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Leader (1850-1860), 20th August 1853, Edition Country of 2, Page 7

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      The Z?It Lias Published A Translation Of...

      • which do not concern , them , nor do that which is not lawful btit each must look to his own affairs . " This present arrangement , proclamation , and order ( tembi ) has been prepared in the presence of the Sheik-il-Tslani and all the learned of the empire , of the Soraskier , and all the officers of the army and viziers who were at the Council of the Grand Vizier . Finally , this proclamation has been sanctioned by his Majesty the- Sultan ; and all those who-are not pleased with the arrangement , and shall act contrary to it , shall be considered as insubordinate , and sev erely punished . " ^ [ Here follow the signatures of all the pr incipal officials of the empire , civil , military , and religious . " ]

      Augvst 20/1853.] The Leader/ 799

      Augvst 20 / 1853 . ] THE LEADER / 799

      Austbalia. New South Waxes Is Busy Conco...

      AUSTBALIA . New South Waxes is busy concocting a constitution ; Victoria is " counting all its moneyj" while South Australia—a pastoral land like the Canaan of the Bible —produces and consumes the primitive repast of " bread , milk , and honey . " The Upper Chamber in New South Wales is to be composed of Crown nominees holding office for life . The Legislative , then wholly elective , will give si truer reflex of public feeling . At present great concessions

      have to be made to official influence to secure the passing a measure , or the adoption of a report ; and some of the elected members will , perhaps , not be sorry to see the representatives of the Crown fairly "in another place , " where they may he " bombarded with good measures / ' and left to incur the undivided unpopularity of rejecting them . But the public are more intent on getting gold than in marking these changes . A new bill is being carried amending the too stringent provisions of the gold regulation act , the operation of which has thinned the New South Wales and crowded the Victoria

      diggings . The new bill will allow persons to " prospect " or try the ground without licenses in places that have not been proclaimed as goldfields . The prohibition of the issue of licenses to runaway servants and apprentices is repealed , merely because it is impossible to carry it out with effect ; but a conviction of having absconded from hired service cancels a license if it has been obtained . Servants , persons in Government employ , and clergymen , are not to pay license fees for residing on the fields , and foreigners are to be dealt with precisely as British subjects . With these amended regulations , if a few dazzling" nuggets are turned up during the winter , the

      Sydney diggings may again be tenanted . Without some greater finds than have lately been made , much effect cannot be expected of them . House rent at Sydney is still rising , building being slow and scanty , and provisions—though far below Melbourne prices—are very high . Wages have probably reached their highest point . Government officials are sorely embarrassed ; an increase in their limited salaries is at length about to be made . The Australian Anti-Convict League is to bo dissolved , a happy ending to an unpleasant agitation . The Adelaide steamer had arrived at Sydney . She was much damaged by accidents on the voyage out . She must be sent to India for

      repairs . The great feature of life in Victoria is the unceasing and increasing yield of gold . In the first four months of 1853 , 44 : 9 , 066 ounces more gold was produced than in the first four months of 1852 . The richest gold field is Mount Alexander . At Ballarot also some very largo lumps have been found . The weight of gold shipped to London from Victoria in the present yoar alrea dy amounts to over thirty-seven tons (!) value over three million three hundred thousand pounds sterling . The gold companies show signs of failure . Unless formed on the principle of directors and workers "liaring tho profits , thoy are sure to fail , as the men innat get wages equal to their best chances when worknig for themselves . Rents , wages ' , mid market prices at Melbourne- are monstrous . " ltonts aro asked for

      incro hovels that would not bo demanded for mansions in Europe / ' nnd still tho population is rapidly on tho increase . Tho now emigrants suffer sovorely from want of shelter . Men unversed in manual skill , and unused to hard physical labour , arc entirely unfitted Jot tho labour market of Victoria . One of tho Melbourne journals hns published n solemn exhortation to this generally usolcss class , imploring them to descend cliwnfnl iy and "like Christiana , " to tho menial occupations for which there- is n field ; at tho sumo time lecturing employers on tho folly of entertaining a projuiico

      < against taking gentlemen and Indies for household "orvunts—an additional difficulty with which tho educated destitute hnyo io contend . ' Thorn * i » , ifc 8 COnw , WHHothing . embarrassing to a master in having a grnjUi nto of Cambrid ge to black Inn boots or groom hia loi-Ro ; and even if a gontleinan oflbrcd to umlortnko none duties ho would bo rejected for ono who . could lot bo accused of mathematics or manners . Yot , if no mlvico of tho writer ubovo cited could bo followed , " wouUi bo a benefit on both sides ; that it nhould be ™» cnnicstl y given i » ono of tho indications of tho auo-Uwl « tiitoofflociofcy .

      Indian Wars And Indian" "Justice." The L...

