them mathematics and chemistry, and they will at once become admirable members of society. These are fashionable doctrines. Every evil is referred to the want of education, as in Swift's time every evil was ascribed to the "prejudice of education ;" so that, as he affirms, if a man had an ugly nose, a "prejudice of education" was called in to account for it. The mention of Swift in connection with this subject naturally recalls to mind the profound speech of the alderman in the Tale of a Tub, in praise of beef. "Beef," said the sage magistrate, "is the king of meat; beef comprehends in it the quintessence of partridge, and quail, and venison, and pheasant, and plum-pudding, and custard." Now, with all due respect for this worshipful dictum, we will venture to affirm that beef is not partridge, nor quail, nor venison, nor pheasant, nor plum-pudding, nor custard. It is beef, and nothing else. But after making all necessary abatements from the dignity with which the alderman's imagination invested it, beef is an excellent thing, as all Englishmen know, and we ardently wish that all had as much of it as they could consume. So of education. Education is not meat, drink, and clothing, as some of its supporters would seem to believe; it is not morality or religion, as almost all appear to think. It is education, and education only; and thus stripped of its false trappings, it is a very good thing,—a thing worth any sacrifice to secure in a sound and healthy state. Among the most highly educated, there is an abundance of vicious characters; among those who have small pretensions to high education, many worthy and respectable persons. Merchants, manufacturers, railway directors, and members of Parliament, do not pick pockets in Cheapside, but they sometimes come before the public under very ugly circumstances. Education-mere education—that is, instruction in language and science, does not reform a man ; neither does it make him wicked. His moral character is decided by other circumstances. It being the fashion to ascribe crime to the deficiency of literary cultivation, record is kept of the measure of education possessed by those whose conduct has rendered them amenable to the laws of their country; and the education-mongers think they have a triumph in the fact that most of those who at sessions and assizes stand at the bar of justice as accused persons, are totally or partially uneducated. Such criminals come from a class of society the members of which are for the most part uneducated, and they thus partake of the general deficiency. But does this prove that the want of education is the cause of their being criminals? Have you nothing to say for the pressure of want, for exposure to temptations from which those above them are exempt? It might as well be said that their guilt is caused by their deficiency in height of stature. Lay it down as a principle that men above six feet high are much less liable to commit crime than men below that standard; seek illustration from the criminal calendar, and you will find it. In no class or condition of society do men average six feet; consequently, the average height of criminals is below this. Here is your proof, what would you have more?

If from what we have said any one should be pleased to class us among the enemies of education, we denounce him as a libeller and a slanderer. We are of its warmest friends, but we will not support it upon false grounds. We hold that for every human being it is necessary to be able "to read, to write, and to count;" that wherever opportunity exists, education should be carried much farther; and that

in every country pretending to civilization, adequate means should be provided for the cultivation of the higher branches of knowledge. To neglect them is treason to the human intellect. Is man endowed with powers which, if properly trained, will enable him to dive into the secrets of nature, to understand, in some degree at least, the constitution of the world in which he has his being, and even to pass beyond its limits and converse with "the stars in their courses,"-to trace the history of his own race in the records bequeathed to him of the past, to revel in the gorgeous visions of poetry, perhaps to add to its creations; to strengthen his mind by investigating the laws of evidence and the truths of "sublime geometry;" to cheer it with the outpourings of wit, and brace it by severe logic,—is the mind of man thus endowed, and shall he neglect the noble gifts which he has received, gifts which, duly cultivated, elevate humanity, so far as the intellect is concerned, almost above itself? We can imagine reasons innumerable for cultivating the intellect we can conceive none for neglecting it. Literature and science are noble objects of ambition, though they have little or nothing to do with the improvement of the moral nature of man. They are glorious pursuits, though Lucretius and La Place were Atheists, and Bolingbroke and Byron profligates. We rejoice, therefore, at the recent movement for promoting them throughout British India, and we trust that it will be conducted judiciously and will advance triumphantly. But we must not be too sanguine. Shoals and quicksands are around. Empiricism will beset its course, and great caution will be necessary in the management of the noble vessel about to be launched. But preliminary matter has occupied us so long, that we have not space at present to enter into an examination of the proposed plan. We shall return to it at the earliest opportunity; but before closing these remarks, we may observe that it appears on the whole admirably adapted to its purpose.

