power to 
 determine claims referred to them for real and personal pro- 
 perty to the amount of 100 Rupees. In 1814 their powers, 
 and those of the Moonsiffs, were increased, and their situations 
 rendered in all respects more efficient and respectable. In 
 1821 they were still more enlarged, the jurisdiction of the 
 Moonsiffs being extended to cases of 150 Rupees, and of the 
 Sudder Ameens to cases of 500 Rupees. In 1827 a regula- 
 tion was passed by which the Sudder Ameens were, under 
 certain circumstances, vested with power to try claims to the 
 amount of 1,000 Rupees : so that, as stated in a minute of one 
 of the Judges of the Sudder Dewanny Adawlut, nineteen- 
 twentieths of the original suits instituted in the civil courts 
 throughout the country are now determined by Native Judges. 
 The most favourable testimony has been borne to their talents 
 and assiduity by many of the authorities to whom they are 
 subordinate ; and in the districts where the inhabitants enjoy 
 the benefit of a comparatively efficient administration of civil 
 justice, it is ascribable in a very extensive degree to the instru- 
 mentality of those officers. The Sudder Ameens are now 
 generally men of experience and legal learning : they are 
 assimilated in religion, manners, habits, and customs with the 
 people, and they are generally regarded with respect and con- 
 
63 
 
 fidence both by Europeans and Natives. The Moonsiffs, where 
 proper persons have been selected, are likewise found to be 
 extremely serviceable, and are well fitted from the local posi- 
 tion which they occupy, not only to render justice acceptable 
 to the great body of the people, but to execute a variety of 
 duties delegated to them in the interior of the districts by the 
 superior tribunals. In order, however, to render them gene- 
 rally trustworthy and efficient, they should be placed on a better 
 footing in respect to emolument. With our past experience 
 we have every reason to believe that if the Moonsiffs, as well as 
 the Sudder Ameens, meet with liberal and due encouragement, 
 the agency of both may be safely employed to a much greater 
 extent than it is at present in the administration of civil justice, 
 and that in course of time they may be entrusted with the 
 disposal in the first instance of all original suits now cogniza- 
 ble by the civil courts. 
 
 Under such a control, and with a power of appeal hanging 
 over them, you conceive the Natives might be fit to carry on 
 the functions of judicature without the presence of Europeans ? 
 — Yes, their character and capacity for judicial business is 
 improving every day, but they must be sufficiently encouraged 
 and rewarded. In this case I am persuaded they will prove 
 very trustworthy. 
 
 Evidence of Mr. Thomas Fortescue, late of the Bengal 
 Service, before the Select Committee, in 1832 : — 
 
 What would be your general idea of the expediency and 
 practicability of gradually increasing the degree in which they 
 are employed in such ways? — I think, both in justice to them 
 in their own country, and in point of talent, they ought to 
 be more employed, particularly being so well qualified for 
 almost all the duties of the different situations connected with 
 the administration of the country. I have had a good deal 
 to do with them myself in that way. 
 
 Should you think that they are as yet ripe to act in judicial 
 situations, except under the superintendence and perhaps the 
 strict supervision of Europeans, and subject also to an appeal 
 
64 
 
 to some European tribunal ? — I think so great a transition at 
 once from what their situation was when I resided in India 
 would not be advisable, but gradually they would become so. 
 They are exceedingly quick in acquiring knowledge, and very 
 desirous of it when it meet the approbation of those whose 
 good opinions they solicit. 
 
 Do you conceive that the laws being so modified and the Na- 
 tive Judges being sufficiently remunerated for their trouble and 
 being treated with the respect due to their station, there would 
 be any difficulty in their administration arising from the set- 
 tlement of Europeans among them ? — I think at first there 
 might be, but as they gradually became familiarized with their 
 duty and felt themselves upheld in the responsibility they un- 
 dertook, they would execute the laws well. 
 
 Evidence of Sir Alexander Johnstone, (who held offices 
 of the highest respectability and trust for sixteen years in 
 Ceylon, and whose last appointment was the President of 
 His Majesty's Council at Ceylon,) before the Select 
 Committee in 1832 : — 
 
 It is understood that you were mainly instrumental in intro- 
 ducing into the administration of justice in Ceylon consider- 
 able alterations, especially as affecting the Natives of that 
 country ? — As soon as I became Chief Justice and first Mem- 
 ber of His Majesty's Council, in 1806, I felt it to be my duty 
 to state it officially as my opinion that the surest way of re- 
 taining Cejlon, and the rest of our Indian possessions, was to 
 admit the Natives of the country to a share in the Govern- 
 ment of the country, and to allow them to administer justice to 
 their countrymen. I also felt it to be my duty to state it offi- 
 cially as my opinion, that all laws by which they were to be 
 governed ought, before they were passed, to be discussed and 
 assented to by assemblies or councils in which all the interests 
 of the different classes of Natives were adequately represented. 
 
 Considering that the form of the British Government now 
 established in India is in so great a degree despotic, do you 
 conceive that the Natives are yet ripe for so great a change as 
 
65 
 
 should introduce them to the highest places of Government ? — 
 The Native population of British India consists, amongst 
 others, of Natives of high caste, high rank, great wealth, 
 great talents, and great local influence, most of whom would, 
 if a Native, instead of an European, Government prevailed in 
 India, hold the highest offices in the state. I conceive that 
 it is a great political object to attach such a class of Natives to 
 the British Government, and that the most certain way of 
 doing so, is to declare them, even under the present system of 
 Government, to be eligible to some of the higher offices of 
 state. 
 
 Evidence of James Mill, Esq., before the Select Com- 
 mittee, in 1832 : — 
 
 Is it your opinion that it would be conducive to the ameliora- 
 tion of the system of Government in India, if means could bo 
 found of gradually introducing Native agency to a much greater 
 extent into the various departments of the Government? — I 
 would have no exclusion : wherever a fit Native appears, he 
 should be considered a proper candidate for employment : and 
 there is one important reason for employing fit Natives, that their 
 employment can in general be obtained at a cheaper rate than 
 that of Europeans : but the great object with me is to obtain 
 the fittest instruments. Native or not. The mere employment 
 of Natives in itself does not appear to me to be a matter of so 
 much importance as it does to some other persons, whose 
 opinions nevertheless I highly respect. It appears to me 
 ten thousand times more important, with respect to the good 
 of the population in general, that the business of the Govern- 
 ment should be w^ell done, than that it should be done by any 
 particular class of persons. 
 
 Evidence of C. Lushington, Esq., B. C. S., before the 
 Select Committee in 1832 : — 
 
 Would the introduction of Native agency into those depart- 
 ments, and the giving the people of the country reason to 
 know that they were not excluded from those rewards which 
 await European talent and acquirement, in your opinion tend 
 
 I 
 
66 
 
 to strengthen their attachment to British dominion ? — I should 
 think there can be no question that it should do so. 
 
 Evidence of A. D. Campbell, Esq., M. C. S., before the 
 Select Committee in 1832 : — 
 
 What opinion have you had occasion to form of their trust- 
 worthiness ?— The servants employed under the Madras pre- 
 sidency in the higher situations of our Government are well 
 paid : and in general, particularly in the Judicial department, 
 have evinced great integrity. There have been instances in 
 the Revenue department of the most gross abuses : but in 
 general I should say, that corruption is not more prevalent 
 with the Natives than it was with Europeans, before their 
 salaries were raised to their present standard, subsequent to 
 the Government of Lord Cornvvallis inclusive. 
 
 Is it your opinion, that, under a more extended system of 
 Native instruction, a more general resort might be had to 
 Native agency in the administration of the civil Govern- 
 ment ? — I conceive it highly desirable that the Natives should 
 be employed in all departments in the details of the civil 
 Government. It would be difificult to raise them higher than 
 they have been in the Judicial department, in the three 
 instances I have noticed, without vesting them with that 
 superintendence and control which I think should continue in 
 the hands of Europeans. In the Revenue department, I 
 conceive tboy might be further advanced. 
 
 Although prac-ically it might be inexpedient to advance 
 Natives to the highest offices of responsibility and control, at 
 least for a long period to come, might it not, however, be 
 advisable to declare that the circumstance of their being Natives 
 is not in itself a necessary bar to their advancement ? — I de- 
 cidedly think that all notion of exclusion should be avoided, 
 as checking the great object of raising the Native character in 
 the estimation of the people themselves. 
 
 Would the feeling, that any such exclusion was done away, 
 tend, in your opinion, to strengthen their attachment to the 
 British Government? — I do not think that the Natives now 
 
67 
 
 consider themselves excluded : they merely are not employed 
 in the highest offices : and I conceive it highly desirable that 
 every office, for which they are considered fit by the local 
 Government, should be held out as the reward of successful 
 talent. 
 
