xlyi APPENDIX. 



lay before the Committee a comparative view of the state of machinery in England 

 and in India, and will point out to the Committee what portion of the improvements 

 which have been made in the former, may, in his opinion, be introduced into the 

 latter with advantage to the people of the country, and without militating in any way 

 against their religion, laws, manners, customs, and prejudices. 



IN INDIA. 

 The Committee have opened a correspondence with the Governor-General, the 

 three subordinate Governors of the Company's territories, the King's Governors of 

 the Isle of France and Ceylon, the Asiatic Society of Calcutta, the Literary Societies 

 of Bombay, Madras^ and Ceylon, and with many distinguished literary characters 

 in Asia; and have taken measures for establ^^hing Committees of Corresiiondence 

 at Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Peuang, Ceylon, and in the Isle of France, and for 

 encouraging the natives of the country, as well as the civil and military servants 

 of the Crown and the East-India Company, to become members of those commit- 

 tees. The communications which the Committee have recently received from India, 

 shew the great advantage which the Society may derive from the civil and military 

 servants of the East-India Company, and from the natives of India, as corresponding 

 members of the Society. Captain Low has forwarded from Pcnang to the Society, a 

 MS. copy of his English translation of the Siamese laws; a work which, from the in- 

 sight it affords the public into the manners of the Siamese people, and into the customs 

 of their country, is, considering the political and commercial relations which exist 

 between Great Britain and the Burmese empire, of considerable importance, not only 

 in a literary, but also in a political point of view. As the Committee know the active 

 and laborious duties in which Captain Low M^as officially engaged under the Penang 

 government, at the time he collected the Siamese laws, and translated them Into 

 English, they are fully aware of the value which ought to be attached to his zeal 

 and perseverance in favour of literary researches; and hope that the aid which he 

 will receive from the local government of Penang will enable him to extend his 

 researches into the laws and literature of the Burmese, and adjoining nations, 

 and to publish the valuable Grammar which he has prepared of the Siamese Lan- 

 guage. Radhacant Deb, a native of rank and influence in Bengal, and a Vice-presi- 

 dent of the Agricultural Society at Calcutta, has addressed from Calcutta a letter of 

 which the annexed is a copy (see note 4), to Sir A. Johnston, as Chairman of the 

 Committee of Correspondence. The subject to which the letter relates, the depth of 

 thought it displays, and the English style in which it is written, do great credit 

 to Radhacant Deb's talents and knowledge of the English language, and afford 

 his countrymen a bright example for them to follow in cultivating their under- 

 standings, and becoming acquainted with the literature of Europe. The Committee 

 therefore feel it their duty to submit, through their Chairman, to the Society, for 



