is, that all the evils anticipated will not be
brought about by the change.

This is not the only amalgamation of which
we have to see the effects in India. The
Supreme Court, and the Sudder (or Native Court
of Appeal), have just been united, under the
name of the High Court, of which there is one in
each presidency. The Queen's judges and the
Company's judges (natives among the latter)
will henceforth sit upon the same bench and
administer the same law. There are some objections
to the plan, as the Company's judges have
hitherto known nothing but Company's law, and
the native judges are not supposed to be proof
against prejudices of race, and may possibly look
upon the Europeans brought before them in the
same light as the Scotch doctor regarded his
English patients, when he remarked upon their
perversity in dying, by saying that it would be
a long time before they made up for Flodden.
But if the perfect equality of the two races is to
be insisted upon as the spirit of the future
government of India (in the letter it is impossible
to carry it out), some plan of the kind is inevitable,
and the present will doubtless answer the
purpose. One advantage will most certainly be
gained—that the "civilian" judges, as well as
the barrister judges, must manage to understand
the pleadings of the bar, or be driven from the
bench; and that the former, as well as the latter,
must of necessity undergo a special training
for the purpose. A crying evil incident to the
old state of things will thus be avoided. For
the rest, it is considered by the philosophical
advocates of the elevation of natives to
the bench of the High Court, that if an
European suffer any injustice at their hands, he will
make such a noise about it as to prevent a
recurrence of the scandal. So that the judge does
not hang his man off-hand, this argument has
perhaps some value; but as the question is
principally interesting to persons about to commit
crime, I may be pardoned for leaving its
more comprehensive consideration to their care.

The constitution of the local government has
undergone a change, as well as the legal administration.
It is something less than ten years
ago that the legislative council was first called
into existence. Great hopes were entertained
of the experiment; but it was soon found that
the assembly was too large for conversation, and
too small for debate; and another anomaly was
also apparent in the fact that the members, being
all public servants, the council included a paid
opposition as well as a paid ministry: the power
of the former becoming so great that the governor-
general had to suspend the standing orders
whenever a difficulty arose, and to carry his
measures through by sheer force of bullying.
The members most generally in opposition were
the judges of the Supreme Court, who, being
independent of the government of India, could
venture to have opinions of their own. They
did good service on more than one occasion;
but there was no room for real independence in
a council so constituted, where it was felt, moreover,
that the forms of the House of Commons
were out of place, and only obstructive to business.
So the legislative council was included in
the last batch of reforms, and is now called the
council of the governor-general. It includes
the select number of gentlemen forming the
old supreme council, who assist the governor-
general in his more private deliberations; but
in its legislative capacity it is much enlarged,
and now contains non-official as well as official
members, the former consisting of natives as
well as Europeans. In the present council there
are no members representing the different
presidencies and provinces, as in the former.
The presidencies and provinces have separate
councils of their own, formed on a similar plan,
which are likely to do their own work for
themselves far better than they could get it done for
them in Calcutta. The powers of these councils
are not so great as those of their centralised
predecessor. Their members are free to furnish
as much information, advice, or even protestation,
as they please, upon any measure of the
government; but they are not competent to
reverse it by their votes, and the governor-
general, governor, or lieutenant-governor, as the
case may be, has authority to decide for himself
in the last resort, as if there were no such
councils at all. This may seem rather like a
retrograde movement for these enlightened days;
but, after all, the powers of the former council
were very like a sham. There is no pretence of
making the present assembly a little House of
Commons; and until India is ripe for representative
institutions—which she will be before
many years are over—it is better that such
institutions should not be brought into contempt.
The admittance of non-official members in the
mean time is a great step, besides being an
immense present advantage, both to the government
and the public.

A paper currency adds another to the signs of
the new times which are beginning to bewilder
old Indians. For some years past, the notes of
the bank of Bengal have been in circulation in
Calcutta, and very convenient the Calcutta
people have found them. It is no uncommon
thing now, for ladies and gentlemen to go about
with money in their pockets, which they never
thought of doing under the régime of rupees.
Even now the force of habit has not entirely
spent itself, and people scrawl down their signatures
in tradesmen's books for such little matters
as a pair of gloves, an ice cream, or having their
hair cut, when they would find it, if not more
pleasant in the beginning, certainly more profitable
in the end, to pay in cash. But the signature
currency is not nearly so much in use as
formerly in Calcutta, and notes are generally
adopted as the medium of exchange. "Up the
country," notes do not circulate, and the old
system prevails. People cannot or will not carry
rupees about them, and everything they buy is
noted down at the time, and noted up as high
as possible at the end of the month. Mr.
Wilson, with the concurrence of Lord Canning,
determined upon a scheme for a paper currency
which was perfected by Mr. Laing; but the