The Sun.
London, England, 1828-10-18 00:00:00

INDIA.

The Bombay Gazette; of the 30th of April,
contains a charge of Sir Charles Chambers, one
of the Judges of that Presidency, to the Grand
Jury, on the extension of the privilege of sitting
on juries, in criminal cases, to native subjects of
the Three Presidencies, under the Act 7, George,
IV., e. 37. The Judge, in congratulating the
(hand Jurors, and through them the commu-
nity, on the introduction of this great principle
into the administration of justice in India, stated,
that with a view to the more satisfactory arrange-
xnent of such rules as might be necessary to re-
gulate the selection of native jurors, the Bench
had thought it right to consult the principal per •
sons of the several ilindoo castes at Bombay
and in its neighbourhood, with regard to the
wishes lief' they might entertain, and to the
exemptions and indulgences under which they
might be satisfied to fulfil the duties assigned to
them by the Act of Parliament. The paper con-
taining the reply of the natives to this considerate
-application of the Bombay Judges we have here
inserted at full length :
/' To the Hon. Sir Edward West, Knight, Chief Justice;
the Hon. Sir Ralph Rice, Knight; and the Hon. Sir
Charles Harcourt Chambers, Knight, Puisne Justices
of the Supreme Court of Judicature, Bombay.
Honourable Sirs—Agreeably to the intimation
received from your Lordships, we, the undersigned
Hindoo‘3, have the honour to submit to your Lord-
ships' consideration certain matters on which we,
from a regard to our religion and customs, request
that the Supreme Court of Judicature at Bombay
will be pleased to frame regulations in relation to our
service on Juries.

" We request that we may be exempted from all
ervie42 ,t-,)n Coroner's Inquests, the inspection. of a
dead body 14qng considered a pollution, by us, and
requiring to be removed by purification before we
can attend to any b-tiiness domestic or public. We

•recfaest that we may be exempted from all Juries
whenies-/114.42irt is tried for a capital crime, it being
'ourthigious diry. not to contribute to the death of
'uny Brannin. We request that Hindoos of the Jane
'caste may be exempted from all Juries for the trial
of capital crimes, it being contrary to the religion of
the Jane caste to contribute to the death of any
animal. We request that for the present, on all
juries on which Hindoos may be required to sit,
that there be associated with them six of his Ma-
jesty's British subjects, it appearing to us that Hin-
dons are not as yet sufficiently conversant in all the

,duties of jurors, and that they will derive much in-
titoction from the superior knowledge of those duties
pos,egt,2d by his Majesty's British subjects, but that
such a netiZssary association be only a temporary
resolution, and that it be abolished as soon as the
Ilindoos are better qualified to perform the duties of

jurors.
" To enable the petit jurors to converse with each
other, we request that one juror, either a British
.subject or a native of India, who has a competent
knowledge of the English language, and of any
`language in ordinary use among the natives of Bom-
bay, be always on the petit jury. We request that
Bindoo jurors may be selected only front the fol-
lowing castes, the persons of those castes being
'best qualified to act as jurors, viz.:—Bramins, Se-
poys, Purvoes, Goldsmiths, Banjans, and Bbatias.
" As the heads of those castes of Hindoos ate

