fraud the public. The case of Screenevasrow was first discussed in a court of inquiry; but he himself refused to make any defence before this tribunal: it, nevertheless, found sufficient cause to proceed against him. The next step to decide was, by what means and in what court the prisoner could be prosecuted to conviction? The Nizam's courts were uncertain and severe, and it was doubted whether a court-martial could take cognizance of the case. While these doubts were solving, matters remained at a stand, and at last the Supreme Government were applied to for advice. In the meantime the unhappy accused had mourned away more than eight months in prison! In this suffering condition he moved the King's Court for a writ of habeas corpus. The court, with a becoming spirit and judgment, ordered the writ to be issued. A writ of habeas corpus was accordingly served on the Resident of Hyderabad, and the poor black prisoner was rescued from his confinement. In the Supreme Court it was decided that in the case of Screenevasrow there had been a false imprisonment. The innocence of the prisoner was further established by a commission of four gentlemen, who, by order of the Governor-General in Council, were sent by the Madras Government to examine into his conduct. These Commissioners, after going fully into the evidence against the prisoner, and without even hearing his defence, did most fully acquit him of the charges on which he was imprisoned. Here, then, is an instance of a man being, on the mere report of a court of inquiry, made to suffer eight months imprisonment, and subsequently acquitted by a court of commission, and by the Supreme Court of justice in India. Thus it is to live under British protection! Under so vicious a Government as this, even the best regulations are, by the manner of their execution, converted into fresh sources of evil. The Marquis of Hastings, ever forward in the cause of justice and humanity, issued a peremptory order to prevent travellers and troops on their march from plundering and pressing others into their service, as well as to regulate the prices of all articles which they might require on their march. A sepoy was placed in each village, on the great roads leading through the Nizam's dominions, to enforce this order, and a copy of the instructions, in English and Persian, were left with each of them for the guidance of the villagers and travellers. To thwart this good measure, Govend Bucksh, Chundoo Loll's brother, assembled the head-men of the village, and forced them to PAY for this valuable privilege, permitting them again, in their turn, to screw this imposition out of the poor ryots! To give a better idea of the character of this Govend Bucksh, other traits of his government shall be related. The zemeendar, whom he placed at Jafferabad, entered into a treaty with certain banditti there to plunder all that passed on the great roads within his district, and to share the booty between them. This practice continued for some time till a horrid murder was committed. The Government then ordered Govend Bucksh to seize the parties concerned in this murder. Govend Bucksh no sooner received the orders than he seized the zemeendar, with whom he was in league, and who knew nothing of the murder in question, plundered him of his all, and then sent him to be disposed of at Hyderabad! This same Govend Bucksh, in his own capital of Arrungabad, has long prac tised the same system: employing banditti to plunder the rich men in the city, and sharing in the spoil! Let it not be inferred, from what has been stated here, that any personal imputation of tyranny is meant to be attached to the conduct of the British Resident, or any English officer in particular. Indeed the Resident himself is remarkable for mild, soft, and courteous manners, for an accomplished, polished, and highly sensible mind, and for great private virtues and public zeal. Whence, then, it will be asked, proceed these incongruities? Ålas! they are the necessary result of a corrupt, intriguing, domineering, and extorting SYSTEM; from too much power being placed in the hands of weak and erring man, who, by nature, is imperfect, and who, if, like other mortals, he has reason and passion to influence him, is sure to be corrupted by absolute rule. The root of the evil, then, lies in a defective system, which cannot too soon be remedied. It The supporters of arbitrary and unjust power speciously contend for the inviolability of the British treaty with the Hyderabad state. No doubt the law of nations requires that every state should keep its faith; but where is the treaty that has consigned a nation under British protection to such dire oppression as this? No such treaty exists. If it did, it would be contrary to reason and to humanity, and therefore void. is upon the great law of nature that all human laws depend, and they ought never to contradict it. This law of nature is to be drawn from the right application of man's reason, which, as well as divine authority, tells us, that "we should do to all men as we would be done unto." Has England thus acted? Has she observed the rules of political justice toward this injured people? Has she not rather been guilty, towards them, of tyranny and treason? It is frightful to witness these effects of arming man with absolute power, which always degenerates into tyranny, or the exercise of might over right. It is still more deplorable to see, under the guise of " British protection," and the sacred character of a treaty, the most cruel despotism exercised without control. "Whoever," says Plato, "conceives it in his power to do unjustly, readily does so each person concluding injustice to make much more for his private interest than justice could do." Compacts are therefore best ascertained when grounded on mutual advantage, or when it is in our power to force those with whom we treat to be just and honest." Few there are," as Puffendorf observes, " of so happy and noble a temper as to have that piercing sagacity which may discern what is for the lasting advantage of mankind in general, and of each in particular, and at the same time that strength and firmness of soul which may constantly pursue what has been prudently foreseen." But, if there be one of this high stamp among us, as Englishmen-one whose active virtue is on a level with his great mind and exalted station-let him stand forth, and, by reforming the abuses of the Hyderabad state, confer a lasting benefit on mankind. TO THE MOON. HAIL to thy lamp, again, pale Moon! Didst thou arrest my wandering eye? Fair Queen! thy first revolving round, But when, returning from thy course, Poured maddening pangs through every vein, Oh! I had lulled each pang to rest My heart again was filled with home, And now, on this auspicious eve, That crowns escape from war and storm, Retiring down the blushing sky, Still warm from Day's expiring beams, Enchanting Orb! if such thy power Oh! beam not thus in tranquil hour, A ray of magic so refin'd. For Friendship's wreath, that graced my