painting-how greatly does India contribute to the perfection of this art? Indian rubber, Indian ink, Indian yellow, Indian red, Indigo, are all derived from this country, the camels' hair of which brushes are made, and the ivory on which many paintings are done, are also the products of the land, and the finest engravings are struck off on Indian paper. But it is in administering to our pleasures and gratifications that India chiefly claims our gratitude, need I recall to the mind of the gastronomer the numerous delicacies, the choice condiments, the piquant spices and highly-prized esculents, with which India enriches his repasts, the curries, chillies, cayenne, &c. which impart so exquisite a relish to the pleasures of the table, and multiply the resources of the culinary art? Need I name that immortal discovery which was reserved to the genius of the present age, and which will confer everlasting fame on its Royal inventor. "The King of Oude's favourite sauce" ?-Need I remind him who languishes from excess or illness, that India is at hand with her rhubarb, her castor-oil, and all her benign peristaltics and restoratives to assuage his sufferings? or him who endures acute pain, that opium affords at least a temporary relief, and that "the drowsy syrups of the East" are the only lullaby to anguish? Need I impress on your fair readers their obligations to India? No! whilst pearls and silks are precious in female eyes, whilst ladies pride themselves on the grace of their plumes, whilst Dacca throws Manchester into the shade, and the "vrai cachemire," continues to take the pas of the humble "Glasgow," so long will ladies' hearts beat with sympathy for India. The benefits derived from India, however, are not merely sensual; they are also intellectual. Did not the discussion of the Deccan prize money question furnish gossip and conversation for years? employing the "collective wisdom" of the Treasury Lords for several days, and filling the pockets of certain lawyers? Has not the Burmese rath drawn thousands of gaping and wondering visitors to gaze and moralize on the vanity of the "Golden Foot"? And has not the Burmese war been a never-failing topic of discussion and speculation? Conjecture has indeed now given place to certainty on this subject, and it is melancholy to think how many people will be thrown out of employment by the conclusion of the war. I do not mean the belligerents, but those who made this war the occupation of their lives, who talked of nothing else, wrote of nothing else, thought of nothing else. The weather no longer cut the conspicuous figure it was wont to do in conversation, in the circles about Portland place; the newspapers teemed with reports from the scene of hostilities, and even the House of Commons is said to have occupied itself on divers occasions for a few minutes with the subject. I think I have said enough to show that England ought to take an interest in what relates to India, owing, as she does, so much to that country. So far from that being the case, an apathy and indifference exist (save only where there is danger of the country being lost) on the subject, which I am totally at a loss to account for. If India is mentioned in the House of Commons, the "collective wisdom" instantly betake themselves to Bellamy's. In private society the subject is received with a yawn or with a stare of astonishment. The ignorance which prevails respecting it is less wonderful, because where people are indifferent they are, of course, uninformed. But it would almost seem as if ignorance on this subject were meritorious, so little are the pains taken to conceal it. I was lately accosted at a party by a little fat lady with a scarlet toque and a diamond sprig, who said she understood I was from India, and she wished to know if I were acquainted with her nephew, who had lately gone out? On my inquiring to what part of India the youth had gone, she said he had joined his regiment at Jamaica, and that she was greatly apprehensive of his being ordered against the Burmese, as she understood the India Company were assembling all their forces in that quarter. On my endeavouring to explain, as politely as possible, that Jamaica formed no part of the Company's territories, and that the West India Islands were sufficiently remote from the Burman Empire, to render it extremely improbable that their respective forces should meet, she exclaimed "Well, well, of course you know best, having been there; for my part I am no geographer, and know little about the Indies, East or West; but I am sure Mr.-, the Director, said the other day that the Burmese country was on the west side of India, and he ought to know, for he has £2000 of India stock." There was no combating against such authority and such reasoning, so the conversation dropped. An eminent English lawyer expressed to me lately his wonder that the East India Company did not bestir themselves more against the slavery abolitionists, as their slaves, he presumed, were the most valuable part of their property. The learned gentleman looked a little surprised when I informed him that the Legislature suffered none but the British inhabitants of India to be enslaved; however, he recovered himself in a lawyer-like manner, by observing, that for that very reason the Company should make common cause with the planters, as the emancipation of the blacks would doubtless speedily be followed by that of the whites. I lately heard a military man, in a coffee-house, expressing his fears that the Burmese would be joined by the Ashantees, and then, said he, "take my word for it, Lord Combermere may go to the right about, for our game is up in the East." Some strange confusion was probably floating in the good man's brain, between the gold coast and the golden foot. These are but a few out of the numerous instances, of ignorance and blundering that I have met with in persons of education and information. People in England have also a foolish way of attaching English ideas to Indian names, either from similarity of sound, or from association of some sort or other; hence an infinity of ridiculous blunders. I have been asked whether or no the sepoys in India are as expert in nautical matters as our seamen, I have excited the amazement of a whole drawing 100m by casually mentioning that the climate of Bencoolen is hot and unhealthy, and I can scarcely succeed in convincing any one that the Hottentot country is remarkably cool and agreeable. Bajee Row, I find, figures in the imagination of many as a turbulent Radical, clamouring for annual parliaments and universal suffrage; whilst Runjeet Sing is looked upon as the founder of a new school of vocal music in the East-the Velluti of Hindoostan. Happening to be in conversation lately with a friend, on Indian matters, and having alluded to the ryots of Bengal, a grave "unpaid," who chanced to be present, pricked up his ears, and inquired if riots were numerous in India. I replied they were, in Bengal particularly. He expressed his