 Evidence of N. B. Edmonstone, Esq., Bengal C. S., be- 
 fore the Select Committee, in 1832 : — 
 
 From your long observation of the character and capacities 
 of the Natives of India, should you say that their services 
 might be with safety more extensively introduced into the civil 
 administration of that country ? — I think they might : but 
 they should act under the superintendence of European func- 
 tionaries. They certainly are peculiarly well qualified for 
 various situations, especially in the judicial and revenue 
 branches of the administration : their local knowledge and 
 habits as Natives and their complete possession of the lan- 
 guage necessarily render them so. 
 
 In those departments you would see no objection to opening 
 the career to them, subject always to European control ? — Cer- 
 tainly not ; I have always been an advocate for their more ex- 
 tended employment : at the same time I should not be for ad- 
 vancing them precipitately to the exercise of the higher func- 
 tions of office : it should be done gradually and cautiously, and 
 they should be more liberally paid than they are at present. 
 
 Evidence of Mr. David Hill, of the Madras Civil Ser- 
 vice, and late a member of the Calcutta Finance Commit- 
 tee, before the Select Committee, in 1832 : — 
 
 What is the nature of the improvements that you would 
 suggest in the constitution of these Courts ? — My general im- 
 pression is, that all justice ought to be administered by the 
 Natives themselves, who are much more competent to do it and 
 who would do it on more easy terms than it can be supplied 
 from any other quarter. 
 
 What is your opinion as to appeals ? — My general idea as to 
 that is, that the English officer ought not to exercise the appel- 
 late jurisdiction, but, when necessary, should direct a new trial. 
 
68 
 
 transferriog the cause to another Native Judge : that the British 
 superintendent, if he sees fit on any ground, should, without 
 going himself into the merits, order the cause to be tried again 
 by a higher tribunal in the nature of an appeal, or by the 
 same or another tribunal in the nature of a new trial. 
 
 Have you any further suggestion to offer to the Committee 
 relative to the improvement of the system of judicature in the 
 administration of India ? — My views are of a very simple and 
 summary description : I conceive that throughout the provinces 
 justice ought to be administered by Natives who are to be found 
 perfectly competent to the office : that there should be a gra- 
 dation of Native judicatories, one class having jurisdiction over 
 another, and that the operations of the whole should be super- 
 intended by British functionaries, who should connect the sys- 
 tem of internal administration with the Government which 
 rules the empire. 
 
 Since your system supposes the more extensive employment 
 of Natives in the administration of justice, do you suppose that 
 the effect of such an extended employment of Natives would be, 
 by whatever gradations, to ultimately throw the Government 
 of India into the hands of the Natives ? — My views on that 
 point are, that the Natives ought to be brought forward in the 
 government of their own country as far as they are capable of 
 being so by their moral and intellectual qualifications, subject 
 only to the security of the empire so long as we are to retain it. 
 My views would, therefore, bring them forward certainly in the 
 administration of the affairs of the country, but would not 
 have the effect of placing political power in their hands. 
 
 Supposing them to improve in general intelligence and know- 
 ledge, do you conceive that the effect would not be to endanger 
 the stability of the British power ? — If that effect naturally 
 resulted from a more liberal system towards the Natives, I 
 think it is a consummation most ardently to be desired. I do 
 not think the measures I have suggested would be likely to 
 place power in the hands of the Natives before they were fit to 
 use it. I have no conception that any English statesman who 
 turns his attention to the subject, would for an instant enter- 
 
6a 
 
 t^in the idea of keeping India in a diseased and degraded state, 
 in order to perpetuate or prolong our empire. 
 
 On the contrary you would be prepared to suggest a system 
 which might ultimately have the effect of completing the trans- 
 lation of power from our hands to those of our present sub- 
 jects ? — That I should think a most desirable result, but I see 
 no prospect of it. 
 
 Evidence of Eajah Rammohun Roy, before the grant 
 of the last Charter, in 1832 :— 
 
 Are Natives of the country empowered to decide causes of 
 any description ? — Yes : there are Native Moonsiffs, or Com- 
 missioners, for the decision of small debts : and Sudder 
 Ameens who are authorised to try causes under five hundred 
 Rupees, whether connected with landed or moveable property. 
 
 Are they qualified to discharge the duties entrusted to them ? 
 — Many of them are fully qualified : and if proper care can be 
 taken in the selection, all the situations might be filled with 
 well-qualified persons. 
 
 Do you think the Natives competent and eligible to all judicial 
 situations, or only subordinate ones ? — As many of them, even 
 under the present manifold disadvantages, already discharge all 
 the judicial functions, even the most arduous, it will not be 
 very difficult, I think, with proper management, to find qua- 
 lified persons amongst the Natives for any duty that may be 
 assigned to them. Many, however, as in other countries, are 
 only fit for subordinate situations. 
 
 Evidence of Mr. Richard Clarke, of the Madras Civil 
 Service, before the Select Committee, in 1882 : — 
 
 Do you conceive that the appointment of Native Judges has, 
 upon the whole, answered in such a manner as to justify more 
 extensive employment? — I think fully so, so long as there is an 
 appeal from their decisions to a tribunal at which an European 
 Judge presides. 
 
 Evidence of Mr. Holt Mackenzie, before the Select 
 Committee, in 1832 : — 
 
 What is your opinion generally of the character and qualifi- 
 
70 
 
 cation of the Native Judges, both Hindoos and Mussulmen ? — 
 I believe that those who in Bengal are called Sudder Ameens, 
 (literally head referees,) being the highest class of Native Judges, 
 and who get a salary varying from 150 to 240 Rupees a month, 
 are in general very respectable, and that'they are accordingly 
 well esteemed by the judicial officers under whom they act. 
 
 Would not the freer admission of the Natives to public si- 
 tuations of trust and importance be likely to produce a favoura- 
 ble effect on the Native character ? — I think essentially so. I 
 have no conception but that it depends mainly upon the Go- 
 vernment, whether the Natives of India shall be quite as good 
 as those of any other country, though one cannot entirely ex- 
 clude the effects of religion. For honesty in public trusts you 
 must rely chiefly upon those who are trusted liberally, and well 
 treated. I am not aware that the experiment has in India ever 
 failed, when it has been fairly tried ; and I should assuredly 
 expect that the public confidence and satisfaction in the Native 
 Judges will depend upon their having proper rank and emolu- 
 ment and consideration from the Government. 
 
 The Hon'ble F. J. Shore, in his Notes on Indian Affairs, 
 reprinted in 1836, says : — 
 
 The origin of the system, which will be discussed in my pre- 
 sent number, has already been traced ; it has been shown to 
 have had its foundation in the object of realizing as much as 
 possible from the country for the benefit of its rulers, and its 
 extension to have been caused in a measure by its own opera- 
 tion. All Natives of respectability having been excluded, and 
 an inferior class of people only employed, on salaries totally 
 inadequate to support a decent subsistence, incapacity and 
 roguery on their part were the natural consequences. Some 
 striking instances of such criminality having been brought to 
 the notice of the British Government, instead of investigating 
 the reasons, and ascertaining the true cause, the conclusion 
 seems at once to have been adopted by them, that the Natives 
 were unfit to be appointed to any situations of trust, and that 
 European agency must be adopted as much as possible. Had 
 
71 
 
 there not been opportunities of making a comparison, this idea 
 would have been the less extraordinary and unpardonable ; but 
 as it was notorious, that so long as the European servants were 
 treated in the same manner, they were as corrupt as any Natives 
 could possibly be, it is certainly astonishing that in the lapse of 
 so many years so few should have been found to advocate the 
 experiment of a more liberal and just course towards this people, 
 before they were included in so sweeping a sentence of condem- 
 nation. The real cause I have already declared to be, the desire 
 of the Court of Directors to provide for as many as possible of 
 their relations and freinds, and to have been in a great degree 
 perpetuated by the vanity and self-love of the English, which 
 led them to imagine themselves so infinitely superior to the 
 Natives. 
 
