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cellent a quarter. If that suggestion had been made earlier, he would with the greatest pleasure have withdrawn bis motion, as he then did. Lord Chesterfield had somewhere said, "that the true reasons for great public measures were very seldom stated; other reasons were given, and they rarely heard the true ones." He well recollected that observation, and he thought they had that day seen a strong exemplification of its correct

ness.

The Chairman disclaimed all knowledge of such an application having been made to him as that which the hon. proprietor had alluded to. He never had an interview in his life with the hon. proprietor, in that house or any other.

Mr. Poynder said the communication had been made at the last court. Knowing the variety of business and the many duties which the hon. Chairman had to perform, he supposed the circumstance had been forgotten. He had, however, on the occasion to which he alluded, handed to the secretary, who was then in his place, a paper, requesting distinctly in writing to know from the worthy Chairman whether there would be any objection to his obtaining a copy of this document. The reply was of this nature, "that he did not feel himself at liberty to concede the request." He (Mr. Poynder) had therefore taken the present course.

The Chairman said that he never recollected any circumstance of the kind, and therefore it was impossible for him to have forgotten it.

The Deputy Chairman said if an application came to him in the way which had been described, he certainly would have refused it. It was not a fit time to ask a question incidentally when the hon. Chairman was occupied on public business. He understood distinctly from what had fallen from the hon. proprietor (Mr. Marriott) not only that every proprietor was at liberty to make extracts, but that the clerk attending the proprietors' room had offered himself to make any extracts that were called for. There was, however, a manifest difference from a copy procured in that way and a copy procured in the manner referred to by the hon. proprietor: the one was official, and the other not. It should also be observed, that the Chairs had not the authority

to sanction the granting of papers without the consent of the court. He was very glad to hear that such faci lity was given to taking extracts or even copies of papers. The hon. proprietor said that he called for but one document; now he (the Deputy Chairman) contended that that was not the way in which such a paper, and on such a subject, should be produced; on the contrary, if one document were given, the whole ought to be given, (Hear, hear!) He therefore should resist the printing of these papers; and if the whole of them were pro duced, he was certain that sufficient for his justification, in the course which he had taken, would appear.

Mr. Weeding said he had never read the paper, and therefore could not give an opinion as to the propriety of publishing it. The question for their consideration was simply the proposition that had been made by the hon. proprietor. He understood the hon. proprietor to say, that the secretary, in answer to his application, had told him that he was not authorised to give a copy of the paper till it was laid before Parliament and before that court, and yet he had that day heard that the proprietors might go to their room and take a copy of any document that was there. He wished to be informed if that were so; because if it were, it was very inconsistent. Members of the House of Commons could get no copy of documents unless they were printed by order of the House. With respect to the motion immediately before them, he was of opinion that unless the whole of the documents were produced, the public mind would not be satisfied, and the hon. proprietor sought only for a part of them.

Dr. Gilchrist said that his motion appeared to have been disposed of in a very strange way. The hon. proprietor opposite (Mr. Poynder) had got up in such a hurry in order to compare him with an individual whose name he would not mention, that he was prevented from taking the course which he had intended. He now begged that his motion might be read once more; and his reason for making that request was, that an hon. baronet (Sir C. Forbes), who was then present, had not come into court when that motion was brought forward. Now he believed that if the hon. baronet had been in court when that motion was read he would have supported it, since

1833.] Debate at the E.I.H., Sept. 25.-Duty on East-India Sugars, &c. 279

it related to the case of a brave Bom-
bay officer. He therefore hoped that
the motion would be once more read.
(No, no ) Why, the motion was not
withdrawn; and he would say that it
was not treating their army properly
to slight a motion on such a subject.