usost capable of judging of the qualifications of the
Indoos to serve on juries, and as Madowdas Ran-
sordas..l. and Davidass Hurjeevandass, Hindoos, are
considers 4 to be the principals of the natives of
Bombay, we request that the head of each of their
'-astes may, in cOnjunction with the said Madowdass
•Ransordass, and DaFidesa Hurjeevandass, or one of
them, be authorized to re.urn to the Court the names
of those castes best qualified to serve on petit juries,
and that the sheriff be directed only to summon as
jurors such Hindoos. We request that Hindoos may
be exempted from service on juries on the following
("ays and occasions, their abstaining. at d=ose times
frolii the business of the Court bemeenjoined by
their rel;gion and customs, viz. (Here' follows an
enumeration ce the days and oceasions.)—We re-
quest that Hindoos may be exempted from all juries
before the age of 21 years, and after the age of g 0
years. We request that, as far as is practicable and
consistent with law, the service pf Hindoos on juries
may be limited to between eleven and gve o'clock,
and never beyond eight o'clock. We reqhest that
urors who have been summoned to serve at a Ses-
sions may be exempted from being summoned to
serve on juries at the next Sessions. We request
that Hindoos may be exempted from service Ott
juries when afflicted with sickness, and when any of
their family is dangerously sick.
" We request that upon occasion of any of the
before-mentioned causes of excuse for not serving on
a jury, happening to any Hindoo, that a certificate
of such cause, signed by the head of the caste of the
persons preferring such excuse, jointly with the Ma-
dowdas Ransordass, or Davidass Hurjeevandass, may
he deemed sufficient proof to the Court of the truth
of such causes. We request that only respectable
Christians may he selected to serve on jurteQ with
Hindoos.
We request that accommodations may be pro-
vided for us to drink water, and for the cells of na-
ture, and that occasional indulgences may be given

us for those purposes.
" We request your Lordships' acceptance of our
thanks for the very conciliatory manner in which
your Lordships communicated your wishes that the
flindoos should explain the points on which they
were desirous the Court should make regulations re-
specting their serving on Juries; and although some
ditlicuiiles may be expected to occur in the com-
mencement of the service on Juries of the natiiias of
India, yet, in the intelligence, patience, and moderw
tion of the Judges of the Supreme Court, we antici•
pate an effectual remedy to those difficulties, and
that they will be speedily and entirely
.ourable Sirs,removed. •
" We have the honour to be,Honourable
your Lordships' most obedient and very humble
Li
•
servants,
DAVIDASS HURJEEVANDASS, and „hem
" Bombay, March 1."

A FAc T.—One of the spectators last Satur-
day on the Steine gave a bys
"tander the "
origin obli informa-
tion that the Statue wasa
Colossusßrighton
Gazette.
ANOTHER FACT.—A sagacious gentleman
the other night pointed out to some friends the much-talked
of Comet, which, he said, was at the moment burning
brightly. This was the evening Star !--Brighton Gaz.
A man named JAMES KEATING died at
Carrick•on-Suir, on Monday, in consequence of a piece of
meat stopping in his throat when at breakfast. —Cork
Constitution.
MYSTERIOUS DEATH.—On the morning of
Monday last, the body of MARY Awn GREEN, a fine girl,
12 years of age, the daughter of WILLIAM GREEN, a
labourer, residing at Newtown, in the neighbourhood of
Mabgate, was discovered in a brickmaker's-pond, near her
father's house. The circumstance created a most extraor-
dinary
sensation in the district where it occurred ; and,
during the day, several reports, all tending to criminate
War.taat GRF.EN and hie wife (who was mother-in-law
to the deceased), obtained circulation. On the came even-
ing an Inquest was held on the burly before ROEIFILT BARR,
Esq., Coroner, when a full and minute investigation took
place. It appeared that the unfortunate girl bad been
missing from her father's house for about a week, and there
was every reason to suppose that the body bad lain in the
general water for that period of time. There certainly was great
reason to believe, from the evidence, that the
treat-
inent of the poor girl by her father and mother-in-law (hut
particularly the latter) had been any thing rather than
kind ; but there was no proof to warrant the Jury in be-
Laving that her death had been caused by violence.
Verdict—" Found dead in the water ; but under what cie..
ettanstances she came by her death did not appear." Upon
learning the result, numbers of people collected together
and evinced their disappointment in a very marked man-
ner. The body of the unfortunate girl was interred in
the eveti;;ly in the burial ground of the Primitive Afethc-
d:sts, great ni:,nbers attending the obsequies,—Leeds 1,-
;ellitgenelr.