ADMINISTRATION OF THE PUNJAB.

NO. V.

was

UNDER Runjeet Singh, as under all native rulers, the abstraction of money from the pockets of all who had the good fortune to possess any, was regarded as the chief end of government. Provision was made accordingly. "The whole country," say the framers of the report, threaded with a network of preventive lines. These lines were dotted with innumerable posts for the collection of every kind of tax, direct and indirect. At the same set of stations, excise and customs taxes, town duties, transit duties, capitation imposts, artisan fees, were all levied. The principle was to extract taxation from everything indiscriminately. Every doab being intersected by these lines, no article, home or foreign, could traverse the kingdom in its length or breadth, nor could enter any great market without paying duty a dozen times over." The reporters observe on this as follows:-"That such a multiform system of taxation did not harass the people, fetter trade, and produce oppression, can scarcely be supposed, but still commerce did somehow thrive, and a sturdy people grew and multiplied to a degree which, under such disadvantages, European political economists would hardly have thought possible." What " European political economists" might have thought possible we know not; per

haps they do not know either. Of late, some things have happened to astonish them tremendously. A few years ago, the object of their dread was "over-population." The people multiplied so fast that they predicted certain ruin therefrom, and seemed to expect that the time was approaching when, from the scarcity of food, men would be obliged to eat each other. This terrible catastrophe has, however, been averted. Nature has resources which political economists dream not of, and settles her own affairs without consulting them. So in the Punjab; the system that prevailed did not produce all the frightful effects which political economists might have anticipated; the people flourished in spite of it and in spite of them. Still it was a bad system, even though condemned by political economists; and its abolition was an important step in the way of improvement. Forty-eight articles were liable to custom, excise, town, or transit duties.. They were dealt with in the manner following, as soon as the British had the power even of recommending any measure :

"The British Resident, considering that the system had a tendency to annoy the people, to depress trade, and to impair the resources of agriculture, proposed to the durbar to remodel it. The reformation was planned on the principles that, while foreign and import trade was a fair object of taxation, internal trade should be set free; that the produce of the country should be sold in the country, without the imposition of duties; that the native-born subjects of the state should pursue their trades and professions without the exaction of imposts; that agricultural produce, which had already contributed to the land revenue, should, as much as possible, be exempt from further taxation; that those articles which were to remain dutiable should pay a consolidated tax on one line, and no other; that the whole country, instead of being cut up into endless fiscal divisions, should be encircled with a single line; that the salt revenue should be placed on a more certain basis.

"Duties were abolished on twenty-seven articles, chiefly the products of domestic industry, indigenous agriculture, or internal commerce. They were also reduced on nine articles, which were chiefly produced partly at home and partly abroad, and which were both imported or exported, and sometimes disposed of at or near the place of production. That portion of the duty which was retained fell mainly on importation. The only exportation restricted was that on the Indus frontier. All the interior lines were swept away, and the town and transit duties were abolished. The three grand frontier lines were kept up: one along the Indus, to intercept goods coming from the west; one along the Beas and the Sutlej, for goods, chiefly British, coming from the east; and the third running along the base of the Himalayan range, to meet the imports from Kashmere and Jummoo.

"The province of Mooltan was exempted from these arrangements, which might otherwise have interfered with existing pledges between Moolraj, the governor, and the council of regency. Thus remissions and reductions being taken together, taxes amounting to upwards of six lacs had been abandoned. To compensate in part for this deficit, three plans were adopted; namely, the imposition of one new duty, and the re-modelling of two existing duties. A moderate toll on ferries was to be introduced, and thus an extra lac was to be gained. The excise on drugs and spirituous liquors was to be improved by a system of licences, and was thus to produce nearly a lac, in addition to its former yield. The salt revenue was to be reformed. The old wasteful and uncertain system was to be discontinued. The long-pending demands were to be realized from lessees, and all the confused accounts were to be wound up and closed. A fixed duty of two rupees on the Punjabee maund was to be demanded from the merchants at the mines. But these duties were to be levied by a new contractor, who was to bear the cost of management and collection, and pay to the state an annual revenue of six lacs. Thus, on the former outturn of four lacs, an increase of two lacs was obtained."

This plan was adopted by the Lahore Council of Regency before the annexation. That event was the prelude to further reforms, which are enumerated.

