VIII. SCRIPTURE AND SCIENCE NOT AT VARIANCE. BY JOHN H. PRATT, M. A. ARCHDEACON OF Calcutta. CRITICAL NOTICE. A GRAMMAR OF THE PUKHTO, PUSHTO, OR LAN- GUAGE OF THE AFGHANS. BY CAPTAIN H. G. i III. THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA. 1. REPORT ON THE MUNDLA DISTRICT, SOUTH OF THE NERBUDDA. BY G. F. PEARSON, CAPT., SUPERIN- TENDENT OF FORESTS, JUBBULPORE DIVISION.... ii 2. ... 1. THE DAUGHTERS OF INDIA: THEIR SOCIAL CONDITION, VI. BRITISH SETTLERS, No. II. 315 ib. ... ... ... ... ib. ... 1. REPORTS OF THE SPECIAL COMMISSIONERS IN THE VII. THE UNCOVENANTED SERVICE. 1. NOTE BY THE COMMISSIONER CHARGED BY GOVERN- VIII. OUR RAILWAYS. 1. REPORT TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA IN 1. NEMESIS: A POEM IN FOUR CANTOS. BY JOHN BRUCE WHICH IS ADDED A DISCUSSION ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE VEDA. BY THE REV. K. M. BANERJEA. Calcutta, 373 ib. 390 vi xi ... 3. "HEART ECHOES FROM THE EAST." BY MISS MARY E. THE CALCUTTA REVIEW. MARCH 1861. ART. I.-The Bengal Gradation List, 1860. HE removal of the quasi-empire of the Court of Directors, a Board which stood so long between British Empire and British India, has given to the people of Britain an uninterrupted view of the people of India, for whose welfare they are now directly responsible. And, although Parliament may still turn a deaf ear to any one, who endeavours to check profligate jobbing on the part of whig Secretaries of State, yet there are not wanting indications that the habitual good feeling and sense of duty of JOHN BULL will lead him, ere long, to turn his attention to the management of the fine, but embarrassed estate which he has inherited from JOHN COMPANY. The servants who acquired and managed the estate referred to, will, very naturally, be taken to task pretty closely for any shortcomings on their part which may have injured the tenants, or affected the amount of the rents. It may, ultimately, be found, that they have for the most part done their work well and wisely, unless overborne by interference from the Great House; but it may also be thought that they had become fat and lazy on high pay, and a too hereditary routine of succession and promotion. At any rate the Indian Civil Service is likely to undergo some amount of change, and three plans present their claims to attention. 1st. Do away with the Monopoly as regards the "Uncovenanted," i. e. let every man in the service of the Indian Government hold any office; this has been partly done in Oudh and the Punjab. 2nd. Do away with the Monopoly altogether, and let Candidates, either from England or from any other part of the Empire, be appointed to Civil posts in India, as to Consulships and Colonial posts. 3rd. Retain the Monopoly, with or without modifications, as regards the administrative service; but give purely judicial posts to trained Lawyers. MARCH, 1861. B 1st. There are Indian officials here and there, whose exclusion from a full career is as bad for the public as for themselves. These should be treated like deserving non-commissioned officers in the army; presented with covenants. This was recommended by Mr. H. Ricketts, a Member of the Civil Service, who had largely studied the subject. 2nd. The complete destruction of administrative Monopoly is the plan which has most arguments (of an abstract kind) in its favor; and which is the most open to practical objections. Indian administration is as much a profession as Medicine or Law; its practice therefore equally demands a diploma for the protection of the public. Whenever an inefficient diplomaholder finds his way into the profession, by all means let him be discouraged and sparingly employed; but you gain nothing by allowing uncertificated persons to be inflicted on an unprotected public, at the caprice of men in power, either here or at Home. 3rd. The chief complaints against the present servants are on judicial grounds, and they are, in this respect, tried in a way no body of men could stand. No one denies that they are courageous, energetic rulers; many of them benevolent; and a large proportion efficient in a way that may be rough, but is not unsuited to rough duties. But, partly through the action of the Legislature, and partly through the customs of a people long inured to despotism, and prone to seek in litigation the exercise of enmity denied to open force, the Magistrates of India have become vested with a far too large amount of equitable jurisdiction, over the persons and property of the people. If a man is ousted from land, or deprived of his wife by a seducer, or if his servants leave him, or his labourers fail in their engagements; instead of suing for damages in a Civil Court, he comes before the Hakim, ("the protector of the poor," &c.) and prays that there may be an injunction issued for the fulfilment of the contract. Now it is obvious that this system is easily abused. Those who are most anxious to obtain an injunction from a foreigner, living at a distance from the scene, and immersed in much of the business which in England is shared between the Parson, the Squire, the Poor Law Guardian, the Land Bailiff, the Trustee of Roads, and the Sheriff of the County; those will not be always the men who have a real grievance. When it is also remembered that the people have a strong social organisation of their own, and that the method of redress by caste arbitration is an ancient institution of the Country, there will be no difficulty in understanding, that the desire to injure an enemy may as often influence the Plaintiff on the *Act VII of 1819, IV of 1840 &c. |