brow, Withers beneath thy paly sphere, And fairy Hope, that beam'd but now, Is changed, alas! to sad Despair! ON LANGUAGE, SYMBOLIC WRITING, AND THE GREAT UTILITY OF LATIN. THE effects of reason and those of instinct are, in some cases, so much alike, that it is difficult to define the characters which distinguish them; but, for the general purposes of illustration, it may be sufficient to observe, that the actions or operations of the other animals, which are usually termed instinctive, differ from those of man, which are said to result from reason, in being alike in all the individuals of the same species when under similar circumstances; as, for example, the construction of a bird's nest, honey-comb, or ant-hill: whereas those of man vary infinitely in each particular case, not only according to the physical wants to which he is subjected, but also according to the mental peculiarities of the individual; and these peculiarities are not limited to the innate qualities or powers derived from nature, as in the other animals, or to that reason which has resulted from the experience of each individual respectively, but are varied, to an infinite extent, by instruction imparted by others, or handed down from one generation to another. Of the operations or practices of mankind, language is one that is universal; but it differs widely from those which may, as above stated, be termed instinctive. Most of the other animals, it is true, make use of various sounds to express emotions or sensations, such as those of pleasure, pain, or desire; but the language of man consists of sounds modulated, not according to the natural impulse of feeling, but according to set forms agreed on by social concert, so as that each sound conveys a particular idea, without any reference to sensation or emotion; and thus, though it might, in consequence of its universal prevalence, seem, on a superficial observation, to be of a nature similar to those functions of animals which are termed instinctive, yet the diversity of its construction, and its artificial adaptation to particular objects, show it to be in reality an invention emanating from that versatility of power which enables man to devise different modes of acting suited to his exigences; and its universal use arises, like that of clothing and habitations, from the benefits to be derived from it, and the power of producing it. Language, thus universally established, being the chief means of communicating ideas, and of extending the knowledge of the arts which have been invented by man for the supply of his wants, it has, in the course of time, been greatly aided by the art of writing, which has been devised for effecting the same communications at a distance of place, or of time, and by means of which the knowledge of past events is conveyed down to posterity, and that of the arts continued and accumulated from generation to generation. That most generally in use, which may be termed vocabulary writing, being calculated directly to express language, is nothing but a substitute for the words which would be spoken if the parties to whom the communication is to be made were present. The vast utility of this invention is too evident to stand in need of any illustration; but there is a great diminution of the benefits which it affords, arising from the diversity of language in different countries, and in different ages. Were it not for this obstacle, writing would furnish a perfect medium for the communication of ideas and of knowledge over the whole world, and of transmitting them to the remotest posterity; but in the use of writing, the diversity of language produces a difficulty even greater than in oral communication, the want of words being, in the latter case, supplied, in a great degree, by signs and gestures. This inconvenience being much felt, particularly in commerce, the branch of intercourse of most frequent occurrence between nations, many attempts have been made to obviate it by means of another method of writing, which we may term symbolical. It consists of characters, or marks, which denote the ideas or things themselves, rather than the words used to express them; and, consequently, the same characters can be understood, or, in other words, read, by persons using different languages, each applying his own words to express their meaning. This may be exemplified in the ciphers 1, 2, 3, &c., and in the character &, which are in use throughout Europe; and their meaning is as fully understood in all the nations as if they were written in the words of any one language in general use; though, in expressing them, an Englishman would say, one, two, three, and; a Frenchman, un, deux, trois, et; a German, ein, zwey, drey, und; and so forth. A species of annotation founded on this principle has been adopted in China and Japan; in consequence of which, the inhabitants of each of these countries are capable of reading the writings of the other, though their languages are different, the same symbolic characters being common to both; and we have reason to suppose that the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics were of a like nature. But it appears, that in Japan, besides these, a system of vocabulary writing, or of characters on the principle of our alphabet, is also in use, which has probably been adopted in consequence of the difficulty of adapting the symbolic method to different idioms, of which we shall treat presently. This method appears not only to be capable of serving as a common medium of communication among people using different languages, but also to be susceptible of a variety and precision of expression far surpassing those to be found in any lauguage, abounding, as all languages do, in anomalies and defects; and it is not improbable that, in the course of time, it will be more generally used than it has been in aid of the sciences, in some of which it has long ago been partially adopted; as, for example, in arithmetic, algebra, chemistry, and others. But it is chiefly with a view to the former and more important of these objects, a common medium of communication among people using different languages, that the attention of persons of learning and ingenuity has been directed to it, and many persevering attempts have been made to introduce it for that end. These have all failed, from a cause which, we think, will continue to prevent the success of all such endeavours; and as it seems, in a great degree, to have escaped the notice, or, at least, the due consideration, of those who have bestowed so much pains and labour in the pursuit, we will explain it more fully than might otherwise appear to be needful. We are so much habituated to the use of language, that it is difficult for us to refrain from employing it in our imagination in the course of every exercise of the mind: thus, for example, in making, in silence, the arithmetical computation 3x5=15, one will naturally imagine that he says, three times five are fifteen; and, though we perceive that 1 Golownin's Voyage to Japan. |