Mr. Twining said the motion of the
hon. proprietor had been disposed of.
He should occupy a few moments of
their time while he bore testimony to
the great satisfaction which he had
derived from the courtesy and polite-
ness he experienced from the officer
who attended in the room set apart for
the use of the proprietors. (Hear,
hear!) That gentleman had shown
every disposition to abbreviate the
labours and to spare the time of those
who came there for information. He
believed that no occasion had hap-
pened, when the proprietors wished
for extracts from papers, that they had
not been given. The paper to which
that motion referred had been lying
in that room for a considerable time;
and the promptitude with which it had
been produced shewed the anxiety
which the Court of Directors felt to
give every information on the subject.
Sir C. Forbes said that this motion
related to a document which was now
in the proprietors' room. He did not
know what had occurred between the
hon. mover and the Chairman on the
subject. The Chairman. "Neither
do I."-If the document in question
had been laid before Parliament, he
was of opinion it might be printed;
but when documents were placed in
the proprietors' room for the informa-
tion of the proprietors only, he did
not think they ought to be copied for
other purposes. This was a subject
that required consideration.

Dr. Gilchrist asked why they were Were not allowed a larger room? the proprietors nobody? It was an official room, but it was not sufficiently extensive for them to sit in. He had heard a great deal about the manner in which the persons appointed to attend there conducted themselves; now he hated all such stuff and flum. mery; those persons only did their duty, and he could not see why they should be praised for performing it.

The motion was then withdrawn.

DUTY ON EAST-INDIA SUGARS.

Mr. Weeding said he would not occupy the time of the court unnecessarily, and he should therefore read

the motion which he intended to pro-
pose at the next quarterly general
court. The motion was as follows:

"That a petition be presented to the House of
Commons, praying that honourable House to pass
a law providing that sugar, the produce of any
British possession in the East-Indies, shall be ad-
mitted into the United Kingdom at an equal rate
of duty as is now levied on sugar imported from
America or the West-Indies."!

He would not enter into an argument now on the subject to which his motion related, and he wished others would take the same course. He only owed it to the court, for giving it this trouble, to say, that in the new situa tion in which the Company were placed, as they would only have the sovereignty of India to occupy their attention, they ought to take all possible means to ensure the prosperity of that country.

REMITTANCES FROM OFFICERS IN
INDIA.

Dr. G. G. Campbell was anxious, be-
fore the court separated, to put a ques-
tion to the hon. Chairman, the object
of which was to elicit information on
a subject of great importance to the
military servants of the Company.
He need only advert to the late misfor-
tunes which had occurred in the me-
tropolis of India, where the hopes and
expectations of a very large class of
meritorious individuals had been des-
troyed by the extensive failures that
had occurred there. In consequence
of those failures, many persons who
had long served the Company were
almost plunged into the vortex of
ruin. He had reason to believe that
memorials were then in progress, if
they had not yet arrived, soliciting, on
the part of those who had thus suffer-
ed, some safe means for the future
remittance of a portion of their allow-
ances for the support of their wives
and families who were resident in this
country. He did not then ask whe-
ther it was the intention of the Court
of Directors to grant their request;
all he wished to learn was whether the
memorials to which he alluded had
been received, and in the event of
their having been so received, whe-
ther it was not the desire of the court
to give them every favourable conside-
ration which the circumstances of the
case and the situation of the parties
allowed. He was induced thus pub-
licly to make this application, in order
that the gentlemen of the press might
notice the subject, for the information
of the Company's Indian servants, to

whom it was important to receive the earliest intelligence of the receipt of their memorials, and of the wish of the Court of Directors to accede to their prayer. He believed that in all his Majesty's colonies the officers of the King's service were allowed, by a safe mode, to remit a part of their salaries to this country. He understood that in those colonies which were nearest to the possessions of the Company, King's officers were allow ed to transmit one-third of their salaries by bills on England. The memorialists did not ask for a privilege to that extent, but they wished to be enabled to remit a portion of their allowances by a safe channel to this country. If the Court of Directors could concede this point, it would be most beneficial to the memorialists, and the boon would be most gratefully received by them. What they wanted was, that some secure means should be devised by which they could remit a part of their allowances for the support of their families in England. He now asked for information on this subject. He believed, if the memorials had been despatched from India, that they would be found to be strongly supported by the Supreme Government. He hoped, if they had been received from India, that the representations which they contained would meet with every attention which, under all the circumstances, the Court of Directors could extend to them.