      INDIAN WARS AND INDIAN" " JUSTICE . " The late mail brings news from our Indian possessions , new and old . In our new territories there is a truce to hostilities . The British force and the outposts of the Burmese army face one another ; but both are resolved £ o act on the defensive . A famine ¦ , is , impending in Burmah : it results from the scanty ' sowing in the war time . In our older possessions noisy intriguo and strange malpractices still prevail . Mr . Luard , the Accuser-General of the Bombay Bench , continues to " blacken" the character of the Sudder judges , and to recall attention to the Surat . case . The facts

      of the case , however , have now been fully made out ; and the papers that were formerly most violent against Mr . Luard ( though they still strongly condemn the course he has taken to bring about an inquiry ) admit that it would certainly appear that a widow had been deprived of her inheritance contrary to explicit law , and 'is still Tcept out of it , because Government and the Court of Directors are unwilling that their administration of justice and highest officials should incur the scandals that would be occasioned by a public inquiry into the case .

      The injudicious distinction between European barristers and native vakeels is still kept up in the Supreme Court . Manockpee Cursetje , one of the vakeels ( native pleaders ) , has shown a proper spirit of resistance to the unjust distinctions made by the judges . He presented a petition to the Court , which placed it in a very awkward dilemma . He bowed to the Court ' s decision , that a distinction ought to be made between European and native pleaders ( although both practised under the same act ); but he begged , for the convenience of all parties concerned , that the Court would define explicitly what those distinctions and privileges were to

      be . The Court was surprised by this into an exceedingly weak and illogical answer . They said , " We will not entertain your petition , because when we called on a case of yours the other day you were not prepared with it ; and -also , oil one occasion , you ' addressed us without the expression of respect usually used by native vakeels in addressing- the Mofussil Courts . " A few days after this , Manockpee presented a petition in rejoinder . He pointed out that the rights of the Bar , of which he . was a member , could not possibly be

      affected by any accidental act of carelessness or disrespect of which he had been individually guilty ; but he explained that European barristers were often unprepared with a case when it was called on , and had applied for and obtained postponement in consequence ; and he stated , that the expressions of respect used by vakeels in the Mofussil Courts , in addressing the Company's judges ( your Omniscience , Sec . ) , were blasphemous to apply to any but the Deity , and were dictated only by the abject servility which rendered tho native Mofussil Bar useless for the ends

      of justice . The Court thereon threatened to fine Manockpee , and reminded him that it had recently fined two other vakeels . Manockpee protested against their right of fining vakeels , saying that if others had submitted to it he would not , and that such a practice was utterly fatal to the independence of tho native Bar . In its last issue tho London JKail gives a very striking and confident statement accounting for tho dismissals of the Indian judges , Mr . Grant and Mr . Le Geyt . We extract tho following- passages : — " A great deal has boon said in tho lafco debates , nnd moro will bo said in tho House of Lords , on tho

      mat-administration of justice in India . Mr . Grant ' s oaso throws groat light on this subject . Tho spirit of that administration towards tho natives is so bad , that wo do not hositato to aflirxn , that it is impossible for nativos to obtain strict justice at tho hands of tho Mofussil Judges . In tho first place , wo liavo Lord Campbell ' s authority for tho assertion that they aro ignorant nnd inoxporioncod ; in tho next placo , wo have tho best ovidonco that thoy aro animated with feelings of contempt , if not of hatred , towards tho natives . Impartiality , strict and equitable administration of tho law , is unknown . Tho thing is patent in India , and all tho statistics , and all tho readings of tho statistics in

      tho world cannot overturn those facts . But thoro woro two Judges , Mr . Grant and Mr . Lo Qoyt , who ondcavourod to rectify this , and as Judges in tho Suddor , thoy had an opportunity of doing so . Moro enlightened and moro ablo than tho majority of tboir colleagues and subordinates , thoy woro unceasing in their efforts to correct that maladministration of justice which obtainod throughout the land . What was moro natural than that Mr . Grant . should havo incurred tho hatred of tho officials , whoso judgments bo was instrumental in reversing , and tho rospoot ; of tho nativos , whoso persons and property ho protected ? What

      was moro natural than that oocrot representations should bo mado by tho gentlemen thwarted nnd corrocted , to tho Govornmont which not only connived at , but oncourngod that spirit of antagonism to tho nativos , which , in its olfocts , will sooner or lator , if not oradicatod , undermine our power ? Tho Jtotnbnt / Gazette itsolf gavo tho oluo to thin in February last , and showed tho animus and tho inspiration of its Hlandoru , whon it roforrod its roadors , for tho imputation of tho Suddor , not to tho poor nor to tho rich , but to tho civil sorvico—to ' thoIjVoroH ! tho Stuarts ! tho Mnnsfiolds '—to * any ono who has lived for nomo timo in tho Mofusail and then in Bombay . * Sir Charloa Wood

      said that tho Jud ges could not be restored because their conduct caused a scandal . Who were scandalized ? That is an important , question . Was it the officials whose judgments were reversed ; the Government who were annoyed at the proved inefficiency of their servants , or the natives , who obtained , some justice from the Sudder ? We have shown that , at all events , ifc was not the latter who Wore scandalized by the conduct of Mr . Le Gcyt and Mr . Grant . Was the scandal felt in the virtuous bosoms of the editor of the Bombay Gazette , the Governor of Bombay ,- and ' the flower of the Civil [ Service '—the scandal felt ' by the culprits and the instrument of their vengeance—sufficient reason for removing from the bench two of the J udges who were foremost in the enjoyment of the confidence of the population for whose behoof there is such a thing as justice administered in India at all ?

