religion. I certainly hope that the good man's friends in the north have enabled him to provide the necessary instructors, which he will of course find to be somewhat requisite, as exclusive of the education received by the civil servants at Madras, before they quitted this country, he will find in your last number that three gentlemen who entered the College at Madras in 1813, were in 1816 deemed qualified to enter with advantage, into any branch of the public service.

If it is worth while to send Missionaries of the various sects in this country to British India, certainly each person should endeavour to obtain some little knowledge of the language before they leave England, and after their arrival, before they proceed to the objects of their mission, as the Tamil and Telugu at Madras, with the Hindustani, Bengali, Persian and Sanscrita in Bengal, appear to be equally necessary for the expounder of the blessed doctrines of the Christian religion, as for any young man in the usual routine of official business.

In the missionary proceedings, I should like to see, that an application was made to the court of directors for permission that all Missionaries should in the first instance (at the expense of the society) have permission to attend the lectures at Hertford, and after their arrival in India at the college either at Madras or Calcutta, when if their abilities and general character was equal to the apostolical mission of converting the natives of British India, no objection ought to be used by the East India Company, in appointing them to stations, as recommended in my last letter on this subject.

In the reign of king William it was enjoined that "such ministers should be sent to India should apply themselves to learn the native language of the country, the

as

better to enable them to instruct the Gentoos, who should be servants of the Company or of their agents in the Protestant religion."

While the clergy of the church of England are placed under the peculiar jurisdiction of the Bishop of India, the missionaries of every persuasion have the power of holding forth without any control, and of invalidating the doctrines of the church of England, which may account for some passages in the charge of Dr. Middleton to the clergy, and which I candidly confess I was sorry to see, from his peculiarly temperate conduct in every thing that has hitherto passed since his arrival in British India.

"The clamour for religious li berty was never louder, nor heard with less alarm, than at a time when all doctrines are taught without restraint, and when men may go forth pretending to a commission, of which they exhibit no proofs, to vilify whatever is reasonable, and to impugn whatever is established.

"A small society of Christians may indeed be formed upon almost any of the various schemes which caprice may suggest, and such societies may be preserved from dissolution, so long as an establishment diverts the jealousy of rival sects, but nothing which has any resemblance to independency is adapted to the maintenance of religion amongst a numerous people, and least of all perhaps when we consider their peculiar character amongst the nations of the east, abstact theories of religious liberty would be hardly intelligible, where no real or supposed right was supposed to be infringed, and the unbiassed judgment would declare for Christianity in that form, in which the fullest provision should be made for piety, order, and peace."

MODERATION.

Proceeding on about half a mile, we alighted at the house of the king's son-in-law. He expressed himself exceedingly glad to see us. We sat with him about half an hour, and were treated with a little betel. He then conducted us to a tolerable house, near his own; which he acquainted us was allotted for our residence, and belonged to him. He requested to see what we had brought for the king, which we shewed him. Afterwards he took his leave, desiring we would repose ourselves for that day, and recover from the fatigues of our journey. The king, he said, would grant us an audience next morning. In regard to provisions, we were obliged to shift for ourselves; and a bad meal we were likely to make. mau, who offered to be our providore, furnished us with a fowl, a duck, and some greens. He had the assurance to say, that this was all he could procure for five dollars that had been advanced him, and, to avoid disputing the point, he got out of the way.

