as that stated in your note now replied to. Had a rumour of such a thing ever reached me, a sense of duty would have made me, without a moment's delay, use every exertion to satisfy myself upon what foundation it rested, and means would have been taken very soon to convince any party so offending of the grave nature of his indiscretion. And I am, therefore, perfectly satisfied that such a thing was never attempted to be put in practice, if it ever entered the head of the greatest enthusiast on the subject, as to preach to the sepoys on parade in disparagement of their religion."

A staff officer at one of our largest stations writes :-"During that period (fourteen years), I have been intimately connected with missionaries and blue-light officers, as they call them, and up to this instant I not only never heard, but I can safely say I never even suspected, such a downright mad act and injudicious proceeding as that of an officer or officers, of any service, having upon parade, after the exercises were concluded, taken upon themselves to address the sepoys, and to preach to them in disparagement of their religion."

Shall I add my own testimony? It is that of an officer who has served twentytwo years, and has more than once faced his country's foes and has bled in her defence, and is prepared to do so again at duty's call; and I can with confidence affirm, that I never heard even a whisper of such a piece of madness attempted, either on or off parade, by any officer of this or any other army. Rely on it, my dear Sir, there is too high a sense of duty pervading the service, and too correct and vigilant an eye over the military body here, to render such an act at all possible. I write from a sick couch: the medical gentlemen tell me I cannot recover in this country, and I know the uncertainty of life every where, to be too sanguine of restoration any where. But I am only one of many, whom I know similarly situated, who have given up to their country that which is most precious to man, their health and strength, by exposure at duty's call to this ungenial climate, without a murmur, sustained by better hopes and firmer support than can be derived from the sympathy and confidence of their earthly rulers (dear and soothing as this, too, would prove); and before Mr. Lindsay again attempts to add to the trials of his countrymen so situated, I trust he will pause and reflect on the effect such indiscriminate and ill-founded accusations are likely to produce.

I remain, my dear Sir, with profound respect and esteem,
Your most obedient, most faithful servant,

(Signed)

Captain, Bombay Artillery. P.S.-I will send you all the original documents herein quoted and referred to, by a ship going round the Cape. This goes by overland despatch.

THE EAST-INDIA COMPANY'S MILITARY SEMINARY. IN the Asiatic Journal for June 1839, there is a memoir of the East-India Company's Military Seminary, which requires the addition of the following particulars :Addiscombe House, previous to its occupancy by the Earl of Liverpool, had been the residence successively of the Lord Chancellor Talbot (who died there) and of Lord Grantham. In the Rev. D. Lyson's Environs of London, Sir John Vanburgh is stated to have been the architect. The death of Inigo Jones, which happened in 1652, destroys the supposition that he designed this edifice.

A small barrack, for the occasional detachment of sappers and miners, including a work-shop for the tailors of the institution, a room for the construction of models, a projected ward for infectious patients in the hospital, and lodges at the two entrances to the grounds, comprise the more recent additions to the conveniences of the institution.

STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH INDIA.

No less than seventeen years have elapsed since the first formation of a fund in India for the purpose of carrying into effect a communication by steam-vessels between that country and Europe; and, after a very considerable outlay of funds, a prodigious effusion of sanguine promises, a world of speaking and of writing, the object, as far as private energy and enterprise have gone, remains in the same embryo state as when Capt. Johnston first, and then Mr. Waghorn, began to stir the Calcutta community. It is not our design to review the causes which have retarded the fulfilment of so desirable an object, and for which ample resources were obtained or obtainable; but we may observe, that the disputes between the presidencies abroad upon this subject, the perpetual squabbles amongst the same party at the same presidency, the rise and fall of project after project, the conflicting views, the rival interests, the petty jealousies, to which this object has given rise, would afford materials for a narrative at once ridiculous and lamentable.