 At the period of our first occupation of the country, a com- 
 plete system existed for the administration of justice in the ci- 
 vil causes, police, and revenue. There were Kazees (or Cauzees) 
 in all the large, and even most of the smaller towns, having 
 also occasionally jurisdiction over small tracts of the adjoining 
 country, who decided civil actions, and who may be designated 
 district Judges. The zemindars, or landholders, superintend 
 ed the affairs of the police in the country, much in the same 
 manner that our landed gentry fill the offices of Justices of the 
 Peace ; while in large towns, an officer under the name of 
 Foujdar or Kotwall answered to our paid Police Magistrate. 
 For the collection of the Ptevenue, the Tuhseeldar, or Amil, in 
 each district, corresponded with our " County Receivers Gene- 
 ral ;" he was also endowed with considerable police powers ; 
 and to all these different officers were attached subordinate 
 estabhshments, very similar to those of Sheriff, Under Sheriff, 
 Constables, and Tax-gatherers, in England. In addition to 
 which, there still existed in India institutions resembling those 
 of our feudal system : namely, that in the event of any serious 
 disturbance, the different landholders were bound to summon 
 their retainers and tenants at the call of the Amil, to assist 
 him in restoring order and preserving peace. 
 
 Such is a true picture of the state of affairs in India, when 
 
the English first took up their abode here : and it is the more 
 important to bear this in miu 1, because the absence of any pro- 
 vision for the performance of judicial, police, and revenue 
 duties, has been so often asserted, and officially reported, that 
 it has come to be considered, as it were, a mere matter of fact, 
 Vrhich no one disputes : and at the present day, with the excep- 
 tion of a very few of the elder civil and military officers, and 
 some of those who have had opportunities of viewing Native 
 independent states, none of the English Government servants 
 have ever been in a situation to enable them to become ac- 
 quainted with the fact. 
 
 What were the proceedings of the English Government ? — 
 To pass over all misconduct of their own functionaries and to 
 pronounce, after a short period, that the Natives were so corrupt 
 as to be unfit for any offices of respectability, and at one fell 
 swoop to annihilate the institutions under which India had ex- 
 isted for ages ; and under the pretence (and indeed belief, for 
 many of them were so ignorant of the state of the country as 
 to think they were really conferring a benefit on the people,) 
 of ameliorating the condition of the Natives, and protecting 
 the poor and weak from the oppressions of the rich and power- 
 ful, they established the system which I attempted to describe 
 in my two last numbers, and which has not, perhaps, its 
 parallel in the world : a system by which districts as large as 
 Yorkshire or ^YalcS, and containing a population, in one in- 
 stance, more than double that of Scotland, were delivered 
 over to the government of inexperienced young men, strangers 
 from a distant land, and ignorant of, or but in a slight 
 degree acquainted with, the language and customs of the people 
 they were to rule ; whilst the object has been constantly and 
 systematically kept in view to extort as much as possible from 
 those subject to them. 
 
 Evidence of Lord William Bentiuck. before a Com- 
 mittee of the House of Commons, in 1837 :— 
 
 In many respects the Mahomedans surpassed our rule : 
 they settled in the c >untries which they conquered : they inter- 
 
73 
 
 mixed and intermarried with the Natives, they admitted them to 
 all privileges : the interests and sympathies of the conquerors 
 and conquered became identified. Our policy, on the contrary, 
 has been the reverse of this, cold, selfish, and unfeeling : the 
 iron hand of power on the one side, monopoly and exclusion on 
 the other. The bane of our system is not solely that the civil 
 administration is entirely in the hands of foreigners, but that 
 the holder of this monopoly, the patrons of these foreign 
 agents, are those who exercise the directing power at home : 
 that this directing power is exclusively paid by the patronage : 
 that the value of this patronage depends exactly upon the 
 degree in which all the honours and emoluments of the state 
 are engrossed by their clients to the exclusion of the Natives. 
 There exists in consequence, on the part of the home authori- 
 ties, an interest in respect to the administration, precisely 
 similar to what formerly prevailed as to commerce, directly 
 opposed to the welfare of India : and consequently, it will be 
 remarked without surprise, that in the two renewals of the 
 charters that have taken place within the last twenty-five years, 
 in the first nothing was done to break down this administrative 
 monopoly ; and in the second, though a very important princi- 
 ple was declared, that no disability from holding office in any 
 subjects of the Crown, by reason of birth, religion, descent, or 
 colour, should any longer continue, still no provision was made 
 for working it out ; and as far as is known, the enactment has 
 remained to this day a dead letter. India, in order to become 
 an attached dependency of Great Britain, must be governed for 
 her own sake, not for the sake of the eight hundred or one 
 thousand individuals who are sent from England to make their 
 fortunes. They are totally incompetent to the charge ; and in 
 their hands administration, in all its civil branches, revenue, 
 judicial, and police, has been a failure. Our Government, to be 
 secure, must be made popular, and to become so, it must con- 
 sult the welfare of the many and not of the few : the 
 Government must remain arbitrary, but it may also be, 
 and should be, paternal. But how can this be effected ? 
 England has no knowledge of, and no care for India. India, 
 again, has no representatives in England, has hitherto had no 
 
74 
 
 access to her shores : her fate is entirely in the hands of the 
 two authorities with whom her management is vested. The 
 Court of Directors seek their office for the sake of the patronage 
 only ; for the most part they are strangers to India; have their 
 own separate affairs to manage ; are divested of responsibility : 
 but, from their permanency and the knowledge which they 
 derive from their numerous clients, they possess a power and 
 influence over all affairs which a temporary President of the 
 Board of Control, unaided by any Board possessing localinfor- 
 raation, cannot possibly control. 
 
 Dr. H. H. Spry, in his " Modern India/' dated 1837 :— 
 
 The main objection, to the employment of the Natives in 
 offices of trust and responsibility arises from their notorious 
 habits of dishonesty and peculation ; but it should be recollect- 
 ed that it is only since the European functionaries themselves 
 have been well paid that they have become trustworthy, not- 
 withstanding their high moral superiority and intelligence. 
 The early history of our rule in India teems with European 
 acts of corruption and raal-practices. Therefore, so far from 
 feeling surprised at a Native officer being guilty of similar 
 conduct, our astonishment ought rather to be called forth by 
 his not doing it. All European Governments have purchased 
 integrity in high public offices by honour and emoluments. 
 To procure it in India, the Company were necessitated to adopt 
 the like policy ; and if the same price be given, we shall as 
 readily find it among the Natives of the country as among the 
 Europeans themselves. 
 
 The Government of Bengal, in a letter, dated 27th 
 June, 1842, containing remarks on the Report of the 
 Sudder Court for 1841, state : — 
 
 The Report is on the whole very satisfactory and creditable 
 to the officers employed in that branch of the public service, 
 European and Native. 
 
 The Court's Reportbears valuable testimony to the increasing 
 efficiency and respectability of the uncovenanted Judges, a 
 subject of immense importance : especially when it is consider- 
 ed that, as noticed in paragraph 67 of your Report, only 
 
75 
 
 ninety original suits out of 47,216 were pending at the close of 
 the year, in the covenanted Judges' Courts of the different 
 zillahs : all the rest being before the uncovenanted Judges 
 and chiefly before the Moonsiffs. It is to be supposed that 
 much of this improvement may be owing to the strong 
 incitement to industry and good behaviour, afforded by 
 the present system of selecting and promoting these officers. 
 At present no Moonsiff is appointed without, first, an enquiry 
 into his general respectability, and secondly, a severe and 
 searching examination into his acquirements, which besides 
 testing with accuracy the extent of his professional education, 
 must also bring prominently to notice his general talents and 
 knowledge. Once appointed a Moonsiff, the officer is certain, 
 if he faithfully and intelligently perform his duties, of rising 
 by a series of steps, from one advantage to another, until he 
 reaches the highest grade of a Principal Sudder Ameenship, a 
 station of great trust, honour and responsibility. It is im- 
 possible but that such a system, well administered, should 
 produce marked beneficial effects upon the character of 
 the service ; and His Honor is convinced that the most 
 important results may be expected from the change. 
 
 The Sudder Court, in their report on the administration 
 of civil justice, in territories subject to the Government of 
 Bengal, during the year 1841, say : — 
 
 The Court are happy to have it in their power to communi- 
 cate to Government a very favorable report on the general con- 
 duct of the uncovenanted Judges during the past year. Of the 
 several officers of the grades of Principal Sudder Araeen and 
 Sudder Ameen, not one has been suspended or dismissed from 
 office. 
 
 In regard to the Moonsiffs also, the result is far more favor- 
 able than in any preceding year : of about 250 officers forming 
 the body of Judges of that grade, seventy-six have been promi- 
 nently noticed as havingdistinguished themselves by the diligent 
 and upright discharge of their duties during the peiiod 
 under review, while in 1840, the number thus noticed was forty- 
 five. In 1840, fourteen Moonsiffs were dismissed from employ for 
 
76 
 
 acts of official corruption, or general incapacity for business. 
 In 1841 the number so dismissed was reduced to eleven. The 
 Court would bring to the notice of His Honor the Deputy 
 Governor, that out of eighteen individuals who, up to the 31st 
 December, 1841, had been appointed MoonsifFs, after receiving 
 diplomas of qualification from the Provincial Committees of 
 Examination, ten (those with the letter detached to their 
 names) have been included in the list of deserving officers at 
 paragraph 58 of this report. 
 
