modest picture of the effects which have attended his beneficent measures.

On

"The magistrate of Bareilly has reported, that within the last twelve months there was an addition of above 2270 houses to that city. In one district, which the ravages of predatory bands had caused to be left wholly 'uncultivated, and which, indeed, had become nearly uninhabited, before the expiration of one year after we had provided for its safety, there were more than 2,000 ploughs at work; and before the completion of the second year, the number employed exceeded 5,000. An eye-witness from our newlyacquired possessions in the vicinity of the Nerbudda has told me that he saw, at some of the small towns, the people busied in levelling the fortifications which had, perhaps, for generations been the protection of the place. asking the motives, he was answered that they should now want space for an expected increase of inhabitants, besides which the place would be more healthy from the free current of air, and ramparts were no longer necessary for their security, since they had come under the British Government. I have chosen these instances from parts of the country widely separated. The facts, singly, are not very material; but when taken as samples of an aggregate, they furnish matter of heartfelt reflection."* The close of the discourse from whence this extract is taken deserves likewise to be inserted. Addressing the civil students, his Lordship says, "The possible calls on your justice, your sagacity, your firmness, your exertion, your patience, and your kindness, might be impracticable to communicate; but every man ought to have a short summary of what becomes him. When appeals for your intervention occur, it will be sufficient if each of you says to himself, the indigent requires a sustaining hand, the dis

quires redress; they who present themselves to me in these predicaments are my fellow-men; and I am a Briton.'"

Native gratitude for the benefits conferred by his Lordship has been variously manifested,* but never more appropriately than by Zalim Singh, the Raj Rana of Kotah, who has erected a bridge over the Burkandie river, composed of the spoils taken from Kureem and Dost Mohammed, the Pindarry Chiefs, in the year 1817, which he dedicated to the Governor General, and called it Hastings' Bridge.t

The interest which his Lordship took in the improvement of Indian agriculture, was discovered at an early period, and on many occasions. Moved by this concern, he patronized, from the beginning, the Agricultural Society, established in 1820, and by a vote of council, assigned an annual allowance of 1,000 rupees towards defraying its expenses. Subsequently, he added the experimental farm near Barrackpore to the Company's botanic garden, with the immediate view of assisting the

* The impression among the natives of Bengal with regard to the beneficent conduct of their "wise and merciful" Governor General, is exemplified, by their ascribing to his offices with great simplicity, even the productiveness of the seasons, &c. "We the humble subjects of the province of Bengal," it is said in one of the native newspapers, "offer up heartfelt praise to the Governor-General. As what is said, that it is through the virtuous actions of the ruler of a country that it enjoys happiness,' has been witnessed this year by every one; all the lands of this country affording abundant crops of excellent grain, and almost every article of food becoming cheap; people have been chearfully attending their respective duties, and spending their time contentedly, and the poor were happy to find rice and other things growing cheaper."

+ This bridge, which is upwards of 1000 feet in length, including abutments, consists of nineteen semicircular arches. Its entire height is about thirty-five feet, with the parapet, which is pierced for embrasures, and measures three feet and a half. The breadth within the parapets is twenty-four feet. It is on the principal route from the capital to the eastward, and will be a great benefit to the country. Its durability will preserve to after ages the memory of the fact it commemorates, the fame of his Lordship, and the gratitude of the

'ed requires counsel, the injured re

* Address to the college of Fort William, 16th July 1821.

are greatly extolled by Sir John Malcolm (Memoir, ch.9); notwithstanding his proclamation against CATS (Ibid. ch. 12.).

1815.

See the admirable minute of the 1st June

Agricultural Society in their pursuits and experiments. A horticultural establishment there, was also sanctioned by Government in 1822, to the extent of 500 rupees per month.

