scripts, nineteen in Zend, and the rest in Pehlevi: amongst the former is a work entitled, Pundnameh, written in Pehlevi, with a Persian translation. This work is named in the Desatir as the fourth work composed in an unknown and ancient dialect: it is therefore expected to throw some light upon the authenticity of the Desatir. Besides these manuscripts, the Professor has carried to Europe 80 from Ceylon, 30 in Pali, and 50 in Cingalese: several of the former were brought from Ava by a Bauddha priest, who became a convert to Christianity. The following are some of the books. Jatakatha katha, an account of the 550 incarnations of Buddha. Panaya panas Jataka pota, a Cingalese translation of the same. Two historical works, Maha vansa and Rasa vahini; and the Kamma Vaka, a treatise on initiation into the priesthood,-a singularly splendid and curious manuscript. Klaproth's China.-A description of China, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical, is in the course of publication in London, by subscription. The author is Julius Klaproth, well known by his Travels in the Caucasus, his Asia Polyglotta, and his valuable contributions to the Journal Asiatique. The present work is to follow the plan of Hamilton's last work on India, and to occupy in like manner two quarto volumes. It is dedicated to Sir G. Staunton, and is to be published in the English language. Klaproth has been hitherto known as an author in German and French: if he write with equal facility and correctness in English, his acquisitions as a European linguist alone must be of no ordinary description. His knowledge of Chinese and of the Tartar dialects, has been long known to be very extensive. We observe his Majesty, three of the royal dukes, a very respectable list of nobility, and the Court of Directors, are amongst the patrons of the publication. Sketches in India.-A work entitled SKETCHES IN INDIA," by William Huggins, late Indigo Planter in the district of Tirhoot, has just arrived from the London Press. It brings down occurrences in this country, so far as it is historical, to about the month of March 1823; and affects to give a picture of both European, and native manners. It seems to us to do neither of these subjects justice; but to abound in very loose observations hastily drawn, and as hastily thrown together, without regard to arrangement, and with a determined and persevering setting at defiance of every thing like good writing, and good taste. thor's remarks "on subjects connected with the government-civil and military establishments," surpass in crudeness, even those of the sister publication of Lieutenant White, and is another example of the very low cast of historians, who are now-a-days enlightening the public at home, on the state of affairs in this country. The au We must present our mercantile readers with a sketch, which will no doubt amuse them, and perhapsserve to justify our opinion of the work. "The Calcutta agents form a very pro minent part of the community, and from their extensive mercantile connexions, Occupy a large space in the public eye. These gentlemen, according to a bombastic mode of expression usual in India, are called, by way of eminence, the princely merchants of Calcutta. Indeed these princes of the desk and ledger are very fond of adulation, and take pride in the high-sounding epithets applied to them, by persons some twenty or fifty thousand rupees minus in their books. People in the east are addicted to pompous titles; the emperor's court abounded in ،، lights of the world, invincible swords, and supporters of the throne." I dare say these ledger princes, whose insignia should consist of a bale of cotton for a crown, and an indigo chest for a sceptre, by and by, will be metamorphosed into ornaments of our Indian empire, and mighty lords of the quillhigh in dignity!-But a truce to levity, and let us examine what the princely merchants are. During the war, Calcutta agency houses consisted of old establishments, which engrossed a great part of all commercial transactions, and might be termed a mercantile aristocracy. Possessed of large factories and numerous constituents through India, the tra-. der was entirely dependant upon them, (and an agent dictated his terms, from which there was no appeal. At present the case is different; inferior houses of agency have started up, new establishments have been formed, and an agent cannot dictate terms to persons possessed of some property, as they may have recourse to these inferior houses, so that the aristocracy is fast losing its domi neering ascendancy: they act as agents to civil servants, officers in the army, &c., and lend money to merchants or traders upon terms very favourable to themselves, so that it often happens, when these are losers by a speculation, the agent is a gainer. During the war, when commercial men sometimes made their fortune by a happy incident, they charged forty, fifty, and ninety per cent. for money advanced; however, at present, that trade is dull; they are compelled to be more moderate, and content themselves with thirty. This exorbitant per centage they make out in the shape of interest for money, commissions, charges, godown rents, &c. which often startle and gall an unwary constituent. I have heard of cases where this latter has sat down full of satisfaction, and calculated a pretty little balance in his own favour, after allowing for the common interest of money; but this was reckoning without his host. He goes to his agent, requests his account, and starts at a debt which stares him in the face, more frightful than Hector's ghost was to pious neas. The agents have indigo factories, cotton factories, and other possessions in the interior, over which they appoint managers, and allow them a share in the concern, also a salary for their trouble; with these they adopt the same system as with speculators, so that managers are often involved in debt, whilst the agent's a gainer. This was the case with indigo planters for many years; they laboured, they sweated, and found themselves in the end playing a losing game; however for the last two years, fortune has been propitious, and owing to the great rise in the price of that article, they are getting rich in spite of incumbrances. Constituents, with an independent property, are neither more nor less than servants to agents, related, re-commended, or otherwise connected with these latter, who possess establishments which must be superintended by somebody, and into which these gentlemen are dubbed as managers, constituents, or servants. When a constituent is deeply in their books, and has not assets sufficient to pay them, they insure his life to .the amount; so that his death, which may not be very distant in a climate like India, discharges all arrears. The esprit du corps among them displays itself