"Such was the posture of fiscal affairs up to the date of annexation in 1849. From the foregoing sketch it will be seen, that on this occasion there were six descriptions of duty for the Board's consideration: first, the duties on the Indus; secondly, those on the Jummoo line; thirdly, those on the Beas line; fourthly, the unrepealed duties in the Mooltan provinces; fifthly, the duties recently imposed or remodelled by the advice of the Resident, viz., the excise on salt and spirits and the ferry tolls; and sixthly, there was the British customs line running through the Trans- and CisSutlej states, taxing salt, cotton, and sugar on importation, and also sugar on exportation.

"It was considered that the Indus line was injurious to the commerce of the newly-organized territory, so far as it affected exports, and that the import duties levied on it were inconsiderable. The Jummoo line was by itself not worth keeping up, as it did not yield half a lac per annum. The Beas line had been established to intercept British goods which had already paid seaboard duties, and could not be fairly maintained now that the Punjab had been annexed to the Company's dominions. The British line of the Beas had now become a mere line for transit-duty, commercially dividing one part of the empire from the other. The Board, therefore, recommended the abolition of all the four lines. The Mooltan duties would of course be repealed, and no line would be established south of Mithunkote, as there was no object to be gained in restricting the imports from Sindh. The ferry tolls and the spirit excise were to be retained on their former footing, but a further revision of the salt excise was contemplated. It was recommended that the Government should take into its own hands the management of the Cis-Indus mines; that a duty of two rupees the Company's maund, to cover everything, should be charged at the mine, and that after this payment the salt should pass free throughout the British dominions. Moreover, after a conference with the Agra Government, it was agreed that after the abolition of the Beas line (which reached to Kote Kapoora, south-east of Ferozepore), the north-west frontier line should be extended to the Sutlej, and carried down that river to Mooltan and Mithunkote, in order to exclude the untaxed salts of Rajpootana."

"One new tax was recommended, namely, the stamp-duty, to be fixed and realized, but at half rates, in the same manner as in our older provinces."

We purpose hereafter entering more at large into this part of the subject, but our space has so many claims upon it that, for the present, we are compelled to stop.

THE INDIAN BUDGET.

For the first time for somewhere about half a century, the representatives of the British people have been entertained by an Indian budget. The interest excited thereby may be concluded to have been both intense and general, as not less than a dozen members-some say one or two more-attended to witness this "old friend with a new face." Mr. Hume was present, and he knows something of the subject; possibly two or three others might know something also; but there certainly were some to whom it was darkness itself. Sir Charles Wood did all that could be done to make it clear. Unlike most financiers, he made no attempt at mystification: his speech was singularly manly, straightforward, and honest. For this reason, as well as for the knowledge of Indian accounts which it displayed, it was highly creditable to him. dour in rendering a just tribute to the officer of the East-India Company's establishment by whom the accounts had been prepared (Mr. Keith), deserves also to be noted. It is gratifying to be able to speak thus of the head of one of the great administrative authorities to whom our vast Indian empire is committed, and to feel that in thus speaking, we do not exceed the bounds of simple justice.

His can

PUBLIC WORKS-LIEUT.-COLONEL CAUTLEY.

THE services of Colonel Cautley, under whom that gigantic undertaking, the Ganges Canal, has been conducted to its present point of progress, have been acknowledged by the Crown, as they deserved to be. He has been honoured with the Order of the Bath. Though a military man, he takes place among the civil members of that illustrious order, reference being had to the field in which his meritorious labours were performed. Those labours it would have been impossible to reward too highly. He ranks among the benefactors of India, and as long as the great work, which will be his best monument, shall endure, his name will be remembered with honour.

The progress of this magnificent undertaking, and the

merits of the eminent person under whom it has been carried on, suggest to the mind the noble establishment at Roorkee as a nursery for engineering talent, and a repository whence the mechanical means and appliances for its exercise may be drawn. Such establishments as that at Roorkee, such works as the Ganges Canal, such men as Colonel Cautley, afford a ready and unimpeachable answer to the question sometimes put, with such an air of petty triumph,-What has England done for India?

INDIA MILITARY SERVICE-DIRECT

APPOINTMENTS.

