CALCUTTA. 



Calcutta, men of strong part?. Yet these people often sell their 



at a lower rate than they can be purchas* 

 Europeans. This they are easily enabled to do, as 

 their wares are generally bought at sales, where they 

 are often procured, on very moderate terms ; and al- 

 so from the low rents of their shops, which being situa- 

 ted in the common ba/.ars, must be infinitely cheaper 

 than the splendid apartments of the British mer- 

 chants. Indeed, the charges of rents, clerks, freight, 

 insurance, with the innumerable items of go-down, 

 deeply effect the profits arising from mercantile con- 

 cerns in this city. Not many years ago, a house 

 barely sufficient to accommodate a genteel family, 

 could not be procured under six or eight hundred 

 pounds a year. This, together with the wages of a 

 numerous train of servants, which the superstition of 

 the natives, by deterring them from performing ser- 

 vice beyond one specific kind of work, has rendered 

 absolutely necessary, greatly swells the annual ex- 

 penditure of a family. The exorbitant rents, how- 

 ever, have of late been reduced, in some measure, by 

 the speculation of house-building, which has been 

 carried to an immense extent ; but this reduction can 

 never be very great, for, considering the rate of inte- 

 rest in this country, a considerable annual income is 

 lost in the capital sunk in building. 



But notwithstanding the heavy expenses to wh ch 

 the British merchants and other inhabitants of this 

 city are exposed, their acts of munificence and chari- 

 ty to indigent persons equal, if not surpass, those of 

 any other body of men whatever. Numerous useful 

 and benevolent institutions have also been established, 

 and are supported entirely by their liberality. 

 Among these are, an hospital for the reception of 

 such natives as, from accident or disease, may stand 

 in need of medical aid ; two schools for the relief of 

 the orphans both of the privates and officers in the 

 military service of the Company, at which, from six 

 to seven hundred children are educated and maintain- 

 ed ; a free school, which educates 400 children, besides 

 others of inferior note. 



The college of Fort William, which was establish- 

 ed by the Marquis Wellesley, has been partly abolish- 

 ed by the court of directors. This seminary was in- 

 tended by its noble founder, not merely for the edu- 

 cation of the junior servants of the company, but also 

 to watch over their conduct, and to preserve them 

 from the many dangers and temptations to which 

 young men are exposed on their arrival in India. 

 What is retained, regards chiefly their instruction in 

 the native languages. It assumes no controul over 

 their actions or their expenditure. In these respects 

 they are left entirely at their own disposal ; and we 

 need not wonder that, from their little experience in life, 

 the scenes of extravagance and dissipation in which 

 they are led to mingle, and the facility of receiving 

 money in this country, many are involved, at an early 

 period, in difficulties and embarrassments from which 

 some of them, by many succeeding years of economy, 

 are scarcely able to extricate themselves. Were it 

 indeed possible, by such an institution as was at first 

 proposed, to preserve these young men from the con- 

 tamination of bad example, and from those vices and 

 follies in which, at such an age, they are too apt to 

 indulge, we must regret that the directors, should 



6' 



hare been prevcnle! from a principle of eco- 



nomy or of jealousy, (with which they hare been 

 charged,) from carrying the original plan into full ex- 

 ecution. Had Lord Wcllesley's plan of a college," 

 says Lord Valentia, " been acceded to, this desirable 

 end would have been attained; and the young men, 

 subject to the restriction* and discipline of such an 

 institution, would no longer have met with those fa- 

 cilities in raiting money, with which their present 

 situation so often presents them. They mutt, incon- 

 sequence, have been obliged to confine their expendi- 

 ture to the liberal allowance of the East India com- 

 pany, till called to the higher appointments, when, 

 unincumbered in their affairs, and uncorrupted in their 

 minds, they might rapidly and honestly have acquired, 

 at an early period of their lives, that opulence, which 

 would ensure them affluence and comfort in their na- 

 tive country.'* But Dr Tennant seems to hold very 

 different opinions from those of his lordship respect- 

 ing the utility of this college. When speaking of 

 it in his Indian Recreation*, he says, " As it u for 

 business and not education that these gentlemen are 

 sent to India, it is difficult to foresee any benefit that 

 will ever result from this measure. Instruction in 

 the native dialects is, in general, all that is necessary 

 to qualify them for the exercise of their duty, and 

 this they have hitherto received from Moonshees, at 

 the spare hours that are not employed in their differ- 

 ent vocations. The practice of their professional 

 duty of itself, greatly assisted them in acquiring the 

 language of the natives ; while it prerented the loss 

 of several years, and a great expence, which is incur- 

 red at this dissolute seminary." The directors, how- 

 ever, seem to have been convinced of the expediency 

 of some other establishment, at which their junior ser- 

 vants might be qualified for their particular appoint- 

 ments ; and consequently a college has been lately esta- 

 blished at Hertford in Engbnd, upon apian somewhat 

 similar to that of the original institution. But how- 

 ever well qualified the young men may be in respect to 

 education, ar.d a knowledge of their profession, when 

 they leave England, they are still liable, upon their 

 arrival in India, to be infected with the vices and ex- 

 travagance of a dissolute capital. The most effectual 

 remedy, we presume, for the evil complained of, 

 would be, an immediate appointment to some situa- 

 tion ; instead of allowing them to linger in Calcutta, 

 without employment and without a guide, exposed 

 to the contamination of profligacy and folly. 



The Asiatic society, which was instituted by Sir 

 W. Jones, in 1784, for the purpose of enquiring into 

 the history, antiquities, arts, sciences, and literature 

 of Asia, offers to rival the Academy of Inscription* 

 at Paris, and its researches contain much valuable and 

 useful information upon subjects with which Euro- 

 peans were formerly veiy liiUe acquainted. 



Situated in the midst of a Bat and marshy country, 

 and exposed to the tropical heats, Calcutta can never 

 enjoy a salubrious atmosphere. At it., first establish- 

 ment as an European colony, the climate was al 

 equally destructive with that of Batava ; and thooflfc 

 now greatly ameliorated, by clearing away part i>t the 

 trees and jungle in tiu- vicinity, by draining sonic of 

 the most offensive marshes, and by filling up many of 

 the tanks m the streets it still proves a severe thai 



film:*. 