The Chairman had no hesitation in saying that the Court of Directors understood that the subject adverted

to by the hon. proprietor was under the consideration of the Indian government. Memorials had, it appeared, been presented to the government, but the whole detail of the circumstances to which they referred had not yet arrived. The Court of Directors were aware that representations had been made from different stations to the Indian government. That government had not, however, as yet, com municated fully to the Court of Directors on the subject, and he therefore could not give a satisfactory answer to the question of the hon. proprietor.

Dr. G. G. Campbell said it was very important to the Company's military servants that a communication should be made on the subject as early as possible.

MILITARY PUNISHMENTS IN INDIA. Dr. Gilchrist said that he had been induced to withdraw his motion relative to military punishment in India because he had been told that his statements were unfounded. He, however, contended, that they were not false, but true; and therefore he gave notice of his intention to move the following resolution at the next quarterly general court:

"That so far as may be consistent with the

safety of civilized society, and the preservation of the efficiency of the Indian native army and navy, all floggings, cruel and capital punishments, may immediately cease, and in particular the abhorfrom the mouth of cannon for the commission of rent practice of blowing any of the native army any crime whatsoever. That means be also taken to instruct the natives of these corps either in the Hindoostanee or English languages so far as this can be accomplished."

Adjourned.

HOME INTELLIGENCE.

MISCELLANEOUS.

RESIGNATION OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE

COURT OF DIRECTORS.

Letter addressed to the Hon. the Court of Directors, dated Upper Wimpolestreet, Oct. 26, and signed “C. Marjoribanks.

"Gentlemen: The state of my health for some months past has led me to contemplate the necessity of relinquishing the seat which, through your favour, I have the honour to hold, for the third time, as Chairman of the Court of Di

rectors.

"So long as the affairs of the East

India Company were under the consideration of Parliament and of the Court of Proprietors, I abstained from giving effect to my own wishes, because I thought it possible that my resignation of the chair during the progress of the nego tiation might be attended with inconvenience, if not with embarrassment, to the public service.

"That reason no longer exists, and it now becomes the duty of the chairs to submit to the consideration of the Court the several measures necessary for carrying into operation the provisions of the new act. In the course of the arrangements, much novel and important business

must be originated and brought forward as regards the India and the home establishments.

I

"I have already recorded the opinions which I entertain with reference to the general principles of the late agreement between the public and the Company. regret to state that, after a deliberate reconsideration of the whole subject, and an attentive perusal of the act (since printed), I do not see any reason to alter those opinions. It is impossible, therefore, that I can hope to promise measures connected with the future administration of Indian affairs which shall be satisfactory to myself, still less can I under such circumstances indulge the expectation that they would prove more satisfactory to the Court. It is for these reasons, combined with the principal cause which has led to this communication, and which continues still more strongly to admonish me of the propriety of acting upon my original determination, that I have resolved to resign the chair, and to retire into the body of the Court, where I shall continue, so far as my health will permit, to give my best aid in support of any measures which may appear to me calculated to promote the interests of the people of India and of the East-India Company.

"In adopting this course, I beg to assure the Court that I sensibly appreciate the confidence which I have experienced at their hands, during the time I have had the honour of serving them in one or other of the chairs, and that I only relinquish the post which I have now the honour to hold, under a conviction that I shall thereby best consult the convenience of the Court, and best promote the public interests."

At a Court of Directors, held on the 30th of October, it was resolved unanimously

.

That this Court has received with unfeigned concern the communication of the cause which has led the chairman, Campbell Marjoribanks, Esq., to tender his resignation of that office.