"SHARP is the word," in these times; and in deferential acknowledgment, it is presumed, of that subtle, imponderable fluid, called the "spirit of the age," some changes, and not unimportant ones, have been made in the rules applicable to the candidates for direct cadetships. Hitherto, a candidate who failed to pass an examination might present himself again and again, so long as he did not exceed the proper age; or he might pass piecemeal. If, to use Oxford slang, he could "shove through one of the subjects of examination, his success in this was posted to the credit side of his account, he standing debtor only for the balance, which he might settle by instalments, at his convenience. The latter privilege is now to cease altogether, and the former is to be shaven down to extreme tenuity. A candidate failing to pass at his first examination will be allowed a second within six months, but, if not then qualified, there is to be no further locus pœnitentiæ,—the nomination is to lapse. Those who have already been examined and rejected, will also be allowed another chance within six months; but it will be "ane mair and at mair,”—if they fail, their appointments, or those which should have been their appointments, will have to look out for new tenants.

In our view, the new system is like most other things, a mixture of good and evil. To suffer a candidate to pass by bits and scraps we think wrong, but to blight a man's prospects for life because, in early youth, he has been somewhat idle, or somewhat stupid, is rather a hard measure of justice-or something else. The fashionable exercise of 66 coaching" will, we suppose, be called in "to make all safe;" and when, through this process, candidates are enabled to pass, one part of the world will exclaim, "How vastly we improve!"-another will ejaculate, "How amazingly we are gulled!"

THE MEDICAL SERVICE.

THE new code of regulations for the admission of candidates for the office of assistant-surgeon in the East-India Company's service is "out." It were useless to refer to it very particularly here, as it appears at length in our advertising columns. We shall only say that some of the requirements appear to us rather curious. It is supposed possible, as we gather from the document, to acquire a mastery in the treatment of insanity and ophthalmia (both of them of too common occurrence in India) within the short space of three months. "Attendance on a course of military surgery is" only "recommended." The modes of examination appear open to some remark. What is meant by "object examination" we do not engage to explain. We recollect an examination something of this kind recorded by our facetious cotemporary Punch, where a master exhibits an orange,

and asks, among other questions, "Will oranges keep in this climate?" The answer of the boys, in chorus, is a very natural and a very honest one-" Not if we can get at them." One of the modes proposed is "practical examination at the bedside of the patient." How is this to be? Is there to be an hospital fitted up either in Cannon-row or Leadenhall-street, or are patients to be conveyed to one of those places in cabs or on litters for the use of the candidates? January, 1855, will answer this and many other questions. There is one significant and very discreet circumstance attending the promulgation of the code its operation is limited to the examination to be holden in January next. What is to take place afterwards we are not advised, but medical " cram is to have at least one opportunity for a display of its capabilities.

CORRESPONDENCE.

TO THE EDITOR OF ALLEN'S INDIAN MAIL. SIR,-In the sixteenth volume, part i., of the "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society," lately issued, there appears an article under the following title: "On the Original Extension of the Sanskrit Language over certain Portions of Asia and Europe

under the ancient Aryans (), Indians, or Hindús of India Proper. By A. Curzon, Esq."

The question of the origin and extension of the Sanskrit language, examined in this essay, has already undergone ample discussion by the learned, elaborate, and careful research of the late General Vans Kennedy, in his "Researches into the Origin and Affinity of the Principal Languages of Asia and Europe," 1828.

This work, it would seem, has not come under Mr. Curzon's eye; for although noticing most other orientalists of the present and former times, no reference whatever is made to the book, nor is the author's name mentioned, except incidentally at p. 179, as an authority for an observation relating to the antiquity of the Puránas.

It is not my intention to enter upon any inquiry into the opinions these two writers have expressed, or the probability of their respective hypotheses of the origin of Sanskrit. I am about to deal with what Mr. Curzon alleges as to the Persian being a "derivative" language, premising the following notice of the conclusion of his argument in favour of the view he takes on the subject of Sanskrit: "From these considerations it follows, that there is no sufficient foundation for the hypothesis that the ancient Aryans, Indians, or Hindús, entered India Proper from some external region. On the contrary, the facts above delineated point to the conclusion that the rise, progress, advance in the arts and civilization of this remarkable people are the growth of their own land;" and then proceeding to examine the correctness of his opinion as to Persian being a language derived from Sanskrit,—a task I am bound not to decline from what I have already said on the subject in a paper published in the "Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society' in July, 1853, under the name of "Brief Notices of Persian and of the Language called Zend."

