The outward pressure removed, and the cry of Feringee invasion having for a time subsided, more scope has been given to home dissention among the Punjab authorities, and matters are therefore drawing to a conclusion, even more rapidly than might have been anticipated.

The Seikh army is said to be crossing the Ravee with intent to invade Jumboo, and while Sawun Mull and other chiefs are reported as either neutral, or openly advocating Golab Singh's cause, many of the Lahore Regiments are said to be in his favour. It is out of the question that they can really be so; but Golab Singh is just the man to make them be suspected, and therefore useless to his nephew, if not directly supporting himself. We stated in our last number that his arrangements had long since been in train for effecting his views on Cashmere; and when once the sword is drawn and no more is to be gained by dissembling, we shall not be surprised at his declaring himself monarch of the northern Hills, including Cashmere.

It is, however, idle to speculate. Time, and that a very short time, will give the result of the present commotions. We have shewn what blood has been spilt during the last four years, when common sense would have dictated unity. Many of the Seikhs, however, feel that like other states, they are doomed to fall, and as Sir Walter Raleigh wrote of the Greeks when cognizant of Philip's designs, "the Greeks grew even then more violent in devouring each other." So has it ever been with weak and barbarous states. They are well aware that dissension is ruin, but they must and will fight. Fascinated, as it were by the serpent's gaze, they run into the destruction they would avoid. And so it will be with the Seikhs. They may unite-many at least would do so in the event of actual invasion, and as our Akali friend said "the Khalsa will do battle ;" but, in the interval they will freely cut each other's throats whatever are the consequences. If it were politically honest to rob, that murder might be prevented, we would advocate interference, but as until we are attacked or our own positive safety demands the step, it would be unjust to cross the Sutlej-as too we have ample experience of the evils of interference, and have on the contrary side only ifs to offer as advantages-our voice is urgently for peace. We can see the advantages to ourselves of a strong government under Sawun Mull, in Moultan; and another under Golab Singh, in the Hills, and a British Protectorate over a dozen or twenty Seikh Chiefs in the Punjab east of the Jhelum, but if our Government has recognized Duleep Singh, it can never be a party to the dismemberment of his kingdom, even if called in by the Seikh Chiefs; and we must therefore let

things right or wrong themselves; and keeping ourselves in a position to resent and punish any insult or injury, rest content with improving our own ample possessions, instead of coveting those of our neighbours.

Dur

It may be safely asserted that no chronicler ever experiences greater difficulty in keeping pace with his subject, than the writer of Punjabee annals. The ground is constantly shifting under him. Ere the ink is dry with which he has recorded the names of living men, they are blotted out from the scroll of life-actor after actor disappears-and the speculations of the future are converted into retrospects of the past. ing the passage of this sheet through the press, the death of Sawun Mull, of Moultan, has been announced. He died on the 20th of September, from the affects of a wound received, a few days before, whilst sitting on the judgment-seat, from a notorious offender arraigned before him. The assassin, it appears, drew forth a pistol and shot the Dewan in the arm. The wound was not supposed to be mortal; but the work of death was done, and in furtherance of the great scheme which Providence seems to be accomplishing for the entire revolution of the Punjab, by the removal of all the leading spirits who have exercised or seemed likely to exercise an influence over the destinies of their country, in rapid succession, from the scene of strife, the name of Sawun Mull was added to the long list of murdered men. This able and energetic chief has been succeeded, in the government of Moultan, by his son, Lalla Moolraj, who is said to inherit much of his father's ability; and it is hoped that he will tread in the footsteps of one, who has shown, in the Government of the Moultanee provinces, a combination of energy and moderation rarely to be found in a semi-barbarous chief.

ART. VI.-1. General Register of the Hon'ble East India Company's Civil Servants on the Bengal establishment, from 1790 to 1842, comprising the dates of their respective appointments, &c. &c., compiled from authentic sources, under the direction of the Hon'ble H. T. Prinsep, by Ramchunder Doss.-Calcutta, printed at the Baptist Mission Press, 1844.

2. Papers relating to Affghanistan. London, 1838.

3. The Military Operations at Caubul, which ended in the retreat and destruction of the British Army, January 1842, &c. &c.-By Lieut. Vincent Eyre, Bengal Artillery. London, 1843.

Ir was long a subject of complaint with the British residents in India, that an empire which embraced the interests of a hundred millions of people, and yielded a revenue of twenty millions sterling a year, excited so little interest in the country to which it belonged. It was remarked with regret, that the most petty parish squabble in the neighbourhood of London, obtained greater attention than the most momentous political occurrence in India. But this feeling of indifference began to wear away when it was announced that the security of this distant empire, was menaced by the intrigues which a great European power had gradually pushed on to its very threshhold. This new-born interest, which was coincident in point of time with the establishment of a regular monthly communication by steam with England, was deepened by the intelligence which successively reached our native land of the bold measures which the local Government had adopted to meet this new danger; of the despatch of a grand army beyond the Indus to regions of which the very name was unknown; of the installation of Shah Soojah, and of the flight and eventual surrender of Dost Mahomed. But the interest was increased to a degree of the most painful intensity, when the mail conveyed the melancholy tidings that our Envoy had been murdered and a British army of five thousand men annihilated by the insupportable rigors of winter, and the weapons of hostile Affghans. Every account of this great national calamity was of course welcomed with eagerness; and as disaster is commonly supposed to originate in misconduct, those narratives which reflected most severely on the delinquencies of the chief actors in these scenes, obtained a pre-eminent share of public attention. Works, which a quarter of a century hence, when truth has triumphed over exaggeration, will be referred to only as evidence of the credulity of the community when its passions have been excited, were welcomed with more than usual avidity.

