The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-11-27 00:00:00

INDIA.

(moss sus moasixo canotetcut.)
We have received various codsmoniestions from Cal-
cutta by the Morely. From the letter of one of our
Correspondents we copy the following paragraphs:—
" India is in a singular state. There is universal
peace and tranquillity from Ceylon taNepal, amongst
a population of above a hundred millions of people.
This is a state of things not only new in oar Indian
annals, but unknown to all other periods of the History
of Hindostan, and' could not, indeed have been brought
abOut but by the great means by which it wee effected ;
the civilisation if t powerful people. directed by the
energy. wisdom', and moderation of as able leader.
India is certainly at present enjoying, under the pa
pular Administration of the Marquette of Hastings, a
degree of freedom, liberal governmeOt, and prosperity,l
to which it bad heretofore been a stranger; one mighty
advantage gained by this will be the difficulty it will
oppose to any future attempts to govern on different'
principles. One of the powerfal engines of good goveri-
ment, to which Lord Hastings has bad recourse, has;
been a free press. This has now been at work for
three years. and vast have been the beoeftts derived from
it.—Public questions. Indian Ind European, are now
discussed with spirit and intelligence. One Whig
newspaper (the Calcutta Auras° sells a thousand
papers a day, including Sunday. although it consists
of twelve pages, and costs a shilling'. The Proprietor
and Editor, a man of enterprise, of talent. and liberal
opinions, I am happy to tell you, is linking an honest
fortune by it. The most violent Tory Papers sell-
only three hundred and fifty papers a day. althqugla
the cost be only one half of that of its rival. The
Gorerunieut Gazette., a weekly paper, sells six hundred
papers, of which three hundred are distributed gratis
to the Officers of Government. The Indian Ga:ette,
a, weekly .paper. on Whig principles. makes a real
sele of semi buldred papers. From these speci-
mens, you may jedge of the state of public *Dies,
which does not differ much from what it is among
voursehes.

" Calcutta is a place of prodigious extent and popu-
lation ; by a census made two years ago, it was found
to contain nine hundred thousand inhabitants, and it

is rapidly increasing, as plainly indicated by the great
improvements taking place, the numerous buildings
going forward, and the high reward of labour, which
makes the natives of the distant provinces crowd to
it. The great start in improvement dates, as might
he expected, from the admission of the free trade.
This portion of India, at least, in spite of the ob-
stacles which a perverse policy, hostile to freedom
and the rights of humanity, have hitherto opposed to
it, begins, at last, happily, to assume the appearance
of a British Colony, and the heneti. ial consequences
are obvious. • • • •
.1 spirit of activity and inquiry is abroad. The natives'
begin to assimilate with us, to acquire our manners,
to learn our language, and even to breathe some por-
tion of the spirit to which we owe every branch *f our
national prosperity. A Bramin, a man of rank and
fortune, and the author of some ingenious works, who
speaks and writes our language with elegance, advo-
cates the cause of religious toleration and civil liberty,
speaks in favour of the Revolutions of Spain, Portu-
gal, and Naples, and lately gave a dinner to a party of
Liberales, in honour of the first."