difficulty than was probably expected; while the keeping of them quiet-to all appearance almost impracticablewas thoroughly accomplished through "that more excellent way" which was pursued by Colonel Hall, In pursuance of this determination, at the close of 1820, a British force again marched against the Mairs, and, attacking them at Huttoon and Burar, met on each occasion a very spirited resistance. At the former place, the well-directed fire of their matchlocks taught us to regard them with respect; and at Burar, they twice charged our artillery sword in hand. These places, however, were both captured; and Bhoput Khan, the leader of the Mairs in this last movement, fled to Ramgurh, situated in the midst of these fastnesses: "Certain information having about this time been received to this effect, a detachment of eight companies, with a party of cavalry, marched off in the evening, as soon as it was dark, and proceeded all night through a most difficult country, where, in many places, the pathway would not admit of two men marching abreast; and even for one the road was so difficult, that a mileand-a-half an hour was about the rate accomplished by the detachment. However, struggling on, they arrived at and surrounded Ramgarh by dawn. Just as arrangements were being made for an attack, the inhabitants discovered the unexpected danger that impended over them, and the alarm was given; but it was too late. No time was lost on our part; and the troops, penetrating into the town on all sides, killed and wounded 150 men, and took about 200 pri soners. Bhoput Khan, of Huttoon, was among the former."-Sketch, p. 23. This surprise in their own stronghold, attended as it was with the loss of their leaders, ought to have been a decided blow to the Mairs; but they were slow at comprehending a defeat, and in another week encountered us again. The lesson they received on that occasion concluded the campaign. We have felt it to be but justice to these undisciplined mountaineers to show that, in their several conflicts with our troops, they made a resistance worthy of their fame for courage -worthy of men who encounter tigers with no other weapon than a sword, and of whom it has been remarked, that they never boast. It is, also, we think, a matter of some interest to note that Colonel Hall, who was afterwards the true regenerator of the Mairs, was the first British officer who entered their territory, and that he took a prominent part in every service against them. These successes, which took place in January, 1821, were followed by the formal submission of the Mairs, who have never since rebelled against our rule. Before, however, that rule could be fairly established, there were difficulties to be overcome, which originated in the too generous spirit of the East India Company. On the conquest of Mairwara, many of its towns and villages were claimed by the neighbouring Rajpoot states of Mewar and Marwar, as of right belonging to them. Their claims rested, in fact, on but slender grounds, but they The surprise at Ramgurh was arranged and conducted by Colonel (then Captain) Hall. In announcing the capture of this place, the officer who commanded on the occasion refers particularly "to the arrangements of Captain Hall, of the Quartermaster-General's department," by which "the detachment was brought to the scene of operation exactly at the most eligible moment-a matter of great importance to the success of the enterprise." A postscript adds, in accordance with the passage cited from Colonel Dixon, that "this decided operation was effected after a night-march of thirteen hours, through a trackless and, then thought, impassable country." The dispatch of the officer who commanded on the occasion of our final encounter with the Mairs, and which is dated January 24th, 1821, refers as follows to Captain Hall : "If I omitted to notice the valuable services rendered on this occasion by Captain Hall, the Deputy-Quartermaster-General, who accompanied the detachment, I should fail in my duty. The very correct nature of the information he was in possession of, enabled him to conduct the detachment directly upon the enemy, who were found to occupy (as he had previously informed me they did), in very considerable numbers, the whole length of an extensive and high range of difficult hills, the detachment driving them before it, but previously having to extend itself for a distance of more than two miles along the foot of the range, and under the observation of the enemy. The exertions of Captain Hall when the attack com menced were equal to the previous intelligence with which he had conducted the detachment to the scene of action; and he led in person one of our parties, ascending the most difficult part of the range, and driving before him the enemy." were unfortunately admitted, and the districts made over. Thus the Mairs, who had never before known any ruler, were, in the first instance, placed under separate governments, part of their territory being ceded to Marwar, part to Mewar, while the remainder was affixed to the British province of Ajmeer. There was, in consequence, no controlling authority to enforce order, no unity of purpose to effect remedial measures. Confusion was the natural result. The criminals of one jurisdiction found shelter in anotherpunishments were arbitrary and severe—and the country was infested by organised banditti. We may add, that the political agent who was in charge of Ajmeer, had already enough to engage his best attention. The obvious remedy for such a state of things was the subjection of the territory to one authority, and the vesting that authority in some officer of known ability. This was at length arranged. The Meywar and Marwar villages were, in 1823-4, placed, for a certain number of years, under our management; and in 1822, Captain Henry Hall, now Colonel Hall, C.B., was selected by the Marquis of Hastings, for the important appointment of superintendent, political and military, in Mairwara.