Upon one point alone, the various partisans have been tolerably unanimous, namely, that of ascribing all the blame of the delay to the Government. Now it has always been the policy of the Government to abstain from interference in matters of this kind, and to leave them in the hands of private individuals, upon the principle that commercial energy and enterprise can effect such objects much better without than with the co-operation of Government. This policy has been successfully acted upon in other great lines of steam-communication, by land as well as sea, where the vessels and loco-motive engines are the property of private companies, the Government contracting with them for the transmission of their mails and despatches. So far as the exigencies of the state demanded it, in the absence of a private channel of conveyance, the Government have established a steam-communication with India, and if letters can now be despatched from England to Bombay in the short space of thirty-one days, who have the mercantile community and people of England and of India to thank for it, but the Government? If the projectors of steam communication at Caleutta, who have been vociferating and abusing each other and the Government for so many years, and doing literally nothing themselves, had applied the funds they have wasted to floating a few steamers, even on the Asiatic side alone, the Government would have been glad to employ them, though they might be naturally reluctant to bind themselves hand and foot, by entering into engagements previous to a specific plan being put into operation.

We have, at length, however, some prospect of seeing a proper direction given to private energy and exertions in this matter. Two plans are now brought to a certain degree of maturity, which may be carried on either separately, or in conjunction, or as one united scheme. We have been addressed by the projectors of both these plans, and we have both the schemes before us; but we shall observe, as we have endeavoured The utmost that Mr. Waghorn promised, when he first projected his steam-scheme, was to convey the mails from London to Calcutta in seventy days.

to do all throughout this protracted controversy, a strict impartiality, submitting to our readers an outline of each plan, with such remarks as they may suggest.

What is termed in Bengal the Comprehensive scheme has, luckily for its projectors, fallen into the hands of an able and a straightforward man of business, Mr. Curtis, late governor of the Bank of England, and under the management of the Board, of which he is the chairman, a company is now formed or forming, under the title of the East-Indian Steam Navigation Company, with a capital of £800,000, to be raised in 16,000 shares of £50 each. Although this scheme has been from time to time adverted to in our Asiatic Intelligence, we think it better here to state, that it proposes to establish, by means of large and powerful steam ships, a connected intercourse between Calcutta, Madras, Ceylon and England, in one unbroken chain, reducing the communication as nearly as possible to a certainty. Bombay is not embraced at present in the

arrangement, but will eventually be included.

To meet the wishes of the Indian public, and looking to an immediate profitable return in the general call for such a preliminary step, it is proposed to purchase and despatch to Calcutta, with the least possible delay, the largest steam-vessel procurable, to be employed between that port and Suez, making four voyages from each place in the year. To carry the entire service into effect for a regular monthly communication, it is intended to build seven steam ships of such tonnage and power as to be applicable to the route by the Cape of Good Hope, in case of any interruption to that through Egypt. The vessels will also be so constructed as to admit of their carrying an effectual armament in case of any warlike contingency. From detailed calculations, which have been made on those data which experience has already furnished, the estimated outlay, charges, and revenues, are exhibited in the following abstract :

Outlay.

Building and fitting seven steam ships, cost of stations abroad, and

incidental expenses

£600,000

Annual Charge.

Wages, coals, victualling, insurance, &c., sinking fund for wear and tear, and renewal of ships, and charges of all kinds

239,000

Income.

Passengers, less victualling and land transport............ £281,000
Freight, consisting of light parcels, periodicals, bullion, &c.

24,000

305,000

Yielding a clear annual surplus of

£66,000

or upwards of 11 per cent. upon £600,000.

No contribution for post-office service has been included in these calculations; but there can be no doubt that the company, when once in operation, must be employed by Government to carry the mails.

To carry into effect the plans of the company, the following outline is proposed:-That steam ships shall start on a fixed day in each month from Eng

land and Calcutta; the time calculated on for the performance of the route being, from

The route across the isthmus of Suez to be at the charge and under the superintendence of the Company.

Itwill be seen from our Asiatic Intelligence (p. 311), that £104,000 of the proposed capital has been subscribed in India.

The other plan, proposed by the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company (which has now assumed the additional epithet "Oriental "), is developed in this month's Asiatic Intelligence (p. 309), and it proposes to forward mails and letters to and from India by two routes, one a land-route through France via Marseilles, and the other a sea-route, by Falmouth and Gibraltar; both uniting at Malta. The outward mails through France will leave London on the 4th, and the sea-packets on the 1st of the month, both reaching Malta on the 13th, and being forwarded to Alexandria on the 14th. On the homeward route, through France, the mails will leave Malta on the 28th of the month: the only difference between the sea-route and the overland is the time required for the transmission of letters between Falmouth and London. Every necessary accommodation is to be provided for passengers by the vessels, and those persons who go by the sea-route will have the opportunity of visiting Spain and Portugal, staying there a longer or shorter time at their pleasure. It is understood that the government will contract with this Company, experimentally, from the 1st of September.

