of those whose views are sound and healthy, the inquirer receives no shock to his old established belief-is not startled by the propounding of audacious theories-does not meet with a horrid vision at every turn of the road. In a calm and philosophic spirit he learns the real value of the science. Its importance to society is demonstrated by an appeal to facts. Its truths stand out in relief when made the test of great commercial questions. And at Haileybury, avoiding with care the miry paths into which so many visionaries have wandered, or only showing them in order to deter the unwary follower, the Professor leads his hearers through a succession of green fields and pleasant places, whose produce is a rich and teeming crop, and where rank luxuriance is unknown. At one time throwing a light on the fabric of Oriental Government-the want of fixed institutions-only relieved by the occasional happy accident of such characters as Akbar at another rapidly surveying the courses of monied distress at different periods in the History of Greece and of England, of France and of Rome-now rising to discuss the events from which sprung our national debt-now descending to the details connected with the gradual improvement of the science of agriculture-here drawing a picture of that primitive state where flocks and herds alone constitute wealth-there happily discursive on the technicalities of cultivation-now giving a slight sketch of the causes which affect the general credit of a nation-now pausing to see how the earth may be made still more fruitful, and replenished still further in obedience to the great command-amalgamating all these topics into one continuous series, the Lecturer aims at making his subject popular, and uniformly succeeds. If the value of the study is to be estimated by the ardour with which it is followed, we may safely pronounce Political Economy to be a gem of the first water. The Lectures of the present able Professor are attended with less reluctance by the students than those of any other branch, and it is here that we generally see at the close of every term the fairest average of merit distributed amongst the greatest number. It is true however that frequent opportunities of practically employing the axioms of this science do not occur to the great body of civil servants. A secretary may possibly find it aid him in his notes, or a Member of Council in his minute: a collector may be indebted to his early reminiscences whilst endeavouring to thread his way through the tangled labyrinth of Revenue questions, which men of high ability have professed themselves unable to comprehend after a thirty years study. But any daily application of its principles in a direct point of view is frustrated by the position of the Indian official.

A lord of many acres, uniting a sound knowledge of the science with an equally sound uprightness of purpose, may every day give a practical illustration of it on his estate. A landed proprietor in Ireland might find it direct his endeavours to raise from their prostrate condition the wronged and neglected children of Erin. But no such outlet for a beneficent philosophy is placed at the disposal of the English resident in India. We read of constant appeals to our native Babus and Zemindars in behalf of the ryot; let them study philanthropy and Political Economy combined, and the result will be highly beneficial to the interests of both master and man.*

We shall revert to this branch in connection with the study of History; for the present, Law must cause us to diverge for a few pages. When we consider that many civilians are destined to fill at some time the important situation of an English judge, and that not in a country whose inhabitants have been known to him since his childhood, but in one where everything from first to last is strange and uncongenial-that he is to present the spectacle of a man, calm and dignified, holding the even balance of the scales of punishment, and deciding on cases where life and death are at stake, it would not seem too much to require that one-half of the time spent at College should be devoted to the acquirement of a regular legal education. But, as usual when legislating for a body whose future destinations are uncertain, we should fall into a grievous error did we advocate the claims of law to the exclusion of other knowledge. Of the many who leave Haileybury, but one-half, or even less, are called upon to fill the responsibility of the judicial chair. Some become political secretaries, or agents, others are sheltered in the customs, or preside over the salt or the opium department, and some remain devoted to revenue matters, and turn away from the dark side of human nature, crime and its attendant punishment. Hence any thing like educating men for a particular line whilst in England is rendered nugatory, and the course of law resolves itself into a general exposition of the principles on which it is based. Strong meat is withheld by a judicious hand; and in order that the tyro may not be dismayed by the iron toughness of the subject, or wearied with its technicalities, a course of moral philosophy and the great unwritten laws of nature is selected as affording the fairest opening for all. Accordingly the Collegian is led at first to the break of that broad gulf which must ever separate the confines of morals and of law. He sees how near they approach and again how far diverge. Why the

• We might also include the maligned class of Indigo Planters in this appeal.

law from its hard character "never speaking but to command, and never commanding but to compel," is forced to leave many provinces entirely untouched, and to extend its rigid sceptre only over the trespasses which cause a positive injury to society or to individuals regarded as integral parts of society. These are the first views selected from the mighty landscape. We proceed a little further, and equally interesting scenes are displayed. The quæstio vexata of the origin of property, our duties to ourselves, to each other and to society, the jura belli et pacis, international law, the varying principles of inheritance, primogeniture and equal partition, the laws of sale and contract, all the numerous cases which can reasonably be supposed to arise in a highly civilized state of society, set forth in language at once energetic and clear, are selected as the course of law which naturally follows from the moral philosophy of Paley. It may be imagined that such a great and comprehensive view, drawn with a graphic pencil, and evidently bearing directly on the duties of a public servant, must allure the greater number, and lead them fearlessly to grapple with the more detailed and intricate portions of the science. And when we tell our readers that, reluctant to enter on the duller and drearier paths, and imbued with an enlightened spirit of philosophic enquiry, the Professor often dared to branch out into several parts on which the law seems hardly as yet decided, that he would discuss in the spirit of Montesquieu the systems of law best suited to societies in their different phases, and would enquire whether some points hitherto abandoned to the moral code might not with safety be brought within the grasp of the legal, when he would contrive to invest his seemingly dry and barren subject with interest and freshness, and almost with fascination when we assert that law on its first stages at Haileybury seems to carry on its face much that is calculated to allure and little to deter, shall it not be thought strange if we say that of all the branches taught, law, with the exception of Sanskrit, is decidedly the most unpopular! Such however is the stern reality of the case. A few, conscious of the parts they may be called on to sustain, endeavour to make themselves masters of the first great principles: the greater part are hopelessly ignorant of the very nature of what they hear weekly discussed. They are not told that in India they will occupy the stations of barristers, that they will be forced to plead in the courts, and that the measure of their legal knowledge is to be the measure of their success in life. Many are aware, in spite of the Cimmerian darkness which hangs over the future of their Indian life that a legal examination does not form one of the

