Te a a 
1828. ] 
not only those which are accounted sacred by the 
Hindoos, as monkeys, peacocks, &c., but horses, 
dogs, and cats, and they have also, in little boxes, 
an assortment of lice and fleas. It is not true, 
however, that they feed those pensioners on the 
flesh of beggars hired for the purpose. The brah- 
mins say that insects, as well as the other in- 
mates of the infirmary, are fed with vegetables 
only, such asrice,&c. How the insects thrive I 
did not hear, but the old horses and dogs, nay the 
peacocks and apes, are aJlowed to starve, and the 
only creatures said to be in any tolerable plight 
are some mileh cows, which may be kept from 
other motives than charity. 
When with Mr. Elphinstone, of whom 
he speaks in terms of high admiration, he 
inquired of him his motives for being so 
decidedly hostile to a free press in the 
country— 
. In discussing (says he) the topic, he was always 
open and candid, acknowledged that the dangers 
ascribed toa free press in India had been exag- 
gerated; but spoke of the exceeding inconve- 
nience, and eyen danger, which arose from the 
disunion and dissension which political discussion 
produced among the European officers at the dif- 
ferent stations—the embarrassment occasioned to 
government by the exposure and canvass of all 
their measures by the Lentuli and Gracchi of 
a newspaper, and his preference of deciced and 
vigorous to half measures, where any restrictive 
measures were necessary. 
Near Guzerat, he met with the Indian re- 
former Swaamee Narain—the account of his 
interview with him is much too long to quote. 
His morality was said to be far better than 
any which could be learned from the Shaster. 
He preached a great degree of purity, for- 
bidding his disciples so much as to look on 
any woman whom they passed. He con- 
demned theft and bloodshed; and those 
villages and districts which had received 
him, from being among the worst, were 
among the best and most orderly in the 
provinces. Nor was this all—he was said 
to have destroyed the yoke of caste—to 
have preached one God, &c. But we have 
no space. 
Essay on Political Economy, two Parts, 
by Captain Petiman, R.N.; 1628.—The 
final aim of the first of these pamphlets is, 
professedly, to teach the world how to re- 
concile apparent incompatibilities—that is, 
prevent fluctuations in the pzice of corn, 
and secure, at the same time, the advan- 
tages of a free trade in that article, ample 
remuneration to the grower, and gocd rents 
to the landowner; and of the second, to 
relieve the distresses of the labouring poor, 
benefit all classes of the community, increase 
the resources of the country, and give per- 
manent value to a paper currency. 
These are magnificent pretensions, the 
realizing of which we take it to be about as 
probable as any of Robert Owen's well- 
micant visions. Like most speculators and 
enthusiasts, the author grasps too much. 
His main expedient appears to be—what 
Domestic and Foreign. 
525 
will give the reader a shock to begin with 
—increasing the national debt !—because 
the more debt, the more capital—the more 
capital, the more employment—the more 
employment, the more wages—the more 
wages, the more purchasers—the more pur- 
‘chasers, the more demand—the more de- 
mand, the more profits, the more wages, 
again and again, in eternal and augmenting 
circles. ° But, then, the more debt the more 
taxes—to be sure, but the taxes themselves 
must be spent; and the more expenditure, 
again, the more demand, employment, pro- 
fits, wages, purchasers, &c. The author, 
indeed, would have the government the 
general banker—the general debtor—the 
general employer—to pick up all the stray 
debts—receive all the small deposits—all 
the unused and idle capital of the country, 
and with it set the people to work—drain, 
for instance, the four or five millions of bog 
in Ireland—cultivate and colonize Salisbury 
Plain, &c.~ As soon as the charter of the 
bank expires, we must have a national 
Bank, with authority to issue precisely the 
amount of circulation required for the ser- 
vice and convenience of the public, and no 
more and no less. This national bank is 
to have nothing to do with the government, 
nor make any advances to the state. Its 
object solely to supply a currency—which 
will thus prevent the fluctuation of prices, 
so far as currency isconcerned. The state 
must manage its own affairs—if it wants 
more money, it must raise it by direct tax- 
ation ; and borrowing will often become its 
duty. Tf the poor are unemployed, and in- 
terest low, government must borrow ; the 
effect of this will be to raise interest, which 
will mend the condition of money lenders, 
and the money lendezs will spend more, 
and that wiil increase consumption, and 
that again improve the condition of manu- 
facturers and labourers—they will eat more, 
and that will benefit the farmers, who in 
their turn will be able to pay more rents. 
Then the government can levy direct taxes; 
and if these prove burdensome, take anotiver 
loan, and then run the same career, and 
alternate and vary it with a little more 
direct taxation. In short, keep the people 
employed, and all classes thrive ; and this 
will be readily and permanently effected by 
a currency of no intrinsic value—by a gene- 
ral system of credit—by pushing machinery 
and the productive powers of men and ani- 
mals to the utmost—and empowering the 
government to set the unemployed to work, 
when nobody else can do it—the very 
means, in short, most of them, to which 
ignorant people seem inclined to attribute 
all the wide-spread poverty of the nation. 
The misfortune has been, we have stopped 
short in a career which would ultimately 
have led to an undying prosperity and 
splendour, and lost the race, when the prize 
was within our grasp. 
Captain Pettman, however, is a very clever, - 
ready fellow, and all that volubility of words 
