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(what it ought to be between civilized nations,) a fair contest for great political objects towards the amelioration of human society, and not for the diminution of the species. If this sentiment had been more general, we should not now be combining new military operations for the recovery of Egypt, or the security of the Ottoman Empire, for we had obtained the former, and the latter was secured from future similar expeditions by the return of the halt, the blind, and the dissatisfied to France, to deter others from coming. Europe took fright at the idea of the return of the rest, although it left us to fight them daily with inefficient means. We were told to disarm them, although we were the inferior force; and we were told too, officially, to allow Turkish policy to take its course, although its nature is at once repugnant to our sentiments as men of honour, and its success cannot be productive of any great result worthy of Englishmen to be concerned in. Ashes and bones (in which their own are the most numerous) having been the only fruits of their sanguinary violence in Cairo, when left to themselves.

I have the honour to be,

with sincere respect and esteem,

your Lordship's faithful and most humble Servant,

W. SIDNEY SMITH.

MY LORD,

No. LXXXI.

Mr. Morier to the Marquess Wellesley.

Grand Vizier's Camp, Jaffa, June 28th, 1800.

I have the honour to enclose, for your Lordship's information, the copies of my last instructions (accompanying the determination of Government on the convention of El Arish) from Lord Elgin. That circumstance was immediately communicated to the French Commander-in-Chief, whose answer to Sir Sidney Smith I have the honour to enclose. It speaks for itself, and shuts the door, for the present, against all idea of the evacuation on those terms. Much is it to be regretted, that, under the present circumstances, the inability of the Turks is such, that I despair of their driving the enemy out by force, without the assistance of European troops. Kleber's

successor is decidedly of the Colonist party, he professes Mussulmanism, and is the man who protested against the convention, and gave in his resignation in consequence. From those circumstances we may augur, that he will do his utmost to maintain the country.

It was in contemplation to send land forces to Egypt from England, and I believe that the idea is not given up. If so, what may not we hope from the exertions on this side, combined with those of the victorious bands from India. England would then complete the glorious work begun at Aboukir. I have the honour to be,

with the highest respect, my Lord,

Your Excellency's most obedient, humble Servant,

J. P. MORIER.

No. LXXXII.

The Marquess Wellesley to Jonathan Duncan, Esq.

Bombay, July 2nd, 1800. I have been favoured with your letter dated the 24th of May.

The jurisdiction of the court of the Recorder of Bombay arises from the statute and letters patent by which that court is constituted. All questions, therefore, with respect to its jurisdiction must be determined according to the true meaning and construction of that statute, and of those letters patent, and not by reference to the authority exercised by the supreme court here in similar cases. The determination of those questions belongs, in the first instance, to the court of the Recorder itself, and ultimately to his Majesty in Council as a court of appeal.

For your satisfaction, however, and for the purpose of assisting your judgment in framing regulations for the administration of justice in Surat, I shall state the following cases, in which the provincial courts of judicature and magistrates of Bengal exercise jurisdiction over British subjects resident in the Mofussil, whether they are or are not in the civil or military service of his Majesty or of the Honourable the English East India Company.

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The magistrates of the several Zillahs and Cities are all appointed justices of the peace, by commissions issued according to the provisions for that purpose, contained in the statute of the 33rd of his present Majesty, ch. 52; and in that capacity, as well as under the orders and regulations of this government, they are bound to receive any charges that may be preferred to them for murder, or for any other crime against British subjects, either in or out of the service of his Majesty or of the Company; and, if the charges made be of sufficient magnitude, and if the evidence adduced appear to the magistrate sufficient to support them, they are also bound to apprehend such British subjects, and to send them to Calcutta in safe custody, to be proceeded against in the usual manner in the supreme court of judicature.

The provincial courts do not exercise any jurisdiction whatever over the civil and military servants of his Majesty and of the East India Company, in civil cases, where the claim is of a private nature.

But all the civil servants of the Company employed in the collection of every branch of the public revenue, the provision of the Company's investment, and the manufacture of salt, are amenable to the courts of civil judicature for their official acts, and for all claims which may be made on them, connected with those acts under the several rules prescribed in the printed regulations.