wonder that, under an absolute government, and so near the seat of administration, such popular effervescences should be of so frequent occurrence. "However," he added, "I suppose the distresses we feel here have also reached India. This comes of over-trading, tampering with the currency, and delusion about the corn laws! But I suppose you lose no time in sending for a magistrate to read the Riot Act, and in calling out the yeomanry?" I told him that unfortunately there was no Riot Act to read, on which he de clared his intention (if the county returned him to the next Parliament) to move the framing of a Riot Act adapted to the circumstances of India. I should tire your patience, and that of your readers, were I to mention all the betises and cross purposes of this sort which I have met with. Leaving the general question of the ungrateful treatment India receives from England, I wish to say a few words on the uncourteous reception which Indians experience on their arrival here. Belonging, as I do myself, to that respectable and bilious community, having spent the best years of my life in that country, and having grown yellow in the service, I am perhaps inclined to overrate the importance which others may be disposed to attach to the natural history of our family; but the majority of your readers being Asiatics, or connected with Asiatics, I may hope for indulgence. How sadly have we sunk in the estimation of the people of England since days of yore! Then, we were received with open arms by all-were greeted with the dignified appellation of Naabob-were courted and caressed by prudent mammas, who had daughters to dispose of-we were treated with the utmost submission and deference by our relatives and dependents-our long stories were listened to with attention and without contradiction-bur equipages were to be seen rolling through the polished regions of St James's and May Fair, whilst their owners had the undisputed entrée to the most exclusive circles of fashion. I question if even the doors of Almack's were shut against them. Such were the distinctions formerly purchased by a short career of 10 or 12 years in the East. Our dominion in England was like that in India-one of opinion,we bought "golden opinions of all sorts of men; " and if our consciences were supposed to be disturbed by the recollection of the means by which we had enriched ourselves, and our slumbers to be broken by visions of plundered princes and tortured subjects, still none were so uncivil as to express their suspicions to us, and our self-importance was undiminished. What a melancholy contrast does the present status of Indians in England afford to this! No mammas now court us-no daughters set their caps at us-our stories are listened to with yawns and signs of impatience—our relations presume to argue with us, we are pent up like Jews in a separate quarter, the neighbourhood of Portland Place, Harley street, &c. which is sneeringly termed "The Deccan"—our Club in Grosvenor Street, which we were obliged to set up in self-defence, is the sport of the flippant coxcombs of St James's Street-our Asiatic Society is suffered to languish in obscurity; and as to an Indian at Almack's-heavens! the very idea of it would put Lady Jersey into fits, and the spirit of Skeffington would rise to rebuke the degenerate descendants of the august founders. Thus it is that "men of all sorts take a pride to gird at us." Our sun is set! Of the causes which have contributed to our decline, I will not now treat-perhaps at some future time I may make them the subject of inquiry. The above observations may however, in some measure, prepare those in India who are panting for home, and for all the fancied delights and distinctions which are to greet their arrival in England, for the disappointment which will most probably await them. A VOICE FROM INDIA. Camberwell. THE IMMORTALITY OF MIND. OH! can that Mind whose pure delight Be lost in everlasting night, And worth and genius pass away? It cannot be! though Nature die, Like yon majestic orb of light, Whose morning smile and evening ray To glory in a new-born day. J. J. BHURTPOOR-INDIAN ENGINEERS-ARTILLERY-WAR IN AVA. THE official despatches respecting the assault of Bhurtpoor, and the terms of its surrender, will be found in another part of our Journal. But, having received, from an intelligent correspondent in India, a letter, in which the several subjects named at the head of this article are each alluded to, with reference to the operations before that fortress, we think we cannot do better with the miscellaneous, but at the same time, interesting information it contains, than give it in the state in which it is communicated in the letter of our intelligent informant. He says: "The attack on Bhurtpoor was commenced regularly enough; trenches were opened at about 6 or 700 yards from what appeared in the plans to be a very assailable angle of the town wall, and batteries for raking the two adjacent faces were judiciously placed. In a few days, however, as the approaches advanced, the guns of these batteries were advanced also, and were made use of to breach the place at nearer distances, and in more convenient positions. This, at first sight, appears reasonable enough; but artillery officers say, that a great error was committed, for that the raking, or, as they call them, the enfilading batteries, should never have ceased their fire; that up to the moment of the assault, and even during that operation, they should continue to annoy the besieged in flank; and that the instant of their being withdrawn, in the present instance, was the signal for the garrison to repair and strengthen their defences, and collect all their force for one great effort in the immediate vicinity of the breaches. All this is easily understood, but what staggers our belief is, that the error should have been unavoidable, and that, after the experience of the former siege, after twenty years of peace on that frontier, and after the urgent representations of Sir D. Ochterlony, the magazines of Delhi and Agra should have been so badly supplied with ordnance, that thirty-six pieces of battering cannon was all that could be procured, by literally emptying those two grand depôts. "The difficulties here hinted at had induced the besiegers to have recourse to mining; and in these operations the engineers conducted themselves to the admiration of the whole army, notwithstanding the great disadvantages under which they laboured from want of experience and want of means; for almost all the instructed men, trained with so much care by Colonel Pasley at Chatham, have been made non-commissioned officers to the pontoon train! at the other extremity of our provinces, or have been put into more advantageous situations, in different parts of the country, than employment in their own line afforded. Still, however, the engineers have done their duty; they pushed their galleries in all directions; and though sometimes countermined by the enemy, and sometimes |