* Within six months after, the predatory bands were broken up, their leaders captured, the passes were opened, and traffic permitted to proceed without impediments. Single constables took the place of armed troops for all purposes of police and revenue; "and thus," says Colonel Dixon, "under the guidance of one master hand, a regular government was for the first time established." The hand of Colonel Hall, though often unseen, was indeed guiding every step of progress in Mairwara. In the suppression of the border combinations just mentioned, as well as in the more important proceedings which affected the social organisation, or the political condition of the country, he was active. It was, as we have before observed, his principle to effect as much as possible through the instrumentality of the Mairs themselves, that so they might feel each act to be their own, and not one to which they were in any way compelled. To bring this to pass, however, much of previous effort was needed, to lead them more fully to appreciate the evils of existing circumstances, as well as the advantage of the proposed change. One of the early acts of Colonel Hall was the formation of the Mair battalion. He saw that these hardy mountaineers would make good soldiers, but his first advances towards enlisting them met with small encouragement. The elders heard his invitations to enrol their sons as sepoys, with coldness and distrust; and when at length recruits came forward, the first proceeding to which it was necessary to submit them, was that of being washed with soap and water. A high authority soberly assures us, that "every Chinaman goes unwashed from his cradle to his grave;"t and in this particular, the Mairs may be said to emulate the children of the flowery land. They scarcely ever bathe, or change their clothes from the day they are first put on until they are fairly worn out. Many, after having served a short time, returned to their villages, duty and subordination being, as they thought, incompatible with their feelings of independence. Recruits, too, went back to their homes at night, and on its being made known to them, that they must either stay in their quarters or give up the service, a new *It appears that Captain Hall was, on the earnest recommendation of Sir David Ochterlony, the president in Malwa and Rajpootana, "lent" from the Quarter-master General's department, for this service; and in noticing the appointment and the formation of the Mair battalion, Colonel Dixon speaks of the complimentary tone in which the Governor-General was pleased to invest this officer with his political and military authority. "The prominent feature," he adds, when speaking of the order to raise the Mair battalion, "was the option accorded by the Government to the commandant, of retaining command of the corps after it had been raised, and reported disciplined by the general officer of the division; or of returning to the Quarter-master General's department, with the benefits of any promotion to which he would have succeeded, had he never quitted it." Such condescension and kind consideration on the part of the Government, are matters of extremely rare occurrence.-Sketch, p. 41. †This is stated on the authority of Dr. Wilson, who had charge of our hospitals in China. V. "Medical Notes on China." By John Wilson, M.D., F.R.S., Inspector of Naval Hospital and Fleets. report got abroad, well calculated to render enlistment still more unpopular. It was said, and no doubt thought, by some of the elders, that the real object of our Government was to collect the youth of the country, nominally to be enrolled as sepoys, but actually to be made away with, so that we should receive no opposition save from the old people. Apprehension and distrust, however, yielded to forbearance and consideration, and before long service in the corps was eagerly sought after. From the reports of some reviewing officers of distinction, referred to in the "Sketch," it appears, that in their opinion, "the Mairwara local corps would stand the test of comparison with some of the best-disciplined regiments in the service; and Colonel Dixon speaks of occasions, on which the conduct of this battalion in the field, under his command, fully supported these high anticipations. We, however, desire to view this corps in another phase, as an agent in civilisation, and in this respect, it appears to have realised the warmest hopes which even Mr. Kaye* would entertain of the good-working of a landwher system." "The corps,' says Colonel Hall, in an extract from his report on Mairwara, dated December, 1834, cited in Colonel Dixon's work, "has contributed materially towards reforming the Mair population. The regularity of conduct, punctual discharge of duty, cleanliness, and unqualified submission required; the good faith observed in all transactions; the congenial subsistence offered to many; the full confidence reposed, and the kind treatment shown, could not fail of conciliatory effect; besides, on the other hand, being a body for coercion, which the population must have been well-convinced of, was fully qualified from bravery, fidelity, and local knowledge, to inflict ample punishment, should the necessity be imposed." In addition to habits of order, the young men acquired in the batta lion dexterity in useful labour, in the digging of wells, the construction and repairing of embankments, weirs, and other works of the first importance in their locality; and as the period of service was not long, and discharges were easily obtained, these acquirements became rapidly diffused, exhibiting their results in the improved appearance both of the country and its inhabitants :: "Until 1835, many of the Mair corps were accustomed to take their discharge after three years' service-their intention in entering the corps being to save sufficient money for the purchase of a couple of bullocks. Having attained the object of their