 It may further be observed, that of the 47,216* original suits 
 pending at the close of the year in all the Courts, only 
 ninety were pending before the District Judges, thus show- 
 ing the extent of power and responsibility vested in the unco- 
 venanted Judges, with whom now rests the primary investiga- 
 tion and trial of almost every suit brought into the Courts. 
 
 The Report of the Sudder Dewanny Adawlut, N. W. P., 
 on the administration of civil justice for the year 1841, 
 conckides with the following testimony as to the efficiency 
 of Native agency : — 
 
 The review of the Judicial proceedings of 1841 has been 
 now concluded. Results of administration have been compared 
 or contrasted, and inferences, favorable or otherwise, drawn. 
 The details furnished in the body of the report, remove the 
 necessity of any separate expression of the Court's opinion on 
 the merits or defects of individual officers ; the general charac- 
 ter of the operations will, it is hoped, appear favorable : the 
 instances of blameworthy failure that have occurred the excep- 
 tion : and the Court are, on the whole, disposed to regard the 
 Native judicial body as, when effectively superintended, work- 
 
 * Before Judges, 90 
 
 Principal Sudder Ameens, 2190 
 
 Sudder Ameens, 3400 
 
 Moonsiffs, 41536 
 
 47,216 
 
77 
 
 ing (the extensive scale of that agency being duly coneideved) 
 not only with respectable efficiency, but with remarkable free- 
 dom from any pervading or general serious faults. 
 
 Report of the Sudder Dewanny Adawlut, N. W. P., on 
 the administration of civil justice for 1842, says : 
 
 Mr. Thompson observes, that if proof were wanting of the 
 improvement of late years effected in our judicial system, a 
 comparison between the state of things at the present time and 
 twenty years ago would supply it, showing that cases are now 
 decided in fewer months than then they were wont to occupy 
 years— and that the comparative greater purity of our Native 
 Courts may be fairly inferred from the very few complaints 
 against those who preside in them. Mr. Thompson gave every 
 facility for the presentation of petitions of complaint against 
 the conduct of the Native judicial officers in the districts he 
 passed through, yet not one was presented alleging any act 
 which called for his intervention. 
 
 From the large number of suits brought to decision ex parte 
 on razeenamah, and by confession of judgment, many are apt 
 to infer the existence of fraud and corruption in the Native 
 Courts. It must certainly be assumed, either that these cases, 
 or a portion of them, are fictitious and got up with the privity 
 of the Native Judge to preserve a good file, so that his office 
 may not risk being abolished for want of work, or for some 
 other bad end — or that they are fairly instituted by individuals 
 only with the object of getting justice. In the absence of any 
 proof to the contrary, where hundreds of such suits are being 
 decided annually, any systematic or general abuse of a Native 
 Judge's authority could not but form a subject of complaint. 
 Mr. Thompson argues, that the latter inference is the just and 
 obvious one : and that the readiness with which the commu- 
 nity resort to our district courts, appears to establish fair 
 ground for thinking that justice is brought home to every man's 
 door. The large proportion of adjustments, confessions of 
 judgment, and ex parte decrees, rather seems to him to indicate 
 (if the expression be allowable) the over-cheapness of the ad- 
 ministration of justice in the Moonsiffe' Courte. 
 
SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 In determining to reprint the preceding pages, it was 
 considered a proper opportunity to republish the sentiments 
 of Sir Thomas Munro on the subject, which are often 
 alluded to or cited by the advocates for the extensive em- 
 ployment of the Natives. 
 
 The following passages are taken from Sir Thomas Mun- 
 ro's papers, as published by his biographer : — 
 
 When we have determined the principles on which the land revenue 
 is to be fixed, the next question is, by what agency it is to be managed ? 
 There can be no doubt that it ought, as far as practicable, to be native. 
 Juster views have of late years been taken of this subject, and the 
 Court of Directors have authorized the employment of the natives on 
 higher salaries and in more important offices. There is true economy in 
 this course, for by it they will have better servants, and their affairs will 
 be better conducted. It is strange to observe how many men of very 
 respectable talents have seriously recommended the abolition of native, 
 and the substitution of European agency to the greatest possible extent. 
 I am persuaded that every advance made in such a plan would not only 
 render the character of the people worse and worse, but our Government 
 more and more inefficient. The preservation of our dominion in this 
 country requires that all the higher offices, civil and military, should be 
 filled with Europeans; but all offices that can be left in the hands of 
 natives without danger to oar power, might with advantage be left to 
 them. We are arrogant enough to suppose that we can, with our limited 
 numbers, do the work of a nation. Had we ten times more, we should 
 only do it so much worse. We already occupy every office of impor- 
 tance. Were we to descend to those which are more humble, and now 
 filled by natives, we should lower our character, and not perform the 
 duties so well. The natives possess, in as high a degree at least as 
 Europeans, all those qualifications which are requisite for the discharge 
 of the inferior duties in which they are employed. They are in general 
 better accountants, more patient and laborious, more intimately acquaint- 
 ed with the state of the country, and the manners and customs of the 
 inhabitants, and are altogether more efficient men of business. 
 
 Unless we suppose that they are inferior to us in natural talent, which 
 there is no reason to believe, it is much more likely that they will be 
 
79 
 
 duly qualified for their employments than Europeans for theirs, because 
 the field of selection is so much greater in the one than in the other. 
 We have a whole nation from which to make our choice of natives, 
 but in order to make choice of Europeans, we have only the small body 
 of the Company's covenanted servants. 
 
 If it be admitted that the natives often act wrong, it is no reason for 
 not employing them ; we shall be oftener wrong ourselves. What we 
 do wrong is not noticed, or but seldom and slightly; what they do 
 wrong meets with no indulgence. We can dismiss them and take better 
 men in their place; we must keep the European, because we have no 
 other, or perhaps none better, and because he must be kept at an 
 expense to the public, and be employed some way or other, whatever 
 his capacity may be, unless he has been guilty of some gross offence. 
 But it is said that all these advantages in favour of the employment of 
 the natives are counter balanced by their corruption, and that the only 
 remedy is more Europeans, with European integrity. The remedy 
 would certainly be a very expensive one, and would as certainly fail of 
 success were we weak enough to try it. We have had instances of 
 corruption among Europeans, notwithstanding their liberal allowances ; 
 but were the numbers of Europeans to be considerably augmented, and 
 their allowances, as a necessary consequence, somewhat reduced, it 
 would be contrary to all experience to believe that this corruption would 
 not greatly increase, more particularly as Government could not pos- 
 sibly exercise any efficient control over the misconduct of so many 
 European functionaries in different provinces, where there is no public 
 to restrain it. If we are to have corruption, it is better that it should 
 be among the natives than among ourselves, because the natives will 
 throw the blame of the evil upon their countrymen ; they will still 
 retain their high opinion of our superior integrity ; and our character, 
 which is one of the strongest supports of our power, will be maintained. 
 No nation ever existed in which corruption was not practised to a cer- 
 tain extent by the subordinate officers of Government ; we cannot 
 expect that India is in this point to form an exception. But though 
 we cannot eradicate corruption, we may so far restrain it as to prevent 
 it from causing any serious injury to the public interest. We must 
 for this purpose adopt the same means as are usually found most 
 efficacious in other countries; we must treat the natives with courtesy, 
 we must place confidence in them, we must render their official situa- 
 tions respectable, and raise them in some degree beyond temptation, 
 by making their official allowances adequate to the support of their 
 station in society. 
 
80 
 
 With what grace can we talk of our paternal Government, if we 
 exclude them from every important office, and say, as we did till very 
 lately, that in a country containing fifteen millions of inhabitants, no 
 man but a European shall be entrusted with so much authority as to 
 order the punishment of a single stroke of a rattan ? Such an interdic- 
 tion is to pass a sentence of degradation on a whole people, for which 
 no benefit can ever compensate. There is no instance in the world of 
 so humiliating a sentence having ever been passed upon any nation. 
 The weak and mistaken humanity, which is the motive of it, can never 
 be viewed by the natives as any just excuse for the disgrace inflicted 
 on them, by being pronounced to be unworthy of trust in deciding on 
 the petty off'ences of their countrymen. We profess to seek their im- 
 provement, but propose means the most adverse to success. The advo- 
 cates of improvement do not seem to have perceived the great springs 
 on which it depends ; they propose to place no confidence in the natives, 
 to give them no authority, and to exclude them from office as much as 
 possible ; but they are ardent in their zeal for enlightening them by the 
 general diflusion of knowledge. 
 