This scheme presents many advantageous features. It is already in operation, and requires merely an extension of capital and means; it admits of union with the other plan, for the Peninsular Company, "so far from entertaining any views of rivalry or opposition towards those who have taken a leading part in advocating the Comprehensive plan of Steam Communication with India, are ready and willing to co-operate with them in carrying out that long-contemplated enterprize to its full extent;" and, moreover, it offers to passengers a source of attraction, in the facilities it will afford of visiting Spain, Portugal, and Gibraltar.

Our opinion is decidedly in favour of the expediency of union and cooperation between the East-Indian and the Peninsular Companies, either by dividing the line betwixt them, the Peninsular taking the line between England and Alexandria, and the East-Indian that between the isthmus of Suez and India; or by merging the East-Indian Company, which is yet imperfect, in the other, which is complete and organized. It is to be hoped that a new race of rivalry will not be commenced between these two bodies, with the Precursorites (a strange misnomer) still in the rear, which will make the subject of steam-communication with India a standing jest.

Asiat.Journ. N.S.VOL.32.No.128.

20

SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA.

BY MRS. CLEMONS.

CHAPTER IV.-SERVANTS-CHILDREN-COOKING-NATIVE LETTERS—

HOME VOYAGE.

It is some time before you can readily conform to the manners and customs of the East, but when habit has once reconciled you to them (and this is the case in a few years), you begin to wonder how you could have formerly dispensed with your numerous attendants and other appendages to an Indian residence. Every thing is totally opposite to European customs. Among your servants, one or two tailors are in constant pay; they come to your house every morning at nine o'clock, and take their places in a verandah or in a spare room, which is used for the purpose, where they seat themselves on a mat upon the ground, and commence the operation of sewing. They do every kind of needle-work in the neatest manner; make ball-dresses, caps, and bonnets, gentlemen's trowsers, waistcoats, and jackets, embroider muslins, and mend all the clothes of the family. They are remarkably expert and clever work-people, and indeed can make every thing, provided you give them a muster, as they call it, which is a pattern of what you wish to be done. Some families that are large keep three or four of these useful servants constantly employed. They all sew backwards, and do almost as much business with their toes as with their hands; for they wind their thread by holding it between, or rather by hooking it on, their great toes. They hold the seam or hem between their toes firmly; and thus upon a lady's beautiful satin dress the feet have been equally employed with the hands. The women of Madras cannot sew; and all over India the men do this office. There are also two or three other men attached to your establishment, who would be curious appendages elsewhere; these are washermen and ironmen-for washing and ironing are also the work of the men, and two or more are always kept in your family, according to its size. Both gentlemen and ladies change the whole of their clothes daily, sometimes twice in the day, so that there is full employment for these servants, independently of the young folks of the family. Little else is worn but white; book-muslins and mulls are in daily request; the gentlemen also always wear white trousers, waistcoats and jackets of jean when off duty; thus they not only feel cool, but look so. The manner of washing, however, injures the clothes. The men take them to the side of rivers or tanks, where large stones are placed for the purpose, against which they beat them till clean, and then dry them in the burning sun, which certainly gives them a most beautiful whiteness, that would astonish the washerwomen in England. They iron on the ground, but do not get up" the things so well as at home. Laces or nets are sadly destroyed.

66

On entering a family-house in India, you can scarcely make your way through toys of every description; every room seems equally a nursery; dining and drawing-rooms, bed and dressing-rooms, alike appear the property of the young people. Each child has one, and sometimes two, attendants, who follow it wherever it goes. The women are called ayahs, and it is generally a palankeen-boy who superintends the whole nursery establishment.

On entering, you will find, in the verandah of the house, rocking-horses, carts, low tables, and small chairs, in most agreeable confusion, with drums, swords and sticks, forming a collection of extraordinary variety. Then the young ladies and gentlemen themselves contribute no small share to the