the position of the different groups, and to prevent their becoming too widely extended.

On arriving at Rus, Capt. Sadlier found that Ibrahim Pasha had proceeded to Medina, and was under the necessity of following him thither. He arrived there on the 8th at Birali, about three miles west of the city, and was provided with accommodations at the former, Medina being shut against him as an infidel. He was consequently unable to give any account of it from his own observation. From Birali Capt. Sadlier proceeded to Yamboo, with the haram of Ibrahim Pasha, who went himself by way of Mecca. He was detained at Yamboo from the 21st September to the 19th October, when he embarked for Jedda, in an open boat, and arrived there in four days. Whilst at this place, Capt. Sadlier had several interviews with Ibrahim Pasha, who seems to have communicated with him on a friendly and unceremonious footing. The Pasha returned to Egypt on the 16th November. The English envoy was detained for conveyance till January, and did not reach Bombay again until the 8th of May.

Ibrahim Pasha is the eldest son of Mohammed Ali, the viceroy of Egypt. He was at this time in southern Arabia, in prosecution of his father's policy, and the extermination of the Wahabees. The enterprise had been commenced in 1815, and had been carried on with considerable valour and conduct,but equal treachery and cruelty. The fate of the Wahabees under their chief Abdullah, was decided at Kur, when they sustained a severe defeat by a body of Turkish horse under Aozoon Ali. After taking several of their strong holds, the Pasha laid siege to the capital of the Wahabees, Deriah, which, after a siege of seven months, was taken. Abdullah was obliged to surrender himself unconditionally, although his brothers and troops were pardoned. He was sent to Egypt, and ultimately to Constantinople, where we have since learnt he was put to death. The Grand Signor's orders were to destroy Deriah entirely; but the Pasha did not make these orders public until he had received large sums of money from the inhabitants, as a ransom for their persons and property, When he could extort no more money, and his troops had enriched themselves by pillage, he directed Deriah to be to

tally destroyed; and every beam and stick in the town was in consequence burnt, and every tree in the plantations and gardens cut down.

The power of the Pasha of Egypt was thus extended to the Persian Gulf; but the difficulty of maintaining his troops in these provinces, and the troublesome character of the Bedouins, bave induced him apparently to relinquish any intention of establishing his authority permanently in this direction. By late advices also, it appears that the Wahabees are not so entirely annihilated as Capt. Sadlier's journal represents them. A son of their late chief has lately declared himself in Nejd, and has been joined by considerable bodies of the Arabs. This rising, however, is probably more of a political than religious character, as the Turkish rule cannot possibly be palatable to the people of Yemen. The extracts from Capt. Sadlier's journal which we have thus followed, shew him to be a plain, but attentive and accurate observer.

We have now closed our survey of the literary, and largest portion of the Transactions of the Bombay Society. The scientific division, comprehending statistical descriptions, still remains. We had designed to have included these also in our present remarks, and terminated our review in this number; but as we have already exceeded the limits we had assigned to ourselves on this occasion, we must defer till a future opportunity our final notice of the three volumes of the interesting researches of the Bombay Society.

[To be continued.]

A Memoir of Central India, including Malwu, and adjoining Provinces; with the History and copious Illustrations of the past and present Condition of that Country. By Major General Sir JOHN MALCOLM, G. C. B. &c. &c. In two Volumes, 8vo. London. 1823.

[Continued from p. 121.]

In our last number, we entered at some length into a notice of that part of the first volume of the work before us, which treats of the Mahratta states in general-of the families and courts of Holkar and Scindeah in particular-of the

rise and annihilation of the Pindaries—and of the Rajpoot chiefs of Central India. The second volume of Malcolm, with the concluding chapter of the first, is devoted to the important topics of the government, revenue, and population of Central India: a chapter is dedicated to a contrasted view of the state of Central India in 1817, and 1821; and another to reflexions on the condition of the British power in this part of the Peninsula.

In his observations on the government of Central India, under its various modes of administration, Malcolm has entered into details, which both bring us intimately acquainted with its principles, and develope their application, under the many changing destinies of that part of India. They are interspersed, as indeed is all the work, with anecdotes and facts, illustrative of his doctrines; and these are told to us, in the same entertaining style, for which we remarked, that the former part of the Memoir is conspicuous.

Our limits will not permit us to follow our author in his descriptions, from that of the Mahratta Chief himself, down to the humblest civil officer of a village; and we must content ourselves with laying before our readers something like a general view of the mode, by which the administrative chain is linked together, recommending to them to peruse the pages of our author for fuller information.