 Xo conceit more wild and absurd than this was ever engendered in the 
 darkest ages ; for what is in every age and every country the great stimu- 
 lus to the pursuit of knowledge, but the prospect of fame, or wealth, 
 or power? or what is even the use of great attainments, if they are not to 
 be devoted to their noblest purpose — the service of the community, by 
 employing those who posse&s them, according to their respective qualifica- 
 tions, in the various duties of the public administration of the country ? 
 How can we expect that the Hindoos will be eager in the pursuit of 
 science, unless they have the same inducements as in other countries ? 
 If superior acquirements do not open the road to distinction, it is idle 
 to suppose that the Hindoo would lose his time in seeking them ; and 
 even if he did so, his proficiency, under the doctrine of exclusion from 
 office, would serve no other purpose than to show him more clearly the fall- 
 en state of himself and his countrymen. He would not study what he 
 knew could be of no ultimate benefit to himself; he would learn only 
 those things which were in demand, and which were likely to be useful 
 to him, namely, writing and accounts. There might be some exceptions, 
 but they would be few ; some few natives living at the principal settle- 
 ments, and passing much of their time among Europeans, might, 
 either from a real love of literature, from vanity, or some other cause, 
 study their books, and if they made some progress, it would be greatly 
 exaggerated, and would be hailed as the dawn of the great day of light 
 and science about to be spread all over India. But there alwajs has 
 
81 
 
 been, and always will be, a few such men among the natives, without 
 making any change in the body of the people. Our books alone will do 
 little or nothing ; dry simple literature will never improve the character 
 of a nation. To produce this efiPect, it must open the road to wealth, 
 and honour, and public employment. Without the prospect of such 
 reward, no attainments in science will ever raise the character of a 
 people. 
 
 This is tme of every nation as well as of India ; it is true of our own. 
 Let Britain be subjugated by a foreign power to-morrow ; let the people 
 be excluded from all share in the Government, from public honors, from 
 every office of high trust or emolument, and let them in every situation, 
 be considered as unworthy of trust, and all their knowledge and all their 
 literature, sacred and profane, would not save them from becoming, 
 in another generation or two, a low-minded, deceitful, and dishonest 
 race. 
 
 Even if we could suppose that it were practicable, without the aid 
 of a single native, to conduct the whole affairs of the country, both in 
 the higher and in all the subordinate offices, by means of Europeans, 
 it ought not to be done, because it would be botli politically and 
 morally wrong. The great number of public offices in which the 
 natives are employed, is one of the strongest causes of their attachment 
 to our Government. Jn proportion as we exclude them from these, 
 we lose our hold upon them ; and were the exclusion entire, we should 
 have their hatred in place of their attachment ; their feeling would be 
 communicated to the whole population, and to the native troops, and 
 would excite a spirit of discontent too powerful for us to subdue or 
 resist. But were it possible that they could submit silently and with- 
 out opposition, the case would be worse; they would sink in character, 
 they would lose with the hope of public office and distinction all lauda- 
 ble ambition, and would degenerate into an indolent and abject race, 
 incapable of any higher pursuit than the mere gratification of their 
 appetites. It would certainly be more desirable that we should be 
 expelled from the country altogether, than that the result of our system 
 of Government should be such a debasement of a whole people. This 
 is, to be sure, supposing an extreme case, because nobody has ever 
 proposed to exclude the natives from the numerous petty offices, but 
 only from the more important offices now filled by them. But the 
 principle is the same, the difiference is only in degree ; for in propor- 
 tion as we exclude them from the higher offices, and a share in the 
 management of public affairs, we lessen their interest in the concerns 
 of the community, and degrade their character. 
 
 L 
 
82 
 
 It was from a conviction of the policy of extending native agency, that 
 tbe establishment oftheEevenue Board Cutcherry was recommended in 
 1822. The right of the people to be taxed only by their own consent, has 
 always, in every free country, been esteemed amongst the most important 
 of all privileges; it is that which had most exercised the miuds of men, 
 and which has oftenest been asserted by the defenders of liberty. Even 
 in countries, in which there is no freedom, taxation is the most impor- 
 tant function of Government; because it is that which most universally 
 affects the comfort and happiness of the people, and that which has 
 oftenest excited them to resistance ; and hence both its utility and its 
 danger have, under the most despotic Governments, taught the necessity 
 of employing in its administration the ablest men of the country. 
 
 In this point, at least, we ought to be guided by the example of those 
 Governments, and employ intelligent and experienced natives at the 
 head of the revenue to assist the Revenue Board. If in other depart- 
 ments we give experienced natives to assist the European officers, shall 
 we not give them in this, whose duties are the most difficult and most 
 important? We cannot exclude them from it without injury to our- 
 selves as well as to them ; we cannot conduct the department efficiently 
 without them. But even if we could, policy requires that we should 
 let them have a share in the business of taxing their own country. It 
 attaches them to our Government, it raises them in their owq estima- 
 tion, and it encourages them, by the prospect of attaining a situation 
 of so much distinction, to qualify themselves for it by a zealous perfor- 
 mance of their duty. Although we can never leave entirely to the natives 
 the power of taxing the country, we ought to entrust them with as 
 much of it as possible under our superintendence. We ought to make 
 them acquainted with our objects in taxation, and with the principles 
 on which we wish it to be founded, in order that, in communicating 
 their opinions to us, they may not be guided by the mere object of raising 
 the revenue, but that of adapting the revenue to the wants of the state 
 and the circumstances of the people. It is desirable that this knowledge 
 should be widely diffused amongst the natives ; but it can only be effect- 
 ed by their having the benefit of free intercourse with us, and of ac- 
 quiring experience in important official situations. They have the 
 advantage of this intercourse already, in the cutcheries attached to col- 
 lectors and to the board of revenue ; and under many of the collectors 
 this advantage is rendered more general, by their hearing the opinions 
 of the most intelligent heads of villages, and of respectable inhabitants, 
 not in the service of Government, and discussing in their presence 
 questions of revenue. This establishes confidence in us among the na- 
 
83 
 
 lives, and gradually extends among them juster and more enlarged views 
 of the purposes for which taxation is extended. 
 
 This kind of intercourse, however, could hardl}' subsist, or be produc- 
 tive of any advantage, if we adopted the opinions of most of the advo- 
 cates of zemindarry settlements, that the collector ought not to enter 
 into the details of revenue, but leave the natives to conduct them and 
 settle each other in their own way, and that he should confine himself to 
 their general superintendence under the guidance of general principles. 
 This appears to me to be a mistaken doctrine, which ought to be 
 avoided; because, in order to maintain our power in India, we must 
 have able and skilful servants, and such servants could not possibly be 
 produced by merely learning a few general principles, without making 
 themselves acquainted with the character of the people, and the rules 
 and customs by which their transactions with each other, and with the 
 ofiSoers of Government, are usually regulated. The good government 
 of the country must rest very much on the talents of our local 
 officers, as it is from them chiefly that Government must derive its own 
 information ; and hence there is no country in the world in which it is 
 more absolutely necessary to have good public servants than in this, where 
 an European is placed in charge of a district permanently settled, 
 and belonging to a few great zemindars, who cod duct all the details of 
 the assessment and collection of the revenue, he has very little to do ; 
 DO exertion is required from him, and he naturally becomes indolent ; 
 if the affairs of the district fall into confusion, he cannot put them 
 right, because, as he has not made himself acquainted with the revenue 
 details and local usages, and has no practical experience, he is ignorant 
 of the cause of the disorder, and of the means by which is to be 
 remedied. His knowledge of general principles, however extensive it 
 may be, will in such an emergency be of little use, because he 
 will not know how to apply them to the local circumstances of the 
 country. The duties of the collector of a province should be such as to 
 make it imperative on him to know the real state of the country, the 
 amount of the assessment paid by the different classes of the inhabitants, 
 its effects upon them, but especially upon the ryots, in promoting or dis- 
 couraging industry, and in rendering them satisfied or discontented with 
 their rules, and to know all the details of internal administration by 
 which the revenue is developed and realized ; for it is only by possess- 
 ing such knowledge, that he can understand either what are the actual 
 resources of the country, or the means by which they may be improved, 
 or furnish useful information to Government. 
 
 The duties of a public officer entrusted with the charge of a province 
 
48 
 
 ought to be such as to require the constant exercise of his faculties. 
 Without this employment they become dull, and he is satisfied with re- 
 maining at the head of a province, for the management of which he is 
 totally unqualified, and it is probably not until something goes wrong 
 that this utter unfitness is discovered. 
 
