India Company for the better and surer supply of men qualified to fill the important duties which devolve on an English official, when transplanted to shores where the happiness or misery of millions depends upon his talent, his integrity, and moral firmness of character. The students at Haileybury, who must enter between the ages of sixteen and twenty, are classed in four successive terms of six months each; two entire days in every week are given to Oriental literature, and part of other days. There are four European departments; seven months in the year are devoted to lectures on various subjects; for instance, a student who remains two years at the college, receives in three terms from seventy to eighty hours of law tuition, and altogether ninety hours; he is instructed in elemental knowledge on the limits between morals and law, political and civil rights; in the English and Mahomedan criminal law, and on the law of evidence; the moral and legal obligations of government are also inculcated; the laws affecting property, promises and contracts, and the obligations arising from public and private relations, are carefully taught, as well as the classics, mathematics, and in fact every branch of education which can be requisite for a statesman on the most extensive field of action.

The ablest masters in every language, European or Asiatic, are employed at the college: for Sanscrit as well as Greek, Persian as well as Latin, and Hindoostanee and Bengallee as well as French and Italian, are sedulously cultivated; the most learned professors of philosophy are also in attendance, and every day, except Sunday, there are lectures. The net expense incurred by the Company in this important establishment since its commencement is as follows:*.

Before the establishment at Haileybury, the Company's college was at Hertford.

The total net expenses is £363,427, of which the building, &c. cost £96,359. As an instance of the liberal spirit displayed towards this establishment, I may point to the sums expended in philosophical instruments, books, medals, &c., which amount to £33,553, of which in 1829, £4,500 were for various oriental works. The salaries paid to the professors, &c. amount to £220,730, and the total number of students are 1978: so that notwithstanding the great outcry respecting the enormous expense of Haileybury, if the value of the college be deducted (at the least £100,000) and that of the philosophical instruments, library, &c. &c. (£33,533), the total outlay on each student has not been more than £117!

There is a college council,† with the proceedings of which the Court of Directors do not interfere. The acquisition of the oriental languages is considered indispensable; but of the four European departments a student is allowed to keep his terms, unless he fails in more than two of the latter. The relatives of Directors, in their examination for office, stand no better chance than those of any other individual. For the classes of society to which the students belong, I refer to the chapter on the home government of India, where under "Patronage," will be found the various grades to which the students at Haileybury belong. Of the effects of the Company's mode of preparing their civil servants I need not speak, the records of Indian history and diplomacy are open to the public; in them it

Every student pays one hundred guineas per annum, which helps to defray the expenditure; these sums are, of course, deducted from the gross charges of the establishment.

+ The Bishop of London is the visitor; and among the professors and instructors are the celebrated names of the following distinguished gentlemen: Batten, Le Bas, Malthus, Keene, Empson, Smith, and Jeremie. The eminent orientalist, Dr. Wilkins, is visitor in the oriental department of the council; and Vernon Schalch and Mirza Ibrahim are assistant oriental professors.

will be found, according to the language of Adam Smith (although no friend to the Company), that the Company's servants have "conducted themselves with a resolution and decisive wisdom which would have done honour to the senate of Rome in the best days of that republic!" Were it not invidious, I might particularize among the living and the dead, names which shine forth with unsurpassed lustre on England's as well as India's historic page. But the noblest proof that I can present to the reader is, the Anglo-Eastern empire itself, of which, although it is difficult to say whether the bravery with which it has been won, or the wisdom with which it has been governed, is most conspicuous, yet it will not be denied that the task of conquest was undoubtedly less, compared with the talent and tact necessary for the preservation of what undaunted bravery and skill had acquired.

Notwithstanding this admitted fact, the breaking up of Haileybury College is seriously debated before the Select Committee. It will be immediately asked, why? Some say, because the spirit of innovation is abroad; others, that “ a greater standard of talent" is required than Haileybury affords. The ultras assert the Court of Directors have no right at all to prepare the servants who are to administer their affairs; while the very extreme gauche contend, that notwithstanding the East-India Company spent many millions of money in obtaining their Indian territories, they have not the slightest legal or moral claim to them; that they should be instantly turned out of their possessions, and the appointment of writers, cadets, &c. given over to the public, who will employ much more talented servants ;* while the other half of the spoliation (or lion's share) should go to the Ministers of the crown! Any person daring

* We should, indeed, have a new edition of all the talents," were the good public to be the nominators of Indian functionaries!

to deny the justness of the foregoing truisms, is denounced instanter as a "fool," or a "knave." Notwithstanding the risk I run of being classed with either genus, I will venture to assert from personal observation, and from a comparison with the servants of the crown in the different colonies of Great Britain, that in no society can there be found a set of men more distinguished in the aggregate for profundity of talent, patient research, exalted heroism, comprehensive benevolence, or unyielding devotion to their country's interest, than are to be found in the civil and military services of the East-India Company; or who have more permanently contributed to extend the glory, augment the wealth, and increase the boundaries of the British empire.* Those who seek for higher talents will please to observe, that it is in impartial evidence before the present committees of Parliament, that " for students of ability and industry it is impossible to improve upon the Haileybury system :"+ Will the idle and profligate meet with a system any where which will render them useful in such a country as India? What in reality is the best education for a youth destined for such a sphere as Hindostan ? Is it that which connects itself with the loftiest associations of honour, nay more, with the genuine feelings of Christanity; which makes the morals of the gospel the standard for human rectitude, and, while imparting the necessarily peculiar instruction, aims at the formation of a clear and discriminating understanding? Or is it that showiness of mind, that precocity of genius developed by a sort of hot-bed culture, which, like an exotic, is of beautiful but ephemeral existence, and in age affords no traces of its youth-which, in fact, blooms

The Right Hon. Robert Grant says, "There does not exist in the world an abler set of functionaries than the civil servants of the Company-a set more distinguished for exercised and enlightened intellect, or for the energy, purity, and patriotism of their public conduct."

+ Vide Mr. Empson's decisive testimony.