out stating the grounds for the latter conjecture. We conceive, that the emigration of the Suraseni under Crisna, from the banks" of the Yamuna, to the shores of the ocean on the west of Gu zerat, would afford much countenance to the conjecture, if supported by other proof.

An Account of the Trigonometrical Operations in crossing the Peninsula of India, anal connecting Fort St George with Mangalor. By Cap-ain Lambton..

The places above mentioned, situated on opposite coasts, are 362 miles distant, and the intermediate space intersected by a chain of lofty mountains. Captain Lambton's survey, amongst other useful results, has enabled him to ascertain, by actual ob-! servations, the longitude and latitude of most of the principal stations within the parallels of 11° and 13° north. The greatest em levation above the level of the sea, remarked within those limits, is at Tadiandamali, pearly west of Mysor, stated at 5681 feet.

An Account of the Male Plant, which furnishes the Medicine generally called Columbo Root. By Dr Berry.

This plant is indigenous on the eastern coast of Africa; a fact, we believe, never hitherto ascertained; although the Portaguase export the root in very considerable quantities from Mozambique. An offset brought to Madras, and there planted, produced only male flowers; so that the genus is still uncertain.

On Sanscrit and Präcrit Poetry. By H. T. Colebrooke, Esq. The design of this essay is to exhibit the laws of versification observed by Hindu poets, together with brief notices of the most celebrated poems in which they are exemplified. These rules of prosody, minutely and accurately detailed by a person so competent to the task as Mr Colebrooke, will prove highly useful to the Sanscrit scholar, whose ear must occasionally be consulted to determine the sense, where manuscripts are found incorrect or deficient.

Remarks upon the Authorities of Mosulman Law.”

By J. H. Harington, Esq.

The Coran is believed by the faithful to comprise a divine revelation promulgated for the observance of man, us an epitome of morat and religious duties. It consequently furnishes the basis of Mohamedan jurisprudence, and supplies an unimpeachable rule in all cases to which its text applies. But the rude state of society," in which Mohamed found and left his countrymen, supplied im perfect materials for a code, destined in future times to become

the law of rich, cultivated and commercial states. It does not even appear to have been at all the intention of that impostor to promulgate a regular system of civil and criminal jurisprudence for the government of his followers The Coran was composed at different periods, and under different circumstances; and the change of affairs too, obviously produced corresponding changes of doctrine. To supply what was defective, and to reconcile what was contradictory, recourse was had to the traditionary nar ratives collected after his death by his companions, their contemporaries and successors. But in the selection of the traditions to be deemed authentic, the sectaries of Ali reject many admitted by the Suni; who, in their turn, deny the authenticity of others a dopted as genuine by their opponents. The system of jurispru dence adopted by the Mohamedan empire of Dilli, is founded on the traditions admitted by the Suni, as expounded and applied by Abu Hanifa. But this celebrated jurisconsuit, whose authority is supreme in India and Turkey, left no work on jurisprudence. His legal opinions were recorded, illustrated, and sometimes disputed, by his disciple Imam Mohamed, in several voluminots treatises. Modern jurists, however, seldom remount to the original authorities. At present, the books consulted for expounding the Mohamedan law, consist of texts and comments; as the Hedaya, translated into English by the late Captain Hamilton; or Fu tava, comprising collections of law cases, arranged under distinct heads, with a recital of facts and circumstances, but without comment or authority. Amongst the latter, the most esteemed was compiled by order of the Emperor Aurungzeb, and bears his

name.

Mr Harington's essay is intended to form part of an analysis of the laws and regulations for the civil government of the Bri tish territories under the presidency of Bengal. It comprises an instructive account of the lives and writings of the chief Moslem jurisconsults, and indicates the degree of authority assigned to them respectively in modern decisions.

In reviewing the successive volumes of this interesting publication, we endeavour stedfastly to adhere to our original plan, of marking the progressive extension of the boundaries of science, by the labours of this learned society. The preceding analysis has enabled our readers to appreciate the addition to the stock of ge neral information that has recently been derived from that source; and the result cannot be otherwise than favourable to the reputa tion, already high, of most of the contributors to the present vo iume.

ART.

ART. VII. Narrative of the Origin and Progress of the Dissensions at the Presidency of Madras, founded on Original Pa•pers and Correspondence. pp. 114, & App. Lloyd, London,

1810.

Account of the Origin and Progress of the late Discontents of the Army on the Madras Establishment. pp. . Cadell & Davis, London, 1810. Statement of Facts delivered to the Right Honourable Lord Minto. - By William Petrie Esq. pp. 64, & App. Stockdale, London,

1810.

THE

HE disturbances which have lately taken place in our East Indian possessions, would, at any period, have excited a considerable degree of alarm; and those feelings are, of course, not a little increased by the ruinous aspect of our European affairs. The revolt of an army of eighty thousand men, is an event which seems to threaten so nearly the ruin of the country in which it happens, that no common curiosity is excited as to the causes which could have led to it, and the means by which its danger was averted. On these points, we shall endeavour to exhibit to our readers the infor- ? mation afforded to us by the pamphlets whose titles we have cit ed. The first of these is understood to be written by an agent of Sir George Barlow, sent over for the express purpose of defending his measures; the second is most probably the production of some one of the dismissed officers, or, at least, founded upon their representations; the third statement is by Mr Petrie, and we most cordially recommend it to the perusal of our readers. It is characterized, throughout, by moderation, good sense, and a feeling of duty. We have seldom read a narrative, which, on the first face of it, looked so much like truth. It has, of course, produced the ruin and dismissal of this gentleman, though we have not the shadow of doubt, that if his advice had been followed, every unpleasant occurrence which has happened in India might have been effectually prevented.

