just the same principle upon less defensible grounds. I can venture to predict, that the time will shortly come when this abomination will cease, and the Indo-Briton, in the fullest sense of the word, be recognised as a brother.

On the 4th of May, 1830, a petition from the Indo-British inhabitants of Calcutta was presented to the House of Commons, one of a similar nature having been presented to the House of Lords on the 29th of March in the same year. The grievances complained of in those petitions were, first, that whilst they live in Calcutta, within the limited jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, they are guided in their civil relations by the laws of England; but the moment they go beyond this they are placed beyond the pale of all civil law, whether British, Hindoo, or Mahomedan; secondly, that they are excluded from all superior offices in the civil and military service of the East India Company. These complaints are founded on matters of fact, and demand the immediate attention of our Senate. Mr. W. W. Wynn most truly stated in the House of Commons, " they are thus deprived of all the advantages of trial by jury; being, when in the interior, amenable to the Mahomedan criminal law, and when accused of offences are liable to be fined and imprisoned, and corporally punished by Mahomedan officers of justice. Questions may arise as to the validity of their marriages, and all such questions must be decided, not according to the principles

of Christian, but according to those of Mahomedan law." How great the disadvantages are, which arise from this system, have been made apparent by theinquiries that have been recently instituted into the subject by the Committees of both Houses of Parliament, sitting on the East India Company's charter. It happens that a great many females, the daughters of European fathers by native. mothers, are married to European officers, high in the service in India. I have been told, that amongst the officers who hold the highest situation on the staff in the Company's service in Calcutta, there is not at present one who is not married to a female of Indian descent. Supposing that an offence should be charged against any of these married couples whilst residing in the interior, the husband would be sent to Calcutta to be tried by Europeans, according to the principles of British law; but the wife might be tried and condemned before any Mahomedan magistrate. This is not merely a grievance in itself; but it gives rise to a feeling among the Indo-Britons, that they stand in a different situation from their European relations, with whom they would otherwise mix upon terms of equality, and with whom they are in point of fact equal when in Great Britain. Many of them are descended from and bear the names of some of the best English families ; and have received the most liberal education that England could afford. Yet these persons, the actual descendants of some of the greatest men, who

have ruled our territories in the East, are prohibited from entering either the military or civil service of the Honourable Company. Talents and courage are abundantly found amongst them, and they bitterly feel the wrong which British pride inflicts; and, I believe, that unless a tone of conciliation be used towards them they will become the rulers of British India. There have been instances where, notwithstanding these cruel proscriptions, the energy of their minds has triumphed over every obstacle, and they have shone forth as comets in their devious courses amidst the regular orbits of the privileged Europeans around them. Col. Skinner, for instance, though excluded, owing to his descent from a native mother, from serving in the East India Company's regular army, raised a corps of 8,000 men, and distinguished himself in an eminent manner during a late war. For his intrepid and disinterested conduct, although rejected by the Company's service, he earned for himself the rank of a Lieutenant Colonel in the King's service, and obtained the cross of a Commander of the Bath. I have had many of their youth beneath my care, and can fully testify, that in all particulars, as it regards mental energy, they are able to cope with our British youth; in fact, the first boys of all the classes in the different schools in Calcutta were invariably IndoBritons. Hitherto the greater number of the country-born young men have been employed as writers in the various offices of Government,

the warehouses of merchants, and offices of attorneys, &c.; but of late years their rapidly increasing number has caused a great deal of anxiety amongst parents how their sons should get employment. Much has been written on the subject in the journals of Calcutta, and a very excellent pamphlet was published by Mr. Kyd, of Kidderpore, a most respectable and intelligent gentleman who has attained to great celebrity as a ship-builder, and who is also an Indo-Briton. His pamphlet is headed by the following striking appeal to his fellow countrymen :

"How long, ye sons of Briton, will ye yield
To foreign hands the produce of your field?
Shake off your sloth, now let your views extend;
Nor to the drudg'ries of a scrivener bend.

Greeks, Jews, and Arabs, see, your commerce drive;
Moguls grow rich, and the Armenians thrive.
When first these to the shores of Hooghley came
They had no friends, no money, and no name :

But industry led on their prosperous way

Till commerce found them and soon owned their sway.
Sick'hs and Chinese here thriving trades pursue,

And toil for riches, then why may not you?

Forego the shame of Asiatic growth,

And copy Britons; and be men of worth."

It is to be lamented, that many of the young and promising amongst the Indo-Britons of Calcutta are so decidedly averse to engaging in any sort of trade or mechanical pursuit-to overcome this aversion has been the aim of Mr. Kyd. IndoBritons have hitherto attached too much importance to opulence, and when without it have con

sidered themselves as destitute of means to attain it; but this is an error which daily experience serves to refute, as those Indo-Britons who have aroused themselves to exertion have rapidly amassed considerable fortunes as well as secured extensive reputation. It is certain, that from their rapid increase they will soon unavoidably either become a dangerous foe to the British Government, or a powerful auxiliary and sure prop to the interests of Great Britain in the East, and this will rest on the manner in which they are treated when the Honourable Company's charter shall be renewed.

They all, generally speaking, look with contempt on the native tribes around them, holding their servants at a greater distance than Europeans themselves do.

One thing I always lamented, and that was the indolent disposition of the daughters of IndoBritons, who instead of performing those duties which naturally devolve upon them, sit in a listless state of ennui during the interval that elapses between the morning and evening drive, or, what is worse, slumber upon the hall sofas. Yet I met with some exceptions honourable to parents and children; and the indefatigable efforts of many ladies, aided by the powerful instruction afforded by the late most excellent teacher, Mrs. Penny, in the Benevolent Institution, have in some measure introduced needle-work amongst them.

Mr. Kyd says,

"The whole of the needlework of the metropolis might be performed by Indo-British females, to the exclusion of the hun