criteria of fitness for the public service, or a subject of anxiety to the authorities of Fort William College. They know that ignorance of the principles of jurisprudence will not be brought against them as an absolute disqualification for office; and they turn away from the law lecture, not to pursue other studies perhaps of equal importance, but to revel in the hey day of unrestrained idleness. Yet the youth of sixteen is not altogether without excuse. It must be conceded that the subject, loaded from its very nature with numerous heavy impedimenta, and appealing to the manifold authorities who stand as the beacon lights of the science, presents such a succession of appalling objects, hill mounting over hill, and Alp arising upon Alp, that many, trembling notw ithout reason at the growing labours of the path they have chosen, retire with precipitancy altogether from the field.

After the primary course, which however must leave much unsaid, some one particular region is selected. The collegian enters on the department of criminal law, crimes and punishments, with the objects of the latter according to the system of Bentham,―on a slight sketch of the proceedings of the Court of Chancery and on an excellent exposition of the great rules of evidence. We may be excused for digressing still further on this latter part, as the weighing and digesting evidence forms perhaps the most difficult part in the duty of the English Hakim. It has been well observed that in England little or no difficulty is ever experienced in deciding on the actual evidence, however intricate may be the law, whilst in India the resolving of such double-tied knots as are often woven by two opposite parties, forms matter of serious perplexity to the bench. At home the separation of law and fact-the point where one terminates and the other begins-may often prove a question to try the powers of the clearest sighted: the two join issue on a kind of debateable land, and the boundaries of either cannot be clearly ascertained. But suppose the doubt removed, and the weighing of mere evidence is comparatively easy. Truth, or at least the germ of truth, when brought into court by almost every witness, under the fire of a searching cross-examination, expands into a full blown flower. The principles of evidence are easily tested on so smooth a surface. But in India the very contrary is the case. Tossed about in the stormy and opposing tides of native evidence, who has not felt the want of a guiding hand, when, even in a common case of affray, the testimony of two opponent Zemindars and their clans have been so totally irreconcileable, and yet so ingeniously supported, as to baffle the most penetrating glance? Something, it is true, beyond a mere set of

rules is needed to unravel the tangled web, and it is only a thorough acquaintance with native character which makes one man to catch at some parts whereby all is made clear, whilst another less gifted wanders about in darkness inextricable. Well indeed may each magistrate in our Indian courts pray for the discerning wisdom of Solomon, for the intuitive perception of human nature which conveys the power of extracting the small kernel of truth from the vast shell of falsehood which enshrouds it. But the oroa of law must not be neglected for this knowledge so justly prized; and of the whole course at Haileybury, we know no branch more eminently useful than the series of lectures devoted to the subject of evidence.

The

In spite of what we have written, a conviction forces itself on our mind that the advice said to have been given by Lord Eldon to a young barrister proceeding as judge to the colonies would be best fitted for all young civilians, even those who have learnt as much law as came within their reach: "Give your decisions concisely," he said, "without attempting the law of the case, and your own good sense will probably conduct you to a just determination: if you attempt to give your reasons, ten to one you go wrong." Those of our readers whose especial vocation is the law, and who can therefore speak ex cathedra, may possibly agree with us. But no one will pretend that a little is not better than nothing. Even were the present course enforced with strictness on one and all, we should have fewer complaints of the deficiency of legal training in the Company's servants. elementary course, followed by a rapid sketch of criminal law and of equity, and rounded off by a series of lectures on evidence, are as much as can be expected in a place where so many trades are taught, and it is perhaps more desirable that the broad principles, and not the minutiæ, should be the object of study during the contracted space of a year and a half. We would rather see the student imbibe a moderate draught at the great fountain of abstract law, than drink deep at the lesser spring whence flow the Regulations, Criminal and Revenue, on which the executive Government of India is based. Such were the sound views of Sir James Macintosh, to whose clear and vigorous exposition of enlarged truths many of our readers must have listened with attention. We quote the following from his life:* "His course of lectures extended to four terms of four months each. It was not his practice to commit any part to writing, but he trusted to notes of his plan which he filled up ⚫ at the moment of speaking. He began with a rapid review of

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Sir James Macintosh succeeded Mr. Christian, on that gentlemen's death in 1818, and continued to lecture until 1824, when he resigned.