In the year 1802, a certain monthly allowance, proportioned to their respective ranks, was given to each officer of the Coast army, to enable him to provide himself with camp-equipage; and a monthly allowance was also made to the commanding offe` cers of the native corps, for the provision of the camp-equipage of these corps.. This arrangement was commonly called the tent contract. Its intention (as the pamphlet of Sir George Barlow's agent very properly states) was to combine facility of movement in military operations with views of economy. In the general revision of its establishments, set on foot for the purposes of economy by the Madras government, this contract was considered 20 entailing upon them a very unnecessary expense; and the then commander

commander-in-chief, General Craddock, directed Colonel Munro; the quartermaster-general, to make a report to him upon the subject. The report, which was published almost as soon as it was made up, recommends the abolition of this contract; and,' among other passages for the support of this opinion, has the following one.

Six years experience of the practical effects of the existing sys tem of the camp equipage equipment of the native army, has af forded means of forming a judgment relative to its advantages and efficiency, which were not possessed by the persons who proposed its introduction; and an attentive examination of its operations during that period of time, has suggested the following observations regarding it.'.

After stating that the contract is needlessly expensive-that it subjects the Company to the same charges for troops in garrison, as for those in the field-the Report proceeds to state the followjug observation, made on the authority of six years' experience and attentive examination.

Thirdly. By granting the same allowances in peace and war, for the equipment of Native corps, while the expenses incidental to that charge are unavoidably much greater in war than in peace, it places the interest and duty of officers commanding Native corps in direct opposition to one another. It makes it their interest that their corps should not be in a state of efficiency fit for field service, and therefore furnishes strong inducements to neglect their most importapt duties. Accurate and Authentic Narrative, p. 117, 118.

Her, then, is not only a proposal for reducing the emoluments of the principal officers of the Madras army, but a charge of the most flagrant nature. The first they might possibly have had some right to consider as an hardship; but, when severe and unjust invective was superadded to strict retrenchment-when their pay and their reputation were diminished at the same time-it cannot be considered as surprising, that such treatment, on the part of the Government, should lay the foundation for a spirit of discontent in those troops who had recently made such splendid additions to the Indian empire, and established, in the progress of these acquisitions, so high a character for discipline and courage. It must be remembered, that an officer on European and on Indian şervice are in very different situations, and propose to themselves very different objects. The one never thinks of making a fortune by his profession, while the hope of ultimately gaining an independence is the principal motive for which the Indian officer banishes himself from Lis country. To diminish the emoluments of his profession, is to retard the period of his return, and to frustrate the purpose for which he exposes his life and health in a burning clipate, on the other side of the world. We make these observafions, certainly, without any idea of denying the right of the East

India Company to make any retrenchments they may think proper, but to show that it is a right which ought to be exercised with great delicacy and with sound discretion-that it should only be exercised when the retrenchment is of real importance--and, above all, that it should always be accompanied with every mark of suavity and conciliation. Sir George Barlow, on the contrary, committed the singular imprudence of stigmatizing the honour, and wounding the feelings of the Indian officers. At the same moment that he diminished their emoluments, he tells them, that the India Company take away their allowances for tents, because those allowances have been abused in the meanest, most profligate, and most unsoldierlike manner: for this, and more than this, is conveyed in the report of Colonel Munro, published by order of Sir Ceorge Barlow. If it was right, in the first instance, to diminish the emoluments of so vast an army, it was certainly indiscreet to give such reasons for it. If any individual had abused the advantages of the tent contract, he might have been brought to a court martial; and if his guilt had been established, his punishment, we will venture to assert, would not have occasioned a moment of complaint, or disaffection in the army: But that a civilian, a gentleman accustomed only to the details of commerce, should begin his government, over a settlement with which he was utterly unacquainted, by telling one of the bravest set of officers in the world, that, for six years past, they had been, in the basest manner, sacrificing their duty to their interest, does appear to us an instance of indiscretion, which, if frequently repeated, would soon supersede the necessity of any further discussion upon Indian affairs.

The whole transaction, indeed, appears to have been gone into with a disregard to the common professional feelings of an army, which is to us utterly inexplicable. The opinion of the comp:ander in chief, General Macdowall, was never even asked upon the subject; not a single witness was examined; the whole seems to have depended upon the report of Colonel Munro, the youngest staff-officer of the army, published in spite of the earnest remonstrance of Colonel Capper, the adjutant-general, and before three days had been given him to substitute his own plan, which Sir George Barlow had promised to read before the publcation of Colonel Munro's report. Nay, this great plan of reduction was never even submitted to the Military Board, by whom ail subjects of that description were, according to the orders of the Court of Directors, and the usage of the service, to be discussed and digested, previous to their coming before Government.

Shortly after the promulgation of this very indiscreet paper, the commander in chief, General Macdowall, received letters

from