VOL. II.

C C

The officers who had been selected by Government for politi cal employment in that country, on account of their ability and experience, were held up by public writers-and by none more virulently than by Mr. Masson-to public detestation as the basest of mankind. By far the greater number of the public servants he calumniated had descended to a premature and bloody grave before these imputations on their character appeared. The work was therefore published with apparent impunity. In one instance, however, a successful attempt has been made to rescue one of Mr. Masson's victims from the infamy to which his memory had been consigned. Dr. Buist has triumphantly refuted the charges brought against Sir Alexander Burnes by this writer, and exposed the worthlessness of his testimony. In defending the character of one, Dr. Buist has, in effect, thrown a shield over the character of all the political officers employed across the Indus, so far as they could be affected by the slanders of a man whom he has shewn to be so utterly unworthy of credit. In this category will of course be included the reputation of Sir William Macnaghten, which Mr. Masson has assailed with peculiar virulence. Indeed, the vindictive feelings which are so manifest in his notices of this eminent public servant, more espe cially when in alluding "to the subsequent career, and miserable end of this functionary," he exclaims, "Grand dieu, tes jugemens sont pleins d'equité," are of themselves almost a sufficient antidote to his slanders; for truth is utterly incompatible with such feelings. But Sir William's whole career in the public service, and more especially his conduct in Affghanistan is the most appropriate and decisive refutation of the calumnies which have been heaped on him. We are disposed, therefore, to think that a more acceptable service could scarcely be rendered to the public, and to those who feel an interest in his reputation than to place in their proper light the proceedings of one, who, partly from the force of circumstances, and partly from the strength of his own character, has obtained so prominent a place in the public eye. In the following brief narrative of his public career, we have availed ourselves freely of the fragments of his own correspondence which escaped the wreck at Cabool, and which have been kindly placed at our disposal.

William Hay Macnaghten, the second son of Sir Francis Macnaghten, for many years one of the Judges of the Supreme Court in Calcutta, was born in the month of August, 1793. He was sent at an early age to the Charter House, where he was contemporary with some, who have since risen to great eminence in England. He came to India, at the age of sixteen, in September 1809, as a Cavalry Cadet on the Madras establish

ment. Shortly after his arrival, he was appointed to do duty with the Body Guard of the Governor of Madras, in whose family he continued to reside for some months. From the earliest period of his Indian career, his mind was eagerly bent on the pursuit of Oriental literature; and he devoted the leisure of his easy appointment to the study of Hindoostanee and Persian. In May 1811, he obtained the prize of 500 pagodas, which was held out to the junior officers of the army as an encouragement to the study of Hindoostanee. There was no reward appointed at that time for the successful study of Fersian; but with the view of establishing his qualifications for employment in the political department, to which his aspirations were directed, he passed a satisfactory examination in that language. Soon after, he was appointed to a Cornetcy in the 4th Cavalry, then stationed at Hydrabad, and in June 1811 he proceeded to join his corps. He remained with it for nearly a year, during which time he was invited to join the Resident, Mr. Henry Russell, in his visits to the Nizam and his ministers, and thus obtained an early opportunity of becoming acquainted with the policy and feelings of native Courts. Being desirous of acquiring some knowledge of mathematics, he was permitted, about the middle of 1812, to join the Institution founded by Lord William Bentinck for imparting instruction in that department of science, and made considerable progress in it under the tuition of Captain Troyer. Six months after he had entered on this study, he proceeded survey duty, and returned to Madras on its completion, and continued his studies in the Institution for six months longer. During this period, Government offered a prize of 500 pagodas for eminent proficiency in Persian, and he passed a second examination in it, and secured the reward. About the middle of 1813, he joined the escort of the Honorable Mr. Cole, the Resident of Mysore. He had already made some progress in a knowledge of the Tamul and Teloogoo languages, and he now embraced the opportunity of his residence in Mysore to add to them an acquaintance with the Canarees and Mahratta tongues. Shortly after his arrival at the Residency, he was employed by Mr. Cole in the capacity of a Political Assistant, though not formally recognized as such by Government-but he was now to quit the Madras Presidency, and enter upon another sphere of employment.

About the middle of 1814, he received an appointment to the Bengal Civil Service. He arrived in Calcutta with the most flattering testimonials from the Governor of Madras and from Mr. Cole. The Chief Secretary at that Presidency was instructed to "notify the appointment to the Governor of Bengal, and at