Under the sixth head, that of local improvements, may be comprehended the formation of roads, the construction of bridges, the restoration of canals of irrigation,* the erection of handsome edifices, and various regulations for the comfort of both natives and Europeans. The improved state of the city of Calcutta alone, during his Lordship's administration, is a monument of his solicitude in these respects. "We have witnessed," say the inhabitants of Calcutta, in their farewell address to the Marquess," the uniform readiness and energy, with which your Lordship has countenanced every plan for promoting the splendour and the healthfulness of the capital of British India. The public edifices which have arisen in Calcutta under your auspices, will proclaim to future ages the care with which your Lordship provided for the religious and commercial convenience of the European community; while the native population will point, with gratitude and exultation, to the public works of your Lordship, as worthy of the proudest days of their ancestors." One source of the durability of Lord Hastings' fame, arises from the exertions made by him, in conjunction with the late zealous Bishop of Calcutta, in behalf of the Christian religion. The foundation of several churches and religious colleges have been laid in Calcutta, during his government: an English church has even been erected at Poona, so lately the scene of vice and disorder under the dissipated and luxurious Peishwa. Besides which, every well directed institution, the

The restoration of the great canal of Delhi had been abandoned by his Lordship's predecessors, as too expensive and difficult; but the work was undertaken by his orders in 1817, and finished in 1820, under the masterly superintendance of the late Captain Blane, though the channel to be excavated, besides sluices and lateral branches, was 180 miles in length.

object of which was to spread the knowledge of the scriptures, has been encouraged; and his Lordship condescended to become the patron of the Serampore College, when the missionaries announced to him their design of erecting it in 1818: These missionaries declare, indeed, that upon all occasions he bestowed the kindest attention on whatsoever they brought before him connected with the mental improvement of India.*

The school for native doctors, instituted in 1822, for the purpose of instructing natives in medicine, under the Presidency of Fort William, is another example of his Lordship's attention to the welfare of the Hindoos, where deficiency in this branch is most distressing.t

These monuments of beneficence are testimonies to the character of the British Indian Government. His Lordship, who attended as a peer at the trial of his predecessor, Mr. Warren Hastings, was struck with a certain rhapsody of Mr. Burke, who declared, that if the English were driven from India, they would leave behind them

no memorial worthy of a great and enlightened nation; no monument of art, science, or beneficence; no vestige of their having occupied and ruled the country, except such traces as the vulture and the tiger leave behind them!" This accusation is noticed, and eloquently refuted, in one of Lord Hastings' discourses at the visitation of Fort William College.

We shall close this long dissertation with an account of the revenue and financial arrangements during the go

*Friend of India, No. VII.

† See an account of the medical and surgical sciences of the Hindoos, in the Oriental Mag., February 1823. This lamentable defect of medical knowledge is felt by the natives themselves. In No. 3, of the Sungbaud Cowmuddy, is an appeal to Government respecting the want of proper medical advice in India; and No. 4 contains an exhortation and recommendation to native phy sicians, to place their children under European doctors, in order that they may acquire the English mode of treating diseases.

# 30th June 1817.

mands have amounted annually to nearly two millions sterling. The ne cessity of keeping up the remittances to England, notwithstanding the extraordinary expenses of the war, was obviously a source of difficulty to the 'Indian executive.

The exigencies of the Nepaul war created a large demand upon the revenue, which, in that year, fell short of the amount of the preceding, though it greatly exceeded that of 1812-13. The usual supplies were, however, furnished to England, the Marquess having procured funds for his military operations by a loan of two crore of rupees, or about two millions and a half sterling, from the Nawab of Oude, half of which debt was subsequently cancelled, in consideration of cessions to his Highness of districts conquered by us from the Raja of Nepaul.

Notwithstanding the expenses of the military attitude unavoidably maintained during the three succeeding years, Lord Hastings was enabled to accumulate in the Indian treasury, through the productiveness of the revenue, a fund for the great effort of 1817-18, amounting to the enormous sum of 6,55,99,156 sicca rupees, or upwards of eight millions sterling, consisting almost entirely of coin or bullion. The gross revenue of that year, it will be perceived, was, besides, more productive than any preceding.

The disbursements attendant upon that vast system of operations, the event of which has fixed our authority upon so firm a basis, in conjunction with the drain occasioned by the home demands, exhausted the Indian treasury: but the whole actual addi tional debt incurred in India between April 1814 and April 1818 was but three crore and 43 lac of rupees (including the two crore from the Nawab Vizier), of which the public revenue was called upon to furnish no more than about 90 lac.

Thus, supposing the supplies an nually furnished to England had been

sufficient to meet the demands, the object of Lord Hastings' plan would be gained by a sacrifice up to that period of less than a crore of rupees, or a million and a quarter. But the supplies, although averaging annually one crore, 35 lac, were unequal to the demand."