      " For our own parts we are in a position to assert and maintain , that Mr . Grant and Mr . Le Geyt were removed because they corrected the administration of justice , and enjoyed the confidence of the natives , and not on account of the alleged immorality of one judge , which has never been proved , nor the indebtedness of another , which was no crime . These were the pretexts only . " For many years numbers of our officials , encouraged by Government , have been carrying on a crusade against their native subordinates and village officers . They havo felt and gloried in feeling no kind of sympathy ' whatever

      for the natives , and avowed openly their distrust of them . So far has this been carVied , that accusations have been invited , sometimes—incredible as it seems to English ears —by proclamations against particular persons , and under these circumstances , accusations of course poured in to meet the pleasure of the Government and its officers . The best men fall victims to this system ; for the successful pursuer of crime , the man not accessiblo to corruption , has always many enemies , and is but too often selected as an offering on the altar of official suspicion ; while nine cases out of ten are commenced with a strong bias against tho accused . When the Sudder annulled convictions and

      decisions that were unsupported by evidence on the record , prisoners , honourably acquitted , were , on the representation of the subordinates whose self-lovo was wounded by the reversal of their decisions- —representations often mado privately and illegally—actually dismissed from . their situtions , as if their guilt had been established ! it is true that this system has been much shaken by the abolition of secrecy , but the man mainly instrumental in abolishing secret courts , the man who induced English barristers to practise there—English reporters to report—and-thc press to g ive publicity to the proceedings— -this man has fallen a victim to his own public spirit ; for the Government havo dismissed him from tho Bench on tho false charge that he lacked the confidence of those to serve whom he bad

      sacrificed himself ! This is so monstrous , that we aro sure Sir Charles Wood only waits for correct information to removo tho impression that the judges wcro dismissed because tbo natives had no confidence in them . " The mal-administration of justice is tho real key to Indian misgovernment . Tbo system , pursued by inferior men , directly tbo contrary of that recommended by all tho great minda who have sot foot in India , must bo totally upset , and tho spirit in which they act totally changed before English rule in India will be other than that of a

      garrison on ono hand , and an Irish rackrenting landlord on tho other . Were one-third of tho timo devoted by magistrates and assistants to hunting down native subordinates , givon to improving tbo resources of the country , making themselves acquainted with tho people , and sincerely endeavouring , not only to remedy their defects of character , but to supplying their littlo wants and superintending thoir concerns in a patornnl spirit , India would soon bocomo rich , prosporous , and civilized ; and tho most would bo mado of tho naturally fino temper of tho nalivo population . "

      History Of The Winds And Waves. Lieutena...

      HISTORY OF THE WINDS AND WAVES . Lieutenant Matjby , an officer of the United States navy , has planned a scheme for recording tho varieties of winds and currents in the ocean . He explained it to tho " merchant princes" at Lloyd's on Thursday ; and tho history of bis observations is interesting . Ho recalled the satisfaction it afforded him when ho was charged with tho navigation of a ship , to find laid down on the chart tho track of n vessel bound at the same season of the year for tho same port to which lii « own ship was bound . Uy observing the distances of that vessel from day to day , ho was enabled to judgo of tho kind of wind . s that she hail . In carrying" out nnd entering thin principle , it occurred to him to ruinmugo all tho old log-books ho could obtain , in order to find out something more with regard to the winds and currents—the causes and agents which controlled tho length of voyages—and to reduce- tho whole system to a more practical shape . Taking a chart of tho North Atlantic Ocean , ho collected together all tho mon-ofwnr trades that ho could get bold of , and projected them on the chart in such n way as to show the method , direction , and force of tlio winds daily encountered by each vessel . Having dono that , h « vvum mupriHod to find that there- waa in the middle- of the Atlantic what might bo termed a blank npneo -n nor 6 of terra incognita ; a space in the ocean lying bohvoon tho route of outward-bound vessels going to tho Southern hemisphere , and that of homeward -bound vpbhoIh returning from it . On examining tho matter further , he found it ; to bo tho impression of many nav ipjntora that , in order to got to tho Equator from America , they had first ; to emu * the Atlantic Ocean and pot into Cook ' s track , then to go to tho Capo do Vordo Islands , then

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 20, 1853, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20081853/page/7/