Kennedy, in his table of the "Filiation of Languages" (Res. p. 221), puts down Persian as a "distinct language," or "without affinities," having, in several parts of his work, satisfactorily shown this by reference to facts, and conclusive arguments grounded on them. Mr. Curzon considers the Sanskrit, principally from the nature and structure of the language itself, from its archaic forms, combined with the impress of an early civilization, and from its capability of restoring into intelligible meanness nearly the whole bulk of the radical words contained in the derivative languages of Persia, Greece, Rome, Central Europe, &c." (p. 178), to establish the fact of the Aryan race of India having attained to a high degree of civilization.

The above passage is only quoted in relation to what is there stated as to the derivation of Persian from Sanskrit ; and I contrast with it the following extract (pp. 206-7) from the "Researches:"

"But in Persian there is not the slightest appearance that its grammatical system was ever different from that which has prevailed during the last thousand years. * * *Its peculiar structure, therefore, deserves the attentive consideration of the philologist, because it differs entirely from that of all other languages. The characteristics by which it is principally distinguished consist in the nouns having no genders, in the substantives having only one case, in the adjectives being indeclinable, in the verbs being all conjugated according to one paradigm, and in four of their tenses being formed by particles; and particularly in the words of a most copious language being nearly all primitive, as it scarcely admits of the primitive being modified by means of increments, or of being confounded with particles." * **"There exists not, therefore, the remotest similarity between the Persian and Sanskrit grammatical systems, for the Persian noun has but one case, and the verb,

taking the second person singular of the imperative as the root, only three inflections, including the infinitive, and the personal terminations of the two tenses are precisely the same. Nor is there any further resemblance between the Sanskrit and Persian substantive verbs than in the third person singular of the present tense. The Persian, also, differs from the Sanskrit by forming several tenses, and a complete passive voice, by means of auxiliary verbs. There is, in fact, not the least identity between these two languages, except in the words which have passed from the one into the other; but these fully prove that, though the Persian is not derived from the Sanskrit, still the Persians must have had, at some remote period, a most intimate intercouse with a people who spoke that tongue."

Noticing the effects produced by foreign conquest on the language of a conquered nation, Mr. Curzon (p. 183) observes: "Several well-established historical events which have happened in succeeding times may be cited in support of the view I take of the spread of the Aryan tongue, based, as it is, on a law inherent in human nature, and prevailing in the histories of all nations,-the imposition of the language and institutions of the conquering race on the people conquered.'

Now, in Persia, it is as certain that one of these things did happen as it is that the other did not. The ancient religion, laws, and government of the country fell under the conquering arms of the Arabs; but the original language of the people, in its structure, was not, by this event, affected in the least degree. It withstood the shock; admitting, gradually, Arabic words and terms first, as we see in the Persian translation of the "Tarikh-i-Tabari (A.H. 352, A.D. 963), and fifty years later, in the Shah Nama, in small numbers, but retaining, as it still retains, a form and character as dissimilar from that of the language of Arabia as human speech can well be; the reception of Arabic vocables in a greater or less number notwithstanding.

I have adhered strictly to my object, the elucidation of a mistaken opinion on the derivation of Persian; and conclude with observing, that according to Kennedy, there are 263 Sanskrit words in that language. August, 1854.

JOHN ROMER.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, AUGUST 4.

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

Lord Monteagle moved for a copy of a despatch to the Government of India on the subject of general education in that country. Earl Granville said there would be no objection to produce the return moved for.

AUGUST 7.

INDIAN APPOINTMENTS, &c. BILL. The royal assent was given by commission to this bill.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, AUGUST 7. POSTAL COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE AND THE MAURITIUS.

In reply to Mr. Hume,

Mr. Wilson stated that a steamer had for the present been placed on the above station, in connection with the steamers engaged in the overland route to India.

AUGUST 8.

PROPERTY OF THE NAWAB OF SURAT.