According to a statement given by Mr. Prinsep, the net deterioration caused by the prosecution of these plans would appear to be 2 crore and 77 lac, or less than three millions and a half. This was in 1818; and the writer calculates upon an additional burthen of four crore and a half in the ensu ing year, whereby the Indian debt, which was in 1814, 23 crore and 15 lac, would be increased to between 27 and 28 crore, or nearly 35 millions. But according to the official account laid before Parliament, the territorial debt, bearing interest, of the three presidencies, up to 30 April 1821, was only 33 millions. Taking the difference roughly at six millions and a half, and assuming the interest on this increase at six per cent., the additional burthen on the territorial revenues will, at the utmost, amount to less than £400,000 per annum.

If it can be shewn that the territo rial resources acquired by the late operations in India, and the practicable reduction of expenditure consequent thereupon, will be equivalent to the whole of this burthen, as well as to the home territorial demand, it will be evident that financial benefit has, in addition to other advantages, resulted from the measures of Lord Hastings.

From the mode in which the Parliamentary accounts are exhibited, wherein the revenues and charges of the ceded and conquered territories are mixed and dispersed among those arising from other sources, it is not

practicable to deduce therefrom a satisfactory statement of the exact amount of revenue accruing from recent acquisitions. We shall therefore adopt the statement given by Mr. Prinsep of the annual rate at which the territories stood in the accounts of the displaced governments; leaving only out of consideration the diminution of charge consequent upon the extensive and permanent pacificatory system which the changes in our condition and relations have introduced throughout the continent of India.

The revenues of the Peishwa, after deducting the incumbrances arising from the provision for the Sattara Raja, the stipends to Bajee Row and his brother, and other necessary charges, are computed to yield 87 lac. The ceded lands of the Bhoosla were entered in the accounts of that state at 22,47,000 rupees. From the Holkar cessions a produce of 10 lac may be assumed, the anarchy which reigned in that state allowing us very imperfect means of judging as to its actual revenues. Sagur, and other retained territories in its neighbourhood, including the cession of Mohaba, are expected to yield five lac. Ajimere produces four lac; and fifteen must be added for the Rajpoot tributes. That from Jeypore alone will ultimately amount to that sum; but it is fair to confine the view to a more limited period. Thus the gross addition to the resources of the Indian Government from the acquisitions during the war, is upwards of 1 crore 43 lac; and the net revenue may be fairly taken at about 90 lac, or £1,125,000.

These estimates are founded upon data which we are justified in considering as below the truth; and accordingly, though some time must elapse before the new resources come into complete operation, the gross revenue has experienced an increase which has been progressive, amounting, by the last account, to upwards of five millions sterling, compared with

the very productive year 1813-14. On the 29th May 1822, the Chairman of the Court of Directors declared, in a General Court of Proprietors, that from the last financial letter it appeared that there was a surplus revenue from our Indian possessions of nearly a crore and a half of rupees.

The management of the Indian finances during the late war will be seen to better advantage by comparison with that of former seasons of hostility. The Mahratta war from 1803 to 1807 cost 7 crore 57 lac beyond the revenue, although the supplies to England were necessarily suspended. But the late extensive contest, during an equal period, occasioned no deficit: but a large surplus was available for national purposes in England. The necessity of still larger remittances thither created a debt, the interest on which is only half that incurred by former loans.

These financial advantages have proceeded, not from vexatious imposts, but from land revenues, fixed in their ratio, gained by right of conquest, and which no one is entitled to dispute.

A financial operation of Lord Hastings in 1821, which extricated the Government at home from a serious difficulty, and achieved a very great saving to the East-India Company, demonstrated that his Lordship excels eyen in this perplexing province of a statesman's office. We shall despatch this transaction in as few words as possible.

The interest on the loan of 1811 was payable at the home treasury by drafts from Bengal, at the fixed rate of 2s. 6d. per rupee. Whilst the current exchange was not below this rate, native and European creditors in India received their dividends in cash. Drafts on London were required only for persons resident in Europe. But no sooner was it perceived that such bills were saleable at a premium, owing to the fall of the exchange towards the close of 1819-20, than every class