Among the Mabrattas, the chief, under whatever name he is known, is, in theory, absolute in power-in practice he rules under many restraints. Until the late dismemberment of the empire, they all acknowledged the paramount authority of the Peishwa, and they paid to the order of Brahmins a degree of respect, as men clothed with sacred office, that often prevented them from abusing the power, which, as military leaders, was in their hand. Malcolm traces the milder features in their rule to the connection, which many of them, as Sudras, had with the lower classes of their subjects and while he admits their occasional rapacity, acquits them of being generally and habitually cruel, describing them as inclined to respect the usages and institutions of the countries, which they conquered. He must indeed have raised the character of the Mahrattas higher than it stood before, in the estimation of Europeans, and in the picture, which he has

drawn of this character, has certainly shown, that they are not the most unlikely materiel, out of which a mild and just government may create a happy population.

We can do little more than enumerate the officers, exercising power under the Mahratta chiefs, in the civil and military departments of the state. At the head of these is the Dewan, or prime minister, whose functions extend over every department. Next to him, and at the head of the civil department, properly so called, is the Furnavese, or minister of finance, an officer, we need scarcely remark, of the first rank and importance in a government, where accumulation of revenue in the exchequer of the prince is the actuating principle, and the ultimate object of all the rule exercised. Next follows the Mozumdar, or register; the Chetnavese, or secretáry of state; the Seccanavese, or keeper of the seals; the Potavese, or treasurer; the Dufterdar, or keeper of state papers, and his establishment of Muttasuddies, or clerks.

In the military department, the officer of highest rank, next to the chief, is the Buckshee, or paymaster-a situation of great importance and responsibility, as on the proper discharge of its duties manifestly depend all the power, and wealth, and influence of the prince. This officer is represented as a check on the military leaders of the Mahratta armies; but his power of interference does not extend to those troops and their leaders, who are taken into the service of his master, nor to the Jaghiredars, who maintain their own contingents. The Karkoons, or agents of the Buckshees, are also officers of great influence in a Mahratta army, as to them are entrusted the pay and accounts of the differ-ent bodies of troops. A Mahratta chief has also about his person a class of dependants, generally of his own relations, something similar to the tail of a highland chieftain in Scotland. They are called Hoozooriahs,

On the Komisdar, or collector, devolves the exercise of judicial authority. This union of offices accords but ill with our notions of good government: but among the Mahrattas, where the administration of justice has been always considered a profitable source of revenue, the incongruity vanishes. The Jaghiredar is himself a petty chief, bound by something like a feudal obligation to assist his lord, and

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commanding his own forces or tribe. The Zemindar is more closely connected with the land of his pergunnah, but is properly also an officer of government, as his duty is to aid the collector in levying revenue. The principle, on which all these officers in the Mahratta government are paid, is on a calculation of their current and contingent expenses; and consequently the highest in rank do not always receive the greatest incomes. Malcolm says, it is not unusual for a Dewan, or high officer, to accept of a Jaghir in lieu of pay: but he adds, that this is seldom or ever made hereditary. Bheet, which originally meant a present from an inferior to a superior, is a tax levied by the collectors and their agents for their own subsistence from every village within their district; and as this, and indeed every other exaction, is so vague and undefined, it can surprize no one, that under such a system, the greatest evils should have been generated: it is only wonderful, that every thing like government did not disappear under it.

Had the Mahomedans, when they first conquered Central India, introduced their own mode of administering justice, many of the evils, which afterwards fell on that country, might have been prevented: but seeing how the dispensing of justice might be made a source of revenue, they easily flattered themselves that the Brahmins, whom they found acting as collectors, would also discharge the judicial functions with advantage. It is, however, remarkable, that while a great similarity of system appears to prevail over Central India, in regard to civil, and revenue, and military arrangements, there are in their judicial provisions, some marked and singular diversities. Much of the Mahomedan system of law and justice has always prevailed in Bhopal; and the Rajpoot states have laws and usages of their own, distinct in many things from those of the Mahrattas. Among them we find the nearest approach to the feudal system, as it prevails in Europe. We have the chieftain and his clansmen-the Rarowl, Rana, or Raja, and his Thakoors. These latter owe allegiance to the chief, but in their own lands are absolute, possessing the power of life and death. When the Mahrattas conquered the Rajpoots, they accepted of tribute instead of service, which the Moguls had exacted: and