 The Civil Servants of the Company mix but little with the native 
 community, they have no common interest with it, and it is only such 
 of them as have naturally a spirit of inquiry, or are forced by the duties 
 of their situation to inquire, that know any thing about it, or can tell 
 Government whether any particular law is popular or the reverse. 
 
 Government itself knows nothing of the state of the country, except 
 what it learns from its local officers In other countries, Government 
 and its officers are a part of the community, and are of course acquaint- 
 ed with the efi'ect of every public measure, and the opinion of the coun- 
 try regarding it ; but here Government is deprived of this advantage; it 
 makes laws for a people who have no voice in the matter, and of whom 
 it knows very little, and it is therefore evident that it cannot adapt its 
 laws to the circumstances of the people, unless it receives accurate 
 information upon this subject from active and intelligent local officers, 
 whose duty it is to investigate carefully the condition and opinions of 
 the inhabitants, and to report upon them. But these officers can acquire 
 this information only through an establishment of experienced native 
 servants, who have beyond all other men, from the very nature of their 
 official duties, the best means of obtaining it. Intelligent collectors are 
 necessary at all times, but more especially when it becomes expedient 
 either to raise or lower the revenue. Such an operation requires not 
 judgment alone, but great knowledge of details ; and if undertaken with- 
 out these essential requisites, would be productive of much mischief. 
 We ought, therefore, not to be satisfied with a supe^.ficial knowledge 
 of the general state of the country, but make it a part of our system to 
 obtain the most minute and accurate information concerning its internal 
 condition, and preserve and accumulate that information in clear and 
 detailed revenue accounts and statistical statements. 
 
 ^ * ^ ^ :{c 
 
 If we make a summary comparison of the advantages and disadvan- 
 tages which have occurred to the natives from our Government, the result, 
 1 fear, will hardly be so much in its favor as it ought to have been. They 
 are more secure from the calamities both of foreign war and internal com- 
 motions; their persons and property are more secure from violence ; they 
 cannot be wantonly punished, or their property seized, by persons in 
 power, and their taxation is on the whole lighter. But on the other 
 
85 
 
 hand, they have no share in making laws for themselves, little in admi- 
 nistering them, except in very subordinate offices ; they can rise to no 
 high station, civil or military ; they are every where regarded as an 
 inferior race, and often rather as vassals or servants than as the ancient 
 owners and masters of the country. 
 
 It is not enough that we confer on the natives the benefits of just 
 laws and of moderate taxation, unless we endeavour to raise their cha- 
 racter; but under a Foreign Government there are so many causes which 
 tend to depress it, that it is not easy to prevent it from sinking. It is 
 an old observation, that he who loses his liberty loses half his virtue. 
 This is true of nations as well as of individuals. To have no property 
 scarcely degrades more in one case, than in the other to have property 
 at the disposal of a Foreign Government, in which we have no share. 
 The enslaved nation loses the privileges of a nation, as the slave does 
 those of a freeman ; it loses the privilege of taxing itself, of making 
 its own laws, of having any share in their administration, or in the 
 general government of the country. British India has none of these 
 privileges; it has not even that of being ruled by a despot of its own ; 
 for to a nation which has lost its liberty, it is still a privilege to have its 
 countryman, and not a foreigner as its ruler. Nations always take a 
 part with their Government, whether free or despotic, against foreigners. 
 Against an invasion of foreigners, the national character is always engag- 
 ed, and in such a cause the people often contend as strenuously in the 
 defence of a despotic as of a free Government. It is not the arbitrary 
 power of a national sovereign, but subjugation to a foreign one, that des- 
 troys national character and extinguishes national spirit. When a peo- 
 ple cease to have a national character to maintain, they lose the main- 
 spring of whatever is laudable both in public and in private life, and the 
 private sinks with the public character. 
 
 Though under such obstacles the improvement of character must 
 necessarily be slow and difficult, and can never be carried to that height 
 which might be possible among an independent people, yet we ought 
 not to be discouraged by any difficulty from endeavouring, by every 
 means in our power, to raise it as far as may be practicable in the 
 existing relative situation of this country to Britain. 
 
 One of the greatest disadvantages of our Government in India is 
 its tendency to lower or destroy the higher ranks of society, to bring 
 them all too much to one level, and by depriving them of their former 
 weight and influence, to render them less useful instruments in the 
 internal administration of the country. The native Governments had 
 a class of richer gentry, composed of jagheerdars and enamdiirs, and 
 
86 
 
 of all the higher civil aud military oflBcers. These, with the principal 
 merchants aud ryots, formed a large hgdy, wealthy, or at least easy 
 in their circumstances. The jaghecrs aud enams of one prince were 
 often resumed by another, aud the civil aud military officers were 
 liable to frequent removal ; but they were replaced by others, and as 
 new jagheers aud enams were granted to new claimants, these changes 
 had the efloot of continually throwing iuto the country a supply of 
 men, whose wealth enabled them to encourage its cultivation and 
 manufactories. These advantages have almost entirely ceased uuder 
 our Government. All the civil and military offices of any importance 
 are now held by Europeans, whose savings go to their own country ; 
 and the jagheers and enams, which are resumed, or which lapse to 
 Grovernmeut, are replaced only in a very small degree. We cannot 
 raise the native civil and military officers to their former standard, 
 and also maintain our European establishment; but we can grant 
 jagheers to meritorious native servants more frequently than has been 
 our custom ; and we can do what is much more important to the 
 country, we can place the whole body of the ryots on a better footing 
 with regard to assessment than ever they have been before, and we can 
 do this without any permanent sacrifice of revenue, because their labour 
 is pi'oductive, and will in time repay the remission of rent by increased 
 cultivation. The custom of all the sons inheriting equal shares of the 
 father's property, was among all Hindoos a great obstacle to the accumu- 
 lation of wealth; and among the royts the high rate of assessment 
 was an additional obstacle. Few ryots could ever, even in the course 
 of along life, acquire much property from the produce of their lands; 
 but many of their leading men, or heads of villages, had, under the 
 Native Governments, other ways of acquiring it. They leagued with 
 the revenue servants in underrating the produce and the collections, 
 and. as they were necessary to them in this work, they received a share 
 of the embezzlement. Wherever the Government dues were paid in 
 kind, the facilities of fraud were greatest, and the principal ryots have 
 therefore, on this account," usually opposed every attempt to convert 
 a rent in kind into money assessment. This source of wealth still, no 
 doubt, remains, but in a very small degree in comparison with what it 
 was under the Native Governments. We are more exact and rigid 
 in enforcing our demands, and it is therefore the more incumbent 
 on us to see that our assessment is so moderate as to be easily 
 collected, and to enable them to thrive under it. We have of late 
 years done something to raise the condition of the natives, by the 
 appointment of the higher judicial and revenue officers, and of the 
 
87 
 
 Moonsiffs or district judges, who have an original jurisdictioa to the 
 amount of five hundred rupees. We may do much to raise it still 
 more, by gradually admitting the natives into more important offices, 
 both in the revenue and judicial department, and excluding them 
 from none in which they can be employed consistently with the due 
 preservation of European control. 
 
 There is one great question to which we should look in all our 
 arrangements : What is to be their final result on the character of the 
 people? Is it to be raised, or is it to be lowered ? Are we to be satisfied 
 with merely securing our power and protecting the inhabitants, leaving 
 them to sink gradually in character lower than at present ; or are we to 
 endeavour to raise their character, and to render them worthy of filling 
 higher situations in the management of their country, and of devising 
 plans for its improvement? It ought undoubtedly to be our aim to 
 raise the minds of the natives, and to take care that whenever our 
 connection with India might cease, it did not appear that the only 
 fruit of our dominion there had been to leave the people more abject 
 and less able to govern themselves than when we found them. Many 
 different plans may be suggested for the improvement of their character, 
 but none of them can be successful, unless it be first laid down as a 
 main principle of our policy, that the improvement must be made. 
 This principle once established, we must trust to time and perseverance 
 for realizing the object of it. We have had too little experience, and 
 are too little acquainted with the natives, to be able to determine with- 
 out trial what means v^ould be most likely to facilitate their improve- 
 ment. Various measures might be suggested, which might all probably 
 be more or less useful; but no one appears to me so well calculated to 
 ensure success, as that of endeavouring to give them a higher opinion of 
 themselves, by placing more confidence in them, by employing them in 
 important situations, and perhaps by rendering them eligible to almost 
 every office under the Government. It is not necessary to define at 
 present the exact limit to which their eligibility should be carried, but 
 there seems to be no reason why they should be excluded from any 
 office for which they were qualified, without danger to the preservation 
 of our own ascendancy. 
 
