XX. 1781. affected, by the measures taken for dethroning that BOOK unhappy prince, whose kingdom has been wrested from him by our servants, and put under the government of Mahomed Ali Khan, in direct violation of that treaty, and contrary to our repeated orders and instructions, which have uniformly and expressly prohibited them from attempting to enlarge our own or the nabob's dominions.”—His lordship arrived at Madras the latter end of the year 1775; and, notwithstanding all the opposition and the temptation thrown in his way, he accomplished the grand object of his appointment, in the re-instatement of the rajah. Disputes running extremely high in the council in consequence of this measure, the governor, in the autumn of 1776, suspended two of the members from their functions, by a doubtful and dangerous assumption of authority. But ample revenge was soon after taken by the remaining mal-contents, in the arrest and imprisonment of his lordship, who survived this daring outrage but a very short time. In the session of parliament which began November 1778, admiral Pigot, brother to lord Pigot, brought this affair in all its circumstances before the house of commons; and after stating, in a series of resolutions, the principal facts relative to this catastrophe, he concluded with moving an address to his majesty, "humbly praying that George Stratton, esquire, and the other members of the VOL. VII. XX. 1781. BOOK Council of Madras, be prosecuted for ordering their governor and commander-in-chief to be arrested, and confined under a military force-they being returned to England, and now within the jurisdiction of his majesty's courts of Westminster Hall." Notwithstanding the labored justification of Mr. Stratton, who was a member of the house, these resolutions were unanimously carried. These gentlemen, being in the sequel tried and convicted in the court of King's Bench, lord Mansfield sitting as lord chief justice, were, to the amazement of the public, sentenced only to pay a trifling fineand the laws which they had set at defiance in India seemed to be put in execution against them only to excite their contempt in England. In the last session of 1780-1, the affairs of India again attracted the attention of parliament, in con sequence of a petition presented to the house of commons from the governor and council at Calcutta, a second from the British settlers, and a third from the native inhabitants of Bengal, against the Supreme Court of Judicature established by the Regulating Act of 1773. The two former were drawn up in a very masterly style, and demonstrated, in a striking manner, the temerity and folly of those who could attempt to ingraft the laws and juridical maxims of England upon the ancient usages and immemorial institutions of Hindostan. The petition of the natives is remarkable for its pathos and simplicity. XX. 1781. "When," say the petitioners, "the ordinances of BOOK this court of judicature were issued, as they were all contrary to the customs, modęs, usages, and institutions of this country, they occasioned terror in us; and day by day, as the powers of this court became more established, our ruin, uneasiness, dishonor, and discredit, have accumulated. We are now driven to the last extremity. Several who possessed means and ability have banished themselves from the country; but we do not all of us possess the means of flight, nor have we power to abide the oppression of this court. If, which GoD forbid! this our petition should not be accepted, giving ourselves up with resignation to our fate, we will sit down in expectation of death. After this, LET the soil of the country remain, and the court of justice-LET the court of justice remain upon the earth, or the earth cover it!" On a motion by general Smith, for referring these petitions to a committee, Mr. Boughton Rous took occasion to contrast the established policy of ancient Rome with that adopted by England: "In all subjection of territory contiguous to her own," said this able speaker, "Rome gave her own laws, if the people wished to receive them; or she allured them by immunities and honorable distinctions. Thus she assimilated all the petty states of Italy to her laws and manners, till the whole peninsula became one nation. But in her distant conquests XX. 1781. BOOK she pursued a very different policy. In these she was satisfied to hold the supreme govenment, to possess the revenues and military powers, leaving the inhabitants to conduct their internal police by their own native magistrates and laws; avoiding any insult to the religion or prejudices of the vanquished. Much better would it be for Britain to imitate, in this respect, the conduct of the ancient Romans, than to persist in rash and injudicious attempts to impose the laws of England upon the natives of India." Many of the judicial decisions of the Supreme Court, as stated to the house, also wore the aspect of the most flagrant violence and injustice *; and It Of these perhaps the most remarkable was the decision given by the chief justice in the famous PATNA CAUSE. had been the practice of the provincial courts established under the English government, to refer questions of Mahomedan law to the cawzee and muftees-ancient and known judicial officers under the former government. A cause of great importance respecting a disputed property, referred, in the accustomed manner, by the council of Patna to the cawzee Sadhi and two muftees his assessors, being decided by them in a mode which approved itself to the public judgment as highly equitable and satisfactory, an action of trespass was nevertheless brought in the Supreme Court against the cawzee and muftees by the losing party. The action being admitted to lie, the cawzee was arrested by warrant of the chief-justice, to the consternation and astonishment of the inhabitants, in the public streets of Patna, when returning to his habitation from the exercise of the duties of his office. The sheriff having the XX. a general conviction seemed to be momentarily ex- BOOK cited, of the radical absurdity and erroneousness of the present system. Nevertheless, the weight of 1781. execution of the writ was directed not to admit the cawzee or his assessors to bail under the enormous sum of 400,000 fupees: and had it not been for the interposition of the Provincial Council, the defendants must have been dragged to Calcutta, at the distance of 500 miles, and have languished in prison till their doom was determined. "The seizure of the cawzee in this disgraceful manner," say the Provincial Council of Patna, in their letter to the Supreme Council of Calcutta, "coming from the execution of his office, has struck a general terror into the inhabitants of this city; we thought it therefore expedient, for the honor of government and the preservation of its authority, to offer the bail required for the enlargement of one of its first officers.-How can we expect," say they," the officers of these courts to carry any orders of consequence into execution, till they are assured of safety and protection in the discharge of their duty ?” The circumstances of cruelty and atrocity attending this business are fully detailed in the second article of impeachment exhibited against sir Elijah Impey, in the house of commons, December 12, 1787, by sir Gilbert Elliot. In the sequel, the decision of the cawzee was, upon grounds the most scandalously frivolous and futile, reversed by the Supreme Court; and the cawzee and muftees condemned to pay damages and costs to the amount of 300,000 rupees; which was in effect a sentence of perpetual imprisonment. The cawzee Sadhi, being aged and infirm, in a short time sunk under the weight of this persecution; the other defendants remaining in prison upwards of two years, till they were set at liberty by express orders from England, commanding not only their release, but |