Sir E. Perry asked the President of the Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India, whether, as the Privy Counci! had decided that the determination of the Governor of Bombay in Council, against the claim of the daughter and only surviving child of the late Nawab of Surat, to succeed to his private property, was an executive and not a judicial act, the Board would take the opinion of the law officers of the Crown, whether the judgment of Mr. Frere, on which the decision of the Bombay Government had proceeded, was not a fit matter to be referred to the Privy Council for their opinion as to its soundness in point of law, and its conformity with the evidence in the case; and whether, if an Act of the legislature of India took away from any subject of her Majesty the right of appeal to any court of law or equity, there was any means by which such individual complaining of injustice could obtain redress?

Sir C. Wood said he was not aware that it was at all necessary that the opinion of the law officers of the Crown should be taken upon the question-even although one of them had not been engaged as counsel in the case to which the hon. and learned member had called the attention of the House. With respect to the second question, he had merely to observe that the legislature of India was competent to pass an Act for deciding the matter at issue, without an appeal, and he was not aware that there existed any right of appeal from its decision.

Sir E. Perry wished to know whether any instructions had been

given to the Government of Bombay not to distribute the property in question until an opportunity had been afforded of applying to that House for redress?

Sir C. Wood stated that he was not aware that the property was being distributed.

Sir F. Kelly said he should propose to Parliament next session the consideration of the question, whether it was not expedient to introduce some changes into the law with reference to the subject under discussion. He wished to know whether it was the intention of the Government to allow the law to remain in its present position?

Sir C. Wood said the question was not one concerning the general state of the law in India. The Government of India had passed a special Act empowering the Government of Bombay to deal with the property of the late Nawab of Surat; and it certainly was competent for the Government of Bombay to take that There was no general law upon the subject to be repealed

course.

or altered.

Mr. Bright wished the right hon. gentleman the President of the Board would take into his consideration the question of the establishment in India of some tribunal before which cases such as that under their notice might be brought. The subject was one which deserved consideration, inasmuch as the present state of the law was productive of difficulty in a great number of instances.

INDIAN BUDGET.

The House resolved itself into a committee on the above subject, Mr. Thornely in the chair. The attendance of members throughout varied from eleven to fifteen, and at no time exceeded the latter number.

Sir C. Wood rose and said that he proposed on this occasion to follow the precedent of former years, although only two years short of half a century had elapsed since an Indian budget was presented to the House-he meant the precedent of moving resolutions on the subject of the finances of India. Those acquainted with the mode of proceeding formerly adopted, would be aware that many resolutions were then moved with reference to the condition of the East-India Company as a commercial body, which would be wholly inapplicable to the present time. The resolutions which he was now about to propose had reference to the revenue and expenditure; first of all, of the several presidencies; and secondly, of India generally, to the charges paid out of that revenue in this country, and to the ultimate surplus of tho Indian Government after the payment of the whole of the charges borne by its revenue. He did not think when he came to turn his attention to the subject that the mode in which the accounts were hitherto rendered was calculated to afford all the information which was desirable; and he therefore directed that the accounts at present before the House should be framed very much on the model of the financial accounts of this country, so that they might give very full information with respect to the revenue, the expenditure, and the charges of the Indian government. They had been drawn up by Mr. Keith, a very intelligent officer attached to the staff of the East-India Company in the City, and they had since been submitted to the inspection of Mr. Anderson, a very intelligent officer of the Treasury, and lately a deputy-paymaster. He was anxious to be able to present at the same time accounts from India corresponding with the trade and navigation accounts furnished by the Board of Trade in this country. But he had found that it would be impossible for him to have furnished those latter accounts in a complete form in the present year, although he hoped to be able to produce them in future years. He should now proceed to speak to the resolutions. The first states the amount of the revenue of the presidency of Bengal, and of certain districts attached to it. The revenue of Bengal, during the year ending 30th April, 1852, amounted to 7,584,4357.; the local charges thereon amounted to 1,939,3627.; and the local surplus was, therefore, 5,658,0731. The revenue of the North-western Provinces during the same year amounted to 5,670,7157.; the local charges thereon amounted to 1,402,2387.; and the local surplus was, therefore, 4,268,4771. The military charges of Bengal and of the North-western Provinces-and, as might be expected, the military charges form by far the largest portion of the public expenditure in India,-the military charges of Bengal and of the North-western Provinces amounted during the year to 5,442,2301., and the net revenue of Bengal and of the North-western Provinces amounted during the same year to 13,255,1507., the charges on them, including the military charges, but exclusive of the debt, amounted to 8,770,3301., leaving a surplus of 4,484,3207. The first, second, and third of these resolutions referred to Bengal and to the North-western Provinces. The fourth resolution applies to the presidency of Madras. The revenue of Madras during the same year amounted to 3,704,0487.; the charges thereon amounted to 3,204,2937., leaving a surplus of 499,7551. The revenue of Bombay amounted during the same year to 2,868,2987.; the charges thereon amounted