 Liberal treatment has always been found the most eff'ectual way of 
 alleviating the character of every people, and we may be sure that it 
 will produce a similar effect on that of the people of India, The change 
 will, no doubt, be slow, but that is the very reason why no time should 
 be lost in commenoing the work. We should not be discouraged by 
 difficulties ; nor, because little progress may be made in our own time 
 
88 
 
 abandon the enterprise as hopeless, and charge upon the obstinacy and 
 bigotry of the natives the failure which has been occasioned solely by 
 our own fickleness, in not pursuing steadily the only line of conduct on 
 which any hope of success could be reasonably founded. We should 
 make the same allowances for the Hindus as for other nations, and con- 
 sider how slow the progress of improvement has been among the nations 
 of Europe, and through what a long course of barbarous ages they had 
 to pass before they attained their present state. When we compare 
 other countries with England, we usually speak of England as she now 
 is ; we scarcely ever think of going back beyond the Reformation ; and 
 .we are apt to regard every foreign country as ignorant and uncivilized, 
 whose state of iuaprovement does not in some degree approximate to our 
 own, even though it should be higher than our own was at no very 
 distant period. 
 
 We should look upon India not as a temporary possession, but as one 
 which is to be maintained permanently, until the natives shall in some 
 future age have abandoned most of their superstitions and prejudices, 
 and become sufficiently enlightened to form a regular Government for 
 themselves, and conduct and preserve it. Whenever such a time shall 
 arrive, it will probably be best for both countries that the British con- 
 trol over India should be gradually withdrawn. That the desirable 
 change here contemplated may in some after-age be effected in India, 
 there is no cause to despair. Such a change was at one time in Britain 
 itself, at least as hopeless as it is here. When we reflect how mu^h the 
 character of nations has always been influenced by that of Governments, 
 and that some, once the most cultivated, have sunk into barbarism, while 
 others, formerly the rudest, have attained the highest point of civiliza- 
 tion, we shall see no reason to doubt, that if we pursue steadily the pro- 
 per measures, we shall in time so far improve the character of our In- 
 dian subjects, as to enable them to govern and protect themselves. 
 
 sj« ^ ^ rf; H< ^ 
 
 The main evil of our system is the dgeraded state in which we hold 
 the natives. We suppose them to be superstitious, ignorant, prone to 
 falsehood, and corrupt. In our well-meaning zeal for their welfare, 
 we shudder at the idea of committing to men so depraved any share in 
 the administration of their own country. We never consider that their 
 superstition has little or no influence on their public conduct; that 
 individuals and even whole nations, the most superstitious and credulous 
 in supernatural concerns, may be as wary and sceptical in the affairs 
 of the world as any philosopher can desire. We exclude them from 
 every situation of trust and emolument; we confine them to the 
 
89 
 
 lowest offices, with scarcely a bare subsistence; and even these are 
 left in their hands from necessity, because Europeans are utterly inca- 
 pable of filling them. We treat them as an ioferior race of beings. 
 Men who, under a Native Government, might have held the first dig- 
 nities of the state, who, but for us, might have been governors of 
 provinces, are regarded as little better than menial servants, are often 
 no better paid, and scarcely permitted to sit in our presence. We 
 reduce them to this abject state, and then we look down upon them 
 with disdain, as men unworthy of high station. Under most of the 
 Mohammedan princes of India, the Hindoos were eligible to all the 
 civil offices of Government; and they frequently possessed a more 
 important share in them than their conquerors. 
 
 In the Ceded Districts (Madras,) reckoning only one Tati and one 
 Talliar to each village, there are from twelve to fifteen thousand. If 
 these are what are called Paikes in Bengal, the number in the three 
 provinces of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, could not have been less than 
 one hundred thousand, who, with their families, were, at one sweep, by 
 a regulation professing to establish landed property, bereft of their 
 little patrimonial estates, which their ancestors had held for ages. 
 
 Is the efiect then of our boasted laws to be ultimately merely that of 
 maintaining tranquillity, and keeping the inhabitants in such a state 
 of abasement, that not one of them shall ever be fit to be entrusted 
 with authority ? If ever it was the object " of the most anxious soli- 
 citude of Government to dispense with their services, except in matters 
 of detail," it is high time that a policy so degrading to our subjects, and 
 so dangerous to ourselves, should be abandoned, and a more liberal one 
 adopted. It is the policy of the British Government to improve the 
 character of its subjects ; and this cannot better be done than by rais- 
 ing them in their own estimation, by employing them in situations 
 both of trust and authority. 
 
 Letter from Mr. J dim Sullivan, in reply to an address 
 from the inhabitants of Bengal, in acknowledgment of his 
 unwearied labours on behalf of the Xatives : — 
 
 Gentlemen, — I beg that you will accept yourselves, and convey to 
 the other native gentlemen of Calcutta, my hearty thanks for the address 
 which tliey did me the honor to vote at a Public Meeting, held in that 
 city on the 18th April last, and which I have just received from the 
 Committee of gentlemen in this country, upon whom you had devolved 
 the duty of presenting it to rae, 
 
 M 
 
90 
 
 In advocating, in my place in the Court of Proprietors, the claims of 
 the natives of India, to be entrusted with a large share in the administra- 
 tion of the affairs of their own country, I did little more than give pro- 
 minence to the opinions of Munro, Malcolm, Elphinstone, Metcalfe, and 
 other honored names, who, from their characters and experience, were en- 
 titled to speak authoritatively on the subject. 
 
 Fortified by such high authority, and convinced by my own experience, 
 that natives, from their intimate knowledge of the languages, manners, cus- 
 toms, and habits of their own countrymen, as well as from the advantage 
 they possess in working in a climate which is friendly to them but inimical 
 to strangers, are not only qualified, but better qualified than Europeans, 
 for conducting the civil administration of India; that from the permanent 
 interest, which they have in the country, they have a better claim than 
 Europeans to be entrusted, with the largest share in that administration ; 
 and under a firm persuasion, that we never shall have either a pure or 
 an efficient government in India, until natives are allowed to participate 
 in those offices, which are now exclusively held by Europeans, I felt it 
 to be my duty to press the subject upon the attention of the authorities 
 in this country through the only channel that was open to me. 
 
 I shall take an early opportunity of presenting the Petition, which you 
 have forwarded to me, to the Court of Proprietors, and you may depend 
 upon my giving the prayer of it my strenuous support. I shall do this 
 in the earnest hope that the authorities in this country may be induced, 
 at no distant period, to act upon the advice of the great Munro, and de- 
 clare the natives of India to be " eligible to almost every office under 
 the Government." 
 
 I have the honor to bo, gentlemen, with gratitude and respect, your 
 faithful and obliged 
 
 J. SULLIVAK. 
 
 Riching's Lodge, 2Si'd Fehriiary, 1844. 
 
 The following is the memorial (with the exception of a few 
 passages not of a general character) that was addressed, in 
 1850, to the Court of Directors, by Sir Edward Kyan and 
 Mr. Cameron, as ex-presidents of the Council of Education. 
 
 To THE Honorable the Court of Directors of the East India 
 
 Company. 
 
 Honorable Sirs, — We have the honor, very respectfully, to request 
 that your Honorable Court will take whatever steps may be necessary for 
 
91 
 
 appointing Dr. S. C. G. Cliuckerbutty an Assistant Surgeon on your 
 Bengal establislimento But before we urge the reasons which appear to 
 us to make this appointment desirable, it is right that we should explain 
 to you why we put ourselves forward upon this occasion, and why we 
 address ourselves to your Honorable Court collectively, instead of to 
 some one individual of your number, whom we might suppose to be 
 favorable to our views. 
 
 Both of us, during the latter years of our residence in India, were 
 honoured by your supreme Government there with the appointment of 
 President of the Committee of Public Instruction, or Council of Edu- 
 cation, as it has been latterly termed, and with the presidency of your 
 Medical College of Calcutta. The deep interest, therefore, which both 
 of us feel in all that concerns the education and general advancement 
 of the Asiatic races, whom Her Majesty and Parliament have com- 
 mitted to your Government, has, we trust, enough of official sanction to 
 prevent the present manifestation of it from appearing an unwarrantable 
 intrusion. And we make our request to your Honorable Court collectively, 
 because the question of conceding for the first time to a native of In- 
 dia an appointment in one of your covenanted services, appears to us 
 one of such importance, as to be more fitly determinable by the deliber- 
 ation of your whole body, than by that individual discretion to which 
 the selection of persons for those services is in ordinary circumstances 
 intrusted. 
 