"That this Court abstains from pressing upon that gentleman the retention of the chair, and now accepts his resignation, in the confident hope that, when relieved from its arduous and responsible duties, increased as they have been by the proceedings in Parliament respecting the Company, his health will be both speedily and permanently re-established; and

"This Court desires to assure Mr. Marjoribanks of the sincere regard which it bears towards him, and that, although deprived of his services in presiding over its deliberations, it reflects with much satisfaction that it will still continue to possess his long experience and valuable counsel, which have been devoted with so

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Professor Seddon (who fills the chair of oriental languages and literature in this college) has opened classes in Sanscrit, Persian, Hindustani, Bengali, and Arabic. These comprise the Oriental languages ordinarily proposed for the civil and military service of the Company; and two at the least, but generally three (according to the presidency for which they are required), compose the test prescribed for their junior civil servants or writers.

The professor delivered his introductory lecture on the 31st October, to a large and respectable auditory.

He took a very comprehensive view of the subject of oriental languages, principally confining himself, however, to the Semitic and Indo-Teutonic families.

He traced the cultivation of oriental literature in Europe to the institution of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and bestowed a warm eulogium on its founder, Sir Wm. Jones. He then adverted to the obligations which oriental scholars are under to Dr. (now Sir Charles) Wilkins,

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for inventing the types-the labour of his own hands, from the metal in its crudest state, through all the different stages of engraving and founding-by which the most valuable books in five languages (Bengali, Persian, Sanscrit, Arabic, and Hindustani) have been brought into circulation." He noticed the labours of Mr. Colebrooke, particularly his clear and comprehensive view of the Hindu philosophy, "which is explained in so lucid a manner, as to exhi bit one of the most masterly specimens of modern scholarship."

The professor then alluded to the (20)

translations of the Bible, and to the rapid progress which the scholars of the Continent have made in Sanscrit literature, since the publication of the first edition of Professor Wilson's Sancsrit Dictionary.

Mr. Seddon next spoke of the munificent endowments of colleges in India by the East-India Company, and by the foundation of the Royal Asiatic Society of London; and then proceeded to consider the peculiar characteristics of the principal languages of the East, the Arabic, the Persian, and the Turkish. Noticing Sir William Jones's remark, when at the age of twenty-two, he wrote his Latin commentaries on the poetry of the Asiatics, viz. "That Arabic is the language of sublimity; Turkish, the language of science or art; and Persian, that of sweetness or sugar," he added: "Nor did his observation escape my late young friend, Arthur Lumley Davids, who at a still earlier period of life, lived long enough to give to the world a grammar of the Turkish language, exhibiting a surprising extent of reading, and remarkable as well for the lucid arrangement of the whole, as the original, useful, and welldigested information with which it is replete; and who, in a preliminary discourse, has given a clear, a comprehensive, and an interesting view of the origin and the formation of the literature of the Turks."

In order to show how much light the study of Oriental tongues may throw upon European philology, he pointed out a variety of instances in which Oriental words have been introduced into the

English language. "Our word guide, which we take from the French, and which, as applied in its collateral senses in that language, bears exactly the idea it does in Arabic, of a string or rein by which an animal is led, is evidently the same as the Spanish alcayde, rejecting the particle al; and both are from the Arabic kaid, 'a leader or general,' and coincide in conception with dur and duke, with the Persian lashkarkash

with the naick of the Indian, لشکرکش

armies, who, though now ranking with the corporal of our corps, was clearly an officer of high rank under the Hindu rule, &c.

The professor added: Many of our English primitives have their source in Arabic; among which, by way of example, may be instanced the words, love, earth, turf, idle, cave, cover, trace, track, ark, &c.'

Mr. Seddon expatiated at considerable length upon the Sanscrit and upon the modern dialects of Hindustan, and concluded a lecture which seemed to excite considerable interest.

GOVERNOR OF AGRA.

The Court of Directors have appointed Sir Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, Bart., to be governor of the New Presidency of Agra.

HIS MAJESTY'S FORCES IN THE

EAST.

PROMOTIONS AND CHANGES.

4th L.Drags. (at Bombay). J. E. Lyon, to be cornet by purch., v. Dalgleish prom. (11 Oct. 33). -Lieut.Col. John Scott, from h.p. unattached, to be Lieut. Col. v. Nathan Wilson, who exch., rec. dif. (15 Nov.)