ambition, they would return to their villages to take up the occupation of husbandmen. Since that period, Tukavee advances have been freely imparted to all persons to whom it was desirable to afford pecuniary aid for agricultural purposes. Still discharges from the corps are frequent. The construction of works of irrigation, by which waste land is brought into productive fertility, when taking place at the villages inhabited by the sepoys, induces them at once to seek their discharge, and become cultivators. Havildars and naicks, with the pension establishment only a few years in prospective, have been induced to quit the corps, and apply their energies to the tilling of the land. Thus the battalion is the school in which the youth are taught obedience and the arts of civilised life. Remaining with it sufficiently long to have attained confirmed habits of civilisation, they return to their homes to impart their knowledge to their village, and themselves become tutors. In this manner has the corps proved an instrument of great utility, in disseminating knowledge, and conducing to aid us in the social advancement and improvement of the rural population."-pp. 45-6. Another of the civilising agencies introduced by Colonel Hall related to the administration of justice. Prior to the subjugation of the Mairs, the sword most usually decided controversies and redressed wrongs. Every man stood on his own strength, or that of his kindred. Loss of life ensued, and feuds were generated. The only peaceable modes of adjudication resorted to were various kinds of superstitious ordeals. Colonel Hall established a form of punchayut, or jury elected by the parties, for the determination of all complaints of wrong, excepting cases of crime, which has been found to work well. The course of procedure is in some respects singular, but it is admirably suited to the character and condition of the people, considerations which have V." The Social Condition and Education of the People." By Joseph Kaye, Esq., M.A.— 2 vols. Noticed by us in a preceding Magazine, as a work of great interest. been too often lost sight of by the paper reformers and Benthams of our day : "The complainant presents a written petition in Oordoo, in which is embodied the particulars of his grievance. At the close of his complaint he expresses his willingness, or otherwise, to have his case settled by punchayut. An order is then passed for the attendance of the defendant. On his appearing, the complaint is explained to him, when he delivers in a counter statement, signifying, at the same time, by what mode he wishes to be tried. Should each party desire a punchayut, each names his respective arbitrators, the number of whom is alone limited by the pleasure of the contending parties. Sometimes the jury consists of twelve members on each side. Generally speaking, on the score of economy, each restricts its quota to three or four members. Objection to members on account of nearness of kin, or other reasonable grounds, are allowed, and substitutes are named to supply the place of those challenged or rejected. The complainant and defendant then enter into engagements to abide by the decision of the punchayut, except in case of disapproval, by paying a fine to the Government, when a new trial is allowed. In like manner, the arbitrators bind themselves by engagements to do strict and impartial justice in the case submitted to their decision; in failure thereof, a stated sum is forfeited. All preliminaries having been arranged, the case comes under investigation. Each party finds its arbitrators in food, which varies in quality according to the means of the parties. On the decision of the the expense case, devolves on the losing side. As the elders are chiefly selected, from their respectability and inferred knowledge of right, for this duty, delay in coming to a decision is not unusual; influenced, perhaps, by the circumstance that they are found in food whilst engaged in such investigation. Feelings of pride, and the imagined honour of their clan, more frequently induce delay, when matters between two opposite septs are under discussion. Punchayuts have taken a month or five weeks to consider the questions at issue. Having at length come to a decision, their opinion, recorded in writing, read and explained to the complainant and defendant, who approve or disapprove of the decree of the 'punch' accordingly as their feelings prompt them. Their decision, generally speaking, is una nimous. When otherwise, the opinion of three-fourths of the members is necessary to make their decree binding. Although dissentients are at liberty, on paying the stipulated fine, regulated in reference to the largeness of the case at issue, to demand a fresh trial, this privilege is rarely claimed. The Mairs, when allowed time for consideration, are open to reason, and they well know, when there is a large majority opposed to them, cogent reasons exist for this decisionthe more particularly as these arbitrators, or a portion of them, have so decided the case. The superintendent will generally know when the decision of a 'punch' is not consonant with the usages of the people. His explanation is received willingly by the arbitrators, when any deviation from common usage is pointed out to them. In this way, by observing a temperate, conciliatory tone towards the jury, a slight modification of their decree not unfrequently has the desirable effect of bringing round a razeenamah on both sides.”