 In requesting you to appoint Dro Chuckerbutty an Assistant Surgeon 
 on your Bengal establishment, we appear to ourselves to do no more 
 than bring to your special notice a case which affords a most unexcepti- 
 onable opportunity of carrying into effect the intentions of the Legis- 
 lature, as expressed in the present Charter Act, 3 and 4 William IV,, 
 Chap. 85, Sec. 87. 
 
 That statute holds out to the natives of India the promise of admission 
 to the covenanted services of the East India Company, by providing 
 «' that no native of the said territories, nor any natural born subject of 
 Her Majesty resident therein, shall by reason only of his religion, place 
 of birth, descent, color, or any of them, be disabled from holding any place, 
 office, or employment under the said Company." The present Charter 
 Act has now been in force for sixteen years, or four-fifths of its whole 
 term, and no single native of India has ever been appointed to any of the 
 covenanted services; the consequence is, that the promise of the Charter 
 Act is regarded by the natives of India as a mockery. 
 
 It was not so intended by those who framed the Act ; and we believe 
 that many of those in whom the nomination to these services is vested, 
 
92 
 
 would be glad to show to the world, that it is their wish to carry the Act 
 into effect according to the real intentions of the framers. 
 
 We do not doubt that such also is the wish of your Honorable Court. 
 But opportunities of fulfilling the intentions of the Legislature in this 
 particular are, from the nature of the case, of rare occurrence. There is 
 never any want of European candidates for your covenanted services, 
 against whose nomination no objection can be urged, while it is always 
 possible to urge plausible objections against the appointment of any 
 native to any office from which his countrymen have hitherto been 
 excluded. 
 
 A nation of Europe which undertakes to govern justly, and in the in- 
 terests of the governed, a hundred millions of Asiatic people undertakes 
 a task of the highest and most sacred kind, but a task which is beset on 
 all ^ides with difficulties and even with dangers. 
 
 There may be some risk to our dominion in admitting natives to the 
 offices heretofore held exclusively by Europeans; but that there is much 
 greater risk in continuing to exclude them, we think we could prove 
 from history and from the principles of human nature, if such proof 
 were necessary to our purpose. The Legislature, however, has settled 
 this question. It has declared that natives shall be admissible to all 
 offices in India, leaving to you to bring about the transition from exclu- 
 sion to participation in the best manner for all the great interests 
 concerned. 
 
 The Legislature has left to you to select the individuals who shall be 
 admitted to this new and great privilege, to determine the number who 
 shall be admitted to it in any given period, and the conditions on which 
 they shall be admitted, and to select from all the offices thus thrown 
 open in point of law to the natives of India those to which they may, 
 at the beginning of this new era, be appointed with the smallest degree 
 of that inconvenience which inevitably accompanies all great political 
 changes, however beneficial or even necessary they may have become. 
 
 The discretion thus left to you is of a most ample and indefinite charac- 
 ter, large enough perhaps to enable you (if it were possible to imagine 
 you so inclined) to defeat the whole object of the Legislature without 
 actual violation of the letter of the law. 
 
 But it must be remembered that a law, such as that which 
 is here laid down for your guidance, is very different from that 
 class of laws which is armed with a penal sanction. In that class 
 of laws the Legislature addresses itself to persons assumed to be 
 disposed to violate its commands, and denounces punishment for 
 the purpose of preventing such violation. In the provision above 
 
9S 
 
 quoted from the Charter Act, Parliament, at the very moment of 
 intrusting to you for twenty years the Government of the greatest 
 dependent empire which the world has ever seen, lays down for your 
 guidance the great principle that the natives of that empire within it, 
 as a means of securing the permanent allegiance of the Indian races, and 
 of making the bond which unites them to us increase in strength as they 
 themselves increase in knowledge and civilization. But Parliament 
 having once laid down this great principle, leaves every thing else to you. 
 No native of India, however manifestly fit for your service, can bring an 
 action to prevent his exclusion from it by reason solely of his color. No 
 friend of the natives of India, can bring an action to prevent his exclusion 
 from it by reason solely of his color. No friend of the Natives of India 
 can obtain a mandamus for such a purpose. The Legislature has simply 
 expressed its wishes, aud trusts for the accomplishment of them to that 
 zeal for the advancement of the Asiatic races which you have conspi- 
 cuously displayed in the liberal education given at your colleges, and 
 in the great number of native Indians whom your Governments have 
 appointed to lucrative and responsible offices in the uncovenanted 
 services. 
 
 We are not then going beyond what is warranted by your position 
 as the enlightened rulers of our Eastern Empire on the one hand, and 
 as the faithful and willing subjects of the Queen and Parliament on the 
 other, when we assume, that if we can lay before you a case for tho 
 admission of a native to one of your covenanted services, to which no 
 objection can be made of a stronger kind than the objection which may 
 be made to the admission of any native to any of those offices from 
 which they have been heretofore excluded, we shall find you not only 
 willing but anxious to carry into effect the intentions of Parliament. 
 
 "We think we can convince you that Dr. Chuckerbutty's is such a 
 case. 
 
 His own qualifications for your medical service are sufficiently proved 
 by his printed testimonials ; aud, indeed, we are not under the necessity 
 of using any argument or exhortation on this part of the case, because 
 we have been informed by Dr. Chuckerbutty, that your Honorable 
 Court have already recognized his professional and personal merits in 
 as cordial a manner as might be expected from your position as the 
 patrons and protectors of the Asiatic subjects of the British Crown. 
 H< * * ^< * 
 
 The opening of the covenanted services to the natives by statute is 
 only a following up of that system which you and your governments in 
 the East had already adopted of your own accord. The same just and 
 benevolent regard for the Natives of India, which led you spontaneously 
 
94 
 
 to that enlightened polioj^ will surely now lead you to carry into effect 
 the similar policy enjoined by Parliament, and to take care that the 
 promises solemnly made by the British Legislature to the subject nations 
 of Asia, shall not be the only inoperative provisions of the Charter which 
 has committed those nations to your government. 
 
 AYe have the honor to be, 
 Honorable Sirs, 
 Your most obedient humble servants, 
 (Signed) EDWARD RYAN, 
 
 CHARLES HAY CAMERON. 
 
 Oarden Lodge, Kensington, Slst January, 1850. 
 
 The following table, compiled from the printed Decisions 
 of the Sudder Court at Calcutta, exhibits the comparative 
 merits of the judgments of the covenanted European 
 Judges and the uncovenanted Principal Sudder Ameens,. 
 who consist almost entirel}^ of Natives : — 
 
 Covenanted Officers' Decisions 
 
 Uncovenanted Officers' Decisions , 
 
 Covenanted Officers' Decisions , 
 
 Uncovenanted Otficers' Decisions , 
 
 Covenanted Officers' Decisions 
 
 Uncovenanted Officers' Decisions , 
 
 Covenanted Officers' Decisions , 
 
 Uncovenanted Officers' Decisions 
 
 Covenanted Officers' Decisions...,...., 
 
 Uncovenanted Officers' Decisions - 
 
 Covenanted Officers' Decisions , 
 
 Uncovenanted Officers' Decisions , 
 
 Covenanted Officers' Decisions , 
 
 Uncovenanted Officers' Decisions , 
 
 Total of Covenanted Officers' De- > 
 cisious S 
 
 Total of Uncovenanted Officers') 
 Decisions J 
 
 Confirmed 
 by the Sud- 
 der. 
 
 Reversed, 
 modified, or 
 remanded. 
 
 Total. 
 
 oo 
 
 133 
 
 155 
 
 100 
 
 58 
 
 104 
 
 19 
 
 58 
 
 77 
 
 C5 
 
 79 
 
 144 
 
 30 
 
 107 
 
 203 
 
 100 
 
 177 
 
 283 
 
 54 
 
 103 
 
 217 
 
 105 
 
 200 
 
 305 
 
 31 
 
 84 
 
 115 
 
 04 
 
 79 
 
 143 
 
 28 
 
 139 
 
 107 
 
 50 
 
 153 
 
 209 
 
 25 
 
 107 
 
 192 
 
 57 
 
 190 
 
 253 
 
 215 
 559 
 
 911 
 1,002 
 
 1,120 
 1,501 
 
95 
 
 An inspection of the table shows that (omitting frac- 
 tions) 19 per cent, of the decisions of the European 
 Judges are confirmed, and 80 per cent, reversed by the 
 superior court, but that 25 per cent, of the decisions of the 
 Native Judges of the higher grade are confirmed, and 64 
 per cent, reversed. 
 
 The decisions of the District Judges and the Principal 
 Sudder Ameens only can be compared with each other, 
 because the Sudder Dewanny Adawlut receives regular and 
 special appeals from these two classes of Judicial Officers 
 and from no others. 
 
 SANDERS, CONES AND CO., TYPS., NO. 14, LOLL BAZAK.