The regulation which renders British subjects, not in the service of his Majesty or of the East India Company, amenable to the courts of the districts in which they are permitted to reside for claims of a private nature, made on them by natives not exceeding five hundred rupees has not been extended to the servants of his Majesty or of the Company, and I entertain considerable doubts of the policy of subjecting them to the jurisdiction of the provincial courts for such demands.

I shall hereafter acquaint you with my sentiments as to the jurisdiction heretofore exercised by the mayor's court over that class of the inhabitants of Surat denominated the "servants and dependants of the English factory at Surat;" at all events, that jurisdiction, as now transferred to the court of the Recorder, cannot attach on the great body of the inhabitants, who were before subject to the immediate autho

rity of the Nabob of Surat, and who are now become amenable to the authority of the British Government under the late treaty with that Nabob. The court of the Recorder will not, I conclude, make any attempt to exercise jurisdiction over this description of persons; but, if any such attempt shall be made you will direct the law officers of your Government to oppose it; and, in case of a determination against them, to appeal to his Majesty in council; and, in the inter val, the necessary precautions must be taken to prevent the exercise of any jurisdiction by the court of Recorder over the city of Surat which might disturb the unity of the Government of that City, and distract the allegiance of the inhabitants.

I request that you will be pleased to order more full enquiries to be made as to the grounds of the jurisdiction, which, in the cases above mentioned, has been heretofore exercised by the mayor's court at Surat, and that you will communicate to me the result. And I request also that you will transmit to me a copy of the opinion recently delivered by your attorney at Bombay respecting the jurisdiction of the Recorder's Court within the ancient limits of the factory of Tellicherry.

With regard to natives actually and bonâ fide in the civil or military service of the Company, and of British subjects whose habitations are not within the local limits of Calcutta, they are amenable exclusively to the jurisdiction of the provincial courts, in all matters of inheritance, or succession to goods or lands, and in all matters of dealing or contract, which are of a civil nature only, and which do not come within the description of torts or trespasses occasioned by violence or wrong. In criminal cases, the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over natives of that description, provided the offence be committed in Bengal, Behar, and Orissa; and I am informed, that formerly, this jurisdiction was here conceived by some of the judges, to be exclusive. The opinion of the present judges, however, is said to be different, and now I have little reason to doubt that the determination of the Supreme Court would be, that the provincial courts have a concurrent jurisdiction over such natives. In fact, therefore, the prosecutor appears to have an option of resorting to the Supreme Court or to the Provincial Courts; and, in the

present state of this country, every purpose which the legislature could have had in view, in rendering persons of the description in question amenable at all to the Supreme Court may be attained by this construction of the law, at the same time that it obviates the ruinous consequences with regard to the authority of the Government as well as the highly inconvenient, and often very oppressive effects on the parties themselves, which would result from holding the offenders to be exclusively amenable to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

I consider these principles to be equally applicable to natives in the service of the Company on your establishment, both at Surat, and in every other part of the territories subject to your government out of the local limits of Bombay.

Subjects of all foreign States, whether Indian or European, residing at Surat, are on the same footing, and subject to the same jurisdiction with the natives themselves, who compose the great body of the inhabitants of Surat.

The Armenians and other Christians resident there, are also on the same footing and subject to the same jurisdiction with the natives who compose the great body of the inhabitants of Surat.

The jurisdiction of the Courts of British Law established by the Acts of Parliament and Royal Charters over persons who are not British subjects, does not at all depend on the religion of such persons, but on their residence within the limits of the local jurisdiction of the respective Courts, or on their being in the service of the Company, or of persons who are British subjects. The Supreme Court does not claim or exercise any jurisdiction over Armenians or native Christians residing out of the limits of the Town of Calcutta.

The Supreme Court does not exercise any jurisdiction over natives residing within the ancient limits of the factories of Chittagong, Cossimbuzar, Lukipoor or Patna, on account of their residence, or for any cause whatever, except such as render other natives residing in any other parts of the British Territories, out of the Town of Calcutta subject to its jurisdiction.

I have the honour to be, &c.

WELLESLEY.

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