—Sketch, pp. 77-8. This extract will be sufficiently intelligible, notwithstanding its hard terms of Eastern law. It shows that the system was selected, not for its symmetry, but for its suitability to the people. They had before a punchayut, but it was rarely resorted to, because there was no authority to enforce its decrees. This imperfect tribunal, remodelled by Colonel Hall, has been found to answer so well, that for the last twenty-six years, that is, during the whole period of our rule in Mairwara, no appeal has been made beyond the superintendent of the district. Minor offences are punished by imprisonment; serious crimes, by transportation or death. Death has never been inflicted from the first pacification of the country in 1824, and in the long period that has since intervened, but three persons have been transported. These simple, inland people, however, look on the punishment of transportation beyond sea with far more of terror than that of death. "Their imagination," says Colonel Dixon, "fails to depict the state of suffering and privation experienced by those who are consigned to Khala Panee. Their state is that of complete uncertainty. Hence the criminals that have been transported live vividly in the recollection of their friends; and hence it is that this punishment is regarded more awfully than death, which at once removes the subject of all doubts about him." It is a peculiar and striking feature in the penal system of Colonel Hall, that offenders are compelled to make good the value of stolen property, and further, to provide for the expenses of their own support whilst in gaol, as well as to defray their share of the expenses of conviction. In some instances poverty precludes this; but as a general rule, prisoners are required to arrange these contingencies, and if unable to liquidate them at once, to bind themselves to contribute a fixed sum at each successive harvest. This is practicable in a country where every peasant is more or less a cultivator, and has some share of the lands of his village : "The system," says Colonel Hall, in his report, already cited, "is efficacious notwithstanding its mildness. Besides being a direct preventative of crime, it has tended materially to soften the character, to remove atrocity, to enlist the feelings of the country, and consequently its active support in aid of the police, and to render resistance to capture, even by a single chuprassee (constable) very rare. In such a country two thousand policemen would be ineffectual without the cordial support of the inhabitants; so that their good will is of primary importance." The inhabitants of Mairwara are, as we have before observed, separated nominally into two religious divisions, Moosulmans and Hindoos, but they intermarry, and, save that the former practise circumcision, and bury their dead, their customs are almost identical. The Hindoos are the least sectarian of all who anywhere profess that ancient infidelity. They wholly disregard the set forms of ablution, preparation of food, and others. They pay no religious reverence to the idols worshipped by the orthodox of their persuasion elsewhere, but have their own deities. Their principal food is Indian corn and barley bread; they eat, without hesitation, of sheep, goats, and even cows, have no interdiction as to the use of spirituous liquors, but never touch hog's flesh, deer, fish, or fowls. The most remarkable and pernicious of the Mair customs were, the sale of women, female infanticide, and an extensive system of slavery. Women were looked upon as property to be disposed of or transferred, with the same facility as cattle or land. On the death of a father, the mother lapsed to the son as part of the paternal inheritance, and he could sell her at his pleasure, provided he adhered to the rules of his clan. A wife might be disposed of at any time. These usages arose from no defect of natural affection, which we are assured this people possess as much as others, but from an equity of their own, having its origin On a in their marriage contracts. marriage engagement taking place, the first step, the most needful, and the most strictly enforced of all, was, that a certain sum and in reference to their condition, a high one-should be paid to the wife's father. From this flowed the right of sale, whether as wife or mother, it being regarded as no more than an equivalent for the sum invested in the original purchase. Strange as such a practice may seem, it will, no doubt, appear still more singular that it was never regarded by the women as either a grievance or a degradation. On the contrary, they were rather flattered at being the subjects of so clear a test of value. This was their custom from time immemorial, and when spoken to about it, neither woman nor man felt it to be in the least wrong. The well-known eulogy on the French sauce, that it might tempt a man to eat his own father, has its pendant amongst the Mairs, for one of them declared without reserve, that "he had sold and eat his own mother," meaning that he had expended on himself the money he had gained by selling her. Colonel Hall traced this demoralising practice, and that of infanticide, to their cause, and dealing with that cause, succeeded in putting them down. "The measures," says the work before us, "which were adopted in view to the complete prohibition of female infanticide, and the marked success which characterised these proceedings, are fully detailed in Colonel Hall's report, under date 31st July, 1827." Colonel Dixon then gives the principal paragraphs of that report, of which we transcribe the following: "Par. 5th. It is most satisfactory to be able to report the complete and voluntary abolition of the two revolting customs-female infanticide, and the sale of women. Both crimes were closely connected, having had their origin in the heavy expenses attending marriage contracts. The sums were payable by the male side, were unalterable, equal for the rich and poor, without any abatement whatever in favour of the latter. What first established the payment is unknown, but it was so sacred, inviolable, and even a partial deviation so disgraceful, that the most necessitous of the tribe would not incur the imputation. "6th. Hence arose as decided a right over the person of women, as over cattle or other property. They were inherited, and disposed of accordingly, to the extent even of sons selling their own mothers. |