A

By six o'clock next morning, a message was brought us, that his majesty was ready to receive us; but this being so much earlier than we expected to be summoned, we were obliged to keep his majesty waiting for, at least, half an hour, while we dressed. We then attended our conductor for near a mile, till we came in sight of the palace from an eminence. Here we were to dismiss all our attendants, not so much as a boy with an umbrella being allowed to follow us ; and to leave our swords, as they assured us it was never permitted any body to enter into the presence with arms. These preliminaries adjusted, we advanced towards the palace. In the front were drawn up two ranks of men, consisting of an hundred each, with spears, pikes, halberds, &c. of various fashious, with some banners flying,-and from within appeared the muzzles of two long brass

cannons. In the middle of a gravelled terrace, in front of the palace, was laid the present I brought. As soon as we ascended this terrace, the mandarine, our conductor, told us to make our obeisance in the same manner as he did, which consisted in prostrating himself three times with his forehead to the ground. This mode of salutation, however, appeared to us rather too humiliating, we contented ourselves with making as many bows, after the English fashion; we mounted half a dozen steps to the apartment his majesty and court were assembled in; it was open in the front and at the sides, the roof tiled and constructed after the Cochin Chinese fashion, supported by fine wooden pillars; the back part wainscoted; against this was placed the throne, which rose two or three steps above the floor of the apartment; and upon the eminence stood an arm chair, painted red, and ornamented with the gilded heads of dragons, in which the king sat, having before him a small table covered with a red silk cushion, wrought with gold flowers, for him to lean on. On each side the throne was also placed a chair, in one was seated his brother, the other was empty, and, as I understood, belonged to another brother, who was then absent at Donai; several rows of benches were behind these and upon theni were seated the mandarines, according to their rank. The king was clothed in a robe of silk, of a deep yellow, upon which dragons and other figures were wrought in gold. Upon his head he wore a kind of close cap turned up behind, the front ornamented with some jewels, and on the top of it was a large red stone, through which passed a wire, raising it a few inches; it shook and sparkled as he moved him self; the mandarines were, many of them, clad in gowns of silk of different colours, adorned with dragons; and their caps with flowers of gold, or gilt.

Round their waists they wore girdles, some of which were covered with scarlet broad cloth, fastened with clasps of gold, and decorated with carnelian stones, set in the same metal. Upon the whole, the appearance was a fine one; and although the scene wanted many of the requisites which constitute grandeur and magnificence amongst other eastern princes, as a profusion of jewels, carpets, attendants, &c. the regularity and decorum observed here presented one with some adequate ideas of a powerful sovereign surrounded by his court. Behind the whole, farthest from the throne, was placed a bench for me and my companions. This I however objected to, conceiving that, both as an ambassador (in that character I, at least, appeared there) and a stranger, I had a right to a more honorable one; and also, that it would be very inconvenient for addressing myself to the king, or hearing what he said. As soon as he understood this, he desired me to come forward to the front bench, and we were seated next to his son-inlaw.

I then, through the interpreter, addressed myself to the king; telling him, that I was a servant to the English government in Bengal, from whence I had been deputed to settle a commercial and friendly intercourse with the inhabitants of Cochin China." He said, "That the fame of the English exploits at sea had reached him, and that he had heard they exceeded all other nations in the number of their ships, and excelled in the management of them; but they had made an ill use of the advantage; for he had also been informed, that they indiscriminately attacked and plundered whatsoever vessels they met with; that he was very willing to permit the English to trade to his ports, and hoped that they, in return, would not molest his gallies, boats, or other vessels." I replied, "That the first part of his information, respecting the power of the English by sea, was strictly true, but the latter was absolutely false, and must have been insinuated to him by those who were jealous of our prosperity, and wished to give him an unfavourable and unjust opinion of us; that the English were, at the present time, at peace with all foreign nations, and that their ships