to 2,847,3927., leaving a surplus of 20,9067. The total net revenue of the several presidencies amounted to 19,827,4967.; the total charges thereon, exclusive of the debt, amounted to 14,822,4957.; leaving a total surplus, available for the debt and for home charges, of 5,005,0017. The interest upon the debt, payable in India, and exclusive of the local and temporary debts, in that year, amounted to 1,967,3597., and the charges defrayed in England amounted to 2,506,3771.; making a total of 4,473,7367., and leaving in that year, 1851-52, a surplus of income and expenditure in India to the amount of 531,2657. That statement he was happy to think a satisfactory statement. During the two years preceding the year 1851-52, there had also been a surplus in India, although not so large as that of the year in question. In the year 1849-50 there had been a surplus of 354,3371.; and in the year 1850-51 there had been a surplus of 415,8667. The year 1851-52 is the last with respect to which he could give a complete statement. But he had received a proximate estimate for the year 1852-53; and although he could not answer for the perfect accuracy of that estimate, and did not therefore wish to bring forward a resolution founded upon it, he thought it right to lay before the House the information which it might be calculated to afford. The gross income of India in the year 1852-53 has been calculated at 26,915,4317., and the gross expenditure has been calculated at 26,275,966/., leaving a surplus of 639,4657. For these four years, therefore, 1849-50, 1850-51, 1851-52, and 1852-53, there had been a considerable and growing surplus in the revenue of India as compared with the expenditure. (Hear, hear.) But he was very sorry to have to say that there has been a very unfortunate change in that respect in the year which has just ended, as far as an estimate could at present be formed of the amount of the revenue in that year. He had stated that there had been a surplus in the year 1852-53; but in the year 1853-54, on the contrary, there appears to have been a considerable defalcation in the revenue of India. The estimated revenue of the last year is 26,586,8267., and the estimated expenditure is 27,459,1617., showing a probable deficit for that year of 872,3351.

Mr. Hume.-Does that include the expenditure in Burmah? Sir C. Wood said he should come to that presently. It was with very great sorrow he was compelled to announce that deficit in the Indian revenue during the year 1853-54, in spite of the encouraging prospects from the surplus of the four preceding years. But, at the same time, there were circumstances which must diminish to a certain extent, at all events, the surprise or regret which this announcement might at first create. There had been during the last year no great diminution of revenue in India except in one item; and the deficit in that year arises principally from an increase of expenditure, some portion of which, at all events, we may certainly calculate will not continue. There was during the last year a falling-off to the amount of about 6,0007. in the land revenue; but the principal falling-off has been in the revenue derived from opium, which has diminished by a sum of 236,000. There is a further falling-off to the amount of about 54,0007., arising out of the abolition of the monopoly on tobacco. Again, there has been an increased sum expended on the cultivation of opium to the extent of 290,0007.; so that the total falling-off in the revenue derived from opium during the year has amounted to between 500,000l. and 600,000l. It is certainly an unfortunate circumstance that so large a portion of the revenue of India should be raised from so uncertain a source as the revenue on opium. (Hear, hear.) He had further to observe that there has taken place during the last year an increased expenditure on public works in India to the amount of 102,0007. (Hear, hear.) There has been an increased expense for military charges and military buildings, which comprise the greater portion of the expenditure for the Burmese war, to the extent of 150,0007.; and there has been an increase for the cost of transporting troops to the amount of 40,000. The whole expenditure of the Burmese war may, therefore, be taken at less than 200,000. That was a much lower sum than had been anticipated, and that result is owing to the fact that the war has been conducted with great economy as well as efficiency. The next charge is one which will not be incurred again, and it is one which will serve to show that a general statement of the expenditure in any particular year cannot be taken as a fair criterion of the financial condition of India in that year. Hon. members were aware that a certain sum was paid here for the Queen's troops employed in the East-India service; and a large arrear having arisen under that head in past years, that arrear had just been paid off, and an additional charge of 450,0007. has thus been met. There has also been an increased payment for the debt to the amount of 65,000. Here, again, the charge will in future years be considerably diminished. Under the terms of a conversion of stock made some time since, there had been paid for the interest of the debt in the month of April a sum of 250,0007., which under ordinary circumstances would not have been paid until the month of July; and, in point of fact, that