11th L.Drags. (in Bengal). Lieut. Wm. Anderson, from 21st F., to be lieut. v. Bunbury, who exch. (4 Oct. 33).

16th L. Drags. (in Bengal). Cornet G. W. Key to be lieut. by purch., v. Garrett, whose app. has not taken place; and W. P. Waugh to be cornet by purch., v. Key (both 1st Nov. 33.

16th Foot (in Bengal'. Lieut. John Macdonald, from 39th F., to be lieut., v. Macfarlane cashiered (25 Oct. 33).

17th Foot (in N. S. Wales). Lieut. Arch. Lockhart to be capt. by purch, v. Edwards, who retires; and Ens. W. Tobin to be Lieut. by purch., v. Lockhart (both 11 Oct. 33). -Staff Assist. Surg. P. Stewart to be Assist. Surg., v. Newton prom. (15 Nov).

26th Foot (in Bengal). H. Edgar to be ens. by purch., v. Laidlow, who retires (27 Sept. 33).Lieut. B. E. S. Hutchinson, (from 86th F.,) to be lieut. v. Hammond app. to 67th F. (25 Oct).

39th Fool (at Madras). Ens. H. W. Hassard, from 62d F., to be lieut., v. Macdonald, app. to 16th F. (25 Oct. 33).

40th Foot (at Bombay). Lieut. E.H. Mortimer, from 67th F., to be lieut., v. Keane, app. to 86th F. (25 Oct. 33).

41st Foot (at Madras). lieut. by purch., v. Arato, Whittell to be Ens. by 25 Oct. 33).

Ens. R. Butler to be who retires; and A. R. purch., v. Butler (both

45th Foot (at Madras). Staff Surg. J. Wm. Watson, from h. p. hospital staff, to be surg. v. Brown, app. to 52d (27 Sept. 33).

49th Foot (in Bengal). Ens. H. Routh to be lieut. by purch., v. Halpin prom.; Lieut. P. Chevers, from h.p. 81st F., to be lieut., v. J.W. Tottenham, whose app. has not taken place; and Ens. Rich. Cruise, from 1st F., to be ens., v. Routh (all 27 Sept. 33).-Alex. Campbell to be assist. surg. v. Doherty dec. (11 Oct. 33.)

54th Foot (at Madras). G. F. Long to be ens. by purch. v. Macdonald, who retires (27 Sept. 33). 55th Foot (at Madras). Lieut. J. P.Walsh, from h. p. 6th F., to be lieut., v. Poe, cashiered by sentence of a general court martial (11th Oct.); Ens. Wm. Glover, from 89th F., to be Lieut. by purch,. v. Walsh, who retires 18 Oct.); Lieut. C. W. Webster, from h. p. 46th F., to be lieut., v. Ritchie, whose app. has not taken place (8 Nov.)

57th Foot (at Madras). Lieut. John Russell, from h. p. 27th F., to be lieut., v. Latham, whose app. has not taken place (8 Nov.)

58th Foot (in Ceylon). Capt. Geo. Varlo, from 76th F., to be capt., v. Fenwick, who exch.; Ens. Edw. Wormington, from h. p. 4th F., to be ens., v. Hutchinson prom. in Royal Afr. Col. Corps (18 Oct.)

62d Foot (at Madras). Lieut. Jas. Beatty, from h. p. 60th F., to be lieut., v. E. J. Cruice, who exch. (27 Sept. 33.)

63d Foot (in N. S. Wales). Ens. J. S. Adamson, to be lieut. by purch., v. Champ, who retires; and John Thorpe, to be ens. by purch., v. Adamson (both 27th Sept. 33.-Lieut. A. C. Pole, to be capt. by purch., v. Neilly, who retires (18th Oct.; Ens. H. T. Crompton, from 99th F., to be lieut.. v. Bowles, who retires (16th do.); Ens. E. S. T. Swyny, from 99th F., to be lieut. by purch., Y.. Tharp, who retires (17th do.); Ens. H. J. Swyny, to be lieut. by purch., v. Pole (18th do.): R.L. Day, to be ens. by purch., v. Swyny (18th do.

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