in a very handsome and laudable manner; for if a respectable agency-house should get involved, owing to bad speculations, or other unfavourable circumstances, the rest step in to its aid, and advance money in the most liberal manner, in order to keep it from failing. Having thus stated some leading particulars respecting houses of agency, I shall now proceed to more general observations: their connexions extend among all or. ders of men in India, who either borrow from or deposit money with them, and draw upon them as circumstances require. They associate with persons of the highest rank, with whom they are concerned in business, and receive numerous visitors, in order to draw the ties of interest closer among their great friends. To persons under them their tone is high and arbitrary, not the mo-deration of an English merchant, but the loftiness of an Indian; so that a young man who would come on in their employment, should have a flexible back, and be skilled in the art of booing." Quarterly Register OF OCCURRENCES IN THE EAST. HISTORICAL SKETCH. From the arrival of Lord MOIRA in India-State of India at that period-Policy of Lord Wellesley-Policy of Lord Cornwallis and Sir George Barlow-Family of Scindeah-Family of Holkar Berar Rajah-Ameer Khan-Contests between the Rajahs of Joudpoor and Jeypore-Death of the Oudipore PrincessConduct of Jugwan Singh on the occasion-Pindaries-Cheeto -Nepaulese Encroachments-War in Nepaul-Peace with the Goorkahs-Pindaree War-Treachery of the Peishwa and Berar Rajah-Termination of the Pindaree Campaign—Treaties-and present State of Central India-Return of Lord Hastings to the Presidency-Character of his Government-Periodical Press in India. IN introducing this department of our labours, in which we propose to give a brief, but connected detail of occurrences, as they arise, it may perhaps be expected, that we take a short view of the annals of British power and dominion in the East, after the mode usually followed in annual, and other registers. To attempt this would, however, lead us into a field, not only already very fully occupied, but obviously too large and extended for the space, which it is within our power to devote to any one subject, in a work, aiming, like the Quarterly, at a miscellaneous character. In the Asiatic Annual Register of Debrett, the annals of British India will be found at very considerable length: the Calcutta Asiatic Register of 1822, has brought them down to the period of the Marquess of Hastings' assuming the reins of the Indian government in 1813 and a brief and rapid sketch of events under his Lordship's government, is all we can aspire, to as an introductory chapter to our Quarterly Regis ter. Looking back on the events, that distinguished the administration of Lord Hastings, and the success, which attended his measures, alike in the field and the cabinet, we can readily perceive, how much reason the country, and the East India Company had to congratulate themselves, on their happy selection of a statesman, and a soldier, in all respects so well qualified to rule our eastern empire. But before the future had in India developed the wisdom of this choice, the past had given a pledge, in the public life and character of Lord MOIRA, that he would maintain the honour, establish still more firmly the power, and increase the resources of British India. He took the reins of government into his hands, at a period, when the volume of great events was almost closing in Europe; but when not a little remained to be done in this country, to secure the peace and tranquillity of our dominions. Our power was settling down into that firm and steady attitude, which it now presents; but before it attained its complete consolidation, attempts were made by several of the native princes of India, to avert from themselves the subjection, which they had every reason to fear awaited them, and to preserve, if possible, the system of rapine and oppression, in which they had so long indulged. At the period of Lord Hastings' arrival in India in 1813, the British power extended over by far the greater, and richer portion of the Peninsula; and the most full and complete sovereignty, had rewarded the persevering ardour and address of the Honourable Company, to obtain a firm and independent footing in the country. But besides the provinces, that owned their rule without controul, there were many states, over which they exercised an influence, little short of absolute dominion; and others, which they recognized, and where they were themselves acknowledged on the footing of a reciprocal equality. Subsidiary alliances linked the British Government to the imbecile Rajahs of Mysore and Travancore in the south, to the Nizam in the interior, to the Peishwa and the Guickwar on the west; while the Nuwab, now his Majesty of Oude, stood in his relation to our power, in a situation, that neither boasted the independence of these other states, nor displayed the subjugation, to which the once proud princes of Delhi, Moorshedabad, and Arcot, had been reduced. The principle of territorial cessions, from the revenues of which our subsidiary forces, at the different courts of India, were to be paid and supported, had been wisely preferred by Lord Wellesley, to the more common practice of periodical money payments; and displays advantages so many and so obvious, that it has not more readily been stipulated on the one side, than agreed to on the other. The policy of the Company would, however, have been but half accomplished, if these alliances had rested with our promise, upon one part, to protect these states, and their agreement, upon the other, to provide for the expense: upon these alliances were built the more important stipulations, that without our knowledge, consent, and concert, these states should enter into no political relations with those around them, nor decide a quarrel, nor settle a dispute, except at the will, and on the terms of the British Government. Satisfied with having secured the greater powers, by this measure of policy, the lesser, of which there existed a great variety in India, were left in some respects apparently more free, and independent, in reality more under the European yoke, than their mightier brethren. Protection was promised to them, for which their poverty prevented many of them from paying, and a controlling influence over their movements, ami- . cable or hostile, with each other, and the aid of all their resources, in time of need, were expected for this gift. Such was the system, adopted by Lord Wellesley, for governing our vast empire in this quarter of the globe, and maintaining its peace and permanence, amidst states so numerous, so jealous, and so predatory. The mind of this distinguished statesman contemplated nothing less, than to embrace within the operation of this |