amount has been transferred from the past financial year to the current year, and has contributed to swell the deficit of the year 1853-54. But if we were to take the last three years together, we should find that they present a surplus in the revenue of India; and considering the transference of accounts which occasionally takes place, it would perhaps be fairer to select such a period, rather than a single year, as a criterion of the financial condition of that country. He, therefore, by no means despaired of seeing the finances of India placed in a satisfactory position in future years, although with such a large deficit now staring us in the face, we should be extremely cautious in any financial operation in which we may feel disposed to engage. Hon. gentlemen must recollect that the revenue of India is not like the revenue of this country, in which a decrease in one item leads to an increase in another. The land revenue, which is the great item of revenue in India, is not susceptible of any increase. It is perfectly well known that in Bengal the terms of the settlement of the land preclude the possibility of an increase of revenue under that head. In the Northwestern Provinces and in the Bombay presidency, where leases of land have been granted for a considerable term of years, it would be equally unreasonable to expect any such increase. And, with regard to Madras, he was afraid that as far as the land revenue is concerned, the first operation we should have to undertake must be a reduction of that revenue. The next great source of revenue in that country was opium, from which a sum of 4,000,0007. has in some years been derived. It may, perhaps, be hereafter maintained nearly at that amount, because, although those who are called the rebels in China have denounced the use of opium, that denunciation does not seem to have in the slightest degree diminished the consumption of the article; and as the opium of India s of a quality very superior to that grown in China, he did not think it probable that the payments made by the Chinese for the Indian opium could become very materially reduced. But at the same time the revenue derived from opium is of a very uncertain character, and we should be raising our calculations upon very unsafe foundations if we were to conclude that that revenue would necessarily become permanent. The next great item of revenue in India is salt. Since the debate which took place last year upon that subject a document had been placed in his (Sir C. Wood) hands which might contribute to remove the unfavourable impressions entertained by many honourable gentlemen with respect to the operation of the salt-tax in India. That document is a paper prepared by a gentleman attached to the medical staff in Bengal, and who took great pains to ascertain the condition of the people brought under his care. (The right hon. gentleman here read a portion of the document in question, from which it would appear that the lower classes in Bengal possessed as ample means as the same classes in most of the civilised countries of the world of purchasing a sufficient amount of food.) He stated this in order to relieve the mind of hon. gentlemen with regard to the vote of last year, because I sent out immediate instructions to the Governor General of India to appoint a commission, and one of the most able civil servants of the government, Mr. Plowden, was appointed to investigate the matter. Plowden went to Bombay, and from thence he proceeded to Madras, and when the result of his investigation is sent home, he (Sir C. W.) would have great pleasure in laying it on the table of the house. Hon. members must be aware that great objection is made to the introduction of the excise, and great complaints are made of the cruelty of the native collectors. The introduction of the excise would render necessary the appointment of a large number of native collectors, and would increase their means of extortion and oppression. If the house should think it necessary to put an end to that mode of collecting the tax, they would have the opportunity of doing so. The only other item of revenue to which he should refer was the customs revenue, which amounts to about a million a year. He had directed the Governor General to pay particular attention to the whole subject of fibrous substances, such as flax and hemp, and to send any reasonable quantity of articles of that kind that were produced, in order that they might be submitted to the manufacturers of this country; because, in the event of any deficient supply of flax and hemp from other places, a sufficient quantity might be obtained from this quarter. On the whole, there is no certain prospect of an increased revenue in India, and in most of the items of expenditure there is no great prospect of much diminution. The large item of expenditure in India is the army, and we have already undertaken to occupy a large increase of territory. We have annexed the whole territory of the Punjaub, the district of Pegu, and the territory of Nagpore; and the only addition that has been made to the military force of India is two European regiments and three native regiments. It could hardly be supposed that the whole of this vast extent of territory could be managed by so small a force; and it is obvious that, under existing circumstances, there is no prospect of any material diminution in the number of our troops.

Mr.