resorted to almost all the parts in the known world, where their merchants were renowned for their probity and the fairness of their dealings." He then desired the interpreter to acquaint me, that the English might trade to his ports, in the same manner as the Portuguese did. Upon this I begged leave to observe, that the English would be ready to pay all the just duties of his government; but as I had been informed that the Portuguese and others, trading to Cochin China, were subject to many obstructions and delays in carrying on their business, by reason of these duties being undefined, which sometimes even involved them in disputes with the mandarines and officers of government, I wished, in order to avoid such disagreeable circumstances, that, in lieu of the various presents, anchorage, &c. required from the Portuguese, some specific payment might be agreed on, either by way of duty or otherwise, as his majesty might judge proper. After he had taken a short time to consult with the mandarines about him, he replied," that he had considered my representation; and to shew how willing he was to settle every thing to our satisfaction, he proposed that every three-masted vessel, for the liberty of trading a whole season in Cochin China, should pay ten thousand quans, (they allowed us five quans for a Spanish dollar,) that large two-masted ones should pay seven thousand, and smaller ones four thousand." I urged to him that "these were large sums, which I was afraid would deter any merchants from sending their vessels; that I therefore hoped he would lower them something as an encouragement." It was at length settled, that for vessels of three masts seven thousand quans should be paid, of two masts four thousand, and smaller ones two thousand. He now desired to know whether, and upon what terms, I would assist him with the vessels I had under my orders against his enemies. I told him, "I had no authority to act, offensively, or to interfere in the disputes subsisting in the country, and I requested to know the reason of his putting to death some persons left in the country the preceding year." He said, that "this circumstance had happened at Turon, where one of his mandarines command

We accordingly followed him. This house, we were informed, was the residence of his family, the one we left being entirely appropriated to the assembling of the council, receiving ambassadors, aud to other public services: round it was a bamboo fence leading to a spacious court by a gate through which we entered, and crossing this we ascended by three steps to a large hall, open in the front, and furnished with small screens to keep off the weather. In the back part of this apart ment, within a smaller one, whose front was also open to the hall, divested of his robes and cap of state, and having on a plain silk jacket buttoned with small diamonds, and a piece of red silk wrapped round his head in the form of a turban; his majesty was sitting to receive us; here our conversation was without constraint, and general. He began it with repeating his good intentions towards us, and assuring me how desirous he was of connecting himself with the English; that although to save appearances before his council, he had mentioned a sum of money to be paid by our ships for the liberty of trading; yet to procure the friendship of the English nation, he would never exact it from them, but would shew them every indulgence in his power; he enumerated the articles produced in his country, as pepper, cardamoms, cinnamon, agula wood, (aquilaria agallocha), elephant's teeth, tin, and many others, which, he said, the ignorance of the inhabitants prevented them from making the most of, and that for this reason, as well as for instructing his people in the art of war, he earnestly desired that the governor of Bengal would send him a capable person. He said, the country, owing to the late commotions in it, was in some confusion, which he should apply himself to settle.

He was then pleased to disclose some of his future designs to me; they were to less than to subdue the kingdom of Cambodia, with the whole peninsula as far as Siam, and the provinces be long

I promised him faithfully to report what he had said to the Governor General in Bengal. The rest of our conversation was of little moment. He particularly desired, among other articles, that I would procure a horse to be sent him, cost what it would, by the first vessel to Cochin China, of a bay colour, and with fine sharp pointed ears. After being treated with tea and betel we took our leave. In the evening he sent me three papers; one, sealed with the great seal of the kingdom, set forth the conditions upon which the English ships were to trade to his dominions, and his desire of having some person sent to him, capable of instructing his subjects in the military science. The other two were sealed with a smaller seal; one describes the horse, &c. the other contains his licence for visiting any of his ports. The latter I had requested of him, in order to go in search of the little vessel that came in company with us, and had been separated from us a few nights before we arrived at Quinion. I supposed the commander had proceeded to Turon. The next morning we set out on our return to the vessel, the king's son-in-law furnishing us with horses and kulis, for which I paid him thirty dollars. Those who came with us he said had dispersed he knew not whither. Before we set out, I sent a message to the king, to acquaint him, that as I had made him an handsome present, I expected he would send one to the Governor General of Bengal, which I would call for in my way back from Turon. He returned me for answer, that he would most willingly. We reached Quinion the same day (the 26th July) and in two days after sailed for Turon. Our poor mandarine, and indeed all on board the vessel, to whom he had in some measure communicated his apprehensions for us, were exceedingly rejoiced at our safe return.