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Calcutta.

His messmates' kind solicitude was vain

To snatch him from the cold embrace of death;
And nought is left to mitigate our pain

But martial honours and a cypress-wreath.

The muffled drum rolled mournful to the sky,
The fifes, soul-searching, drew a burning tear,
And from each speechless tongue a broken sigh
Hovered around his melancholy bier.

Far in the woody jungle's wildest range,
Where tigers prowl and fierce hyenas prey,
Where savage hordes, of tongue and feature strange,
With bow and hatchet fight their days away;

In the deep shade of India's sacred tree,

'Mid the dark gloom of filial trunks around,
Festooned with creepers, shooting wondrously
From trunk to trunk, and twisting to the ground

Their rival arms, his clay-mound tomb you'll find,
Entrenched and palisaded on each side,
With short inscription carved upon the rind,
To tell to wandering Britons who has died.

The fever's taint shall pass him now unfelt,

The savage wild beast bootless grind his fang,.
The black Chooar shall knot his hatchet belt,
And dart his arrowed reed with harmless twang;

Against his covert ambush now secure,

His long stone bullet and kulhari fell.

Of martial honour's earliest laurels sure,

He soundly sleeps within his stone-piled cell.

No kindred dust in grassy heaps lies there,

No flowering chaplets scent the scorching breeze,
No moss-grown pagod sheds its hallowed air,
No Christian footstep wanders near the trees.

The timid pea-hen there may build her nest,
The spotted fawn around its dam may play,
The untamed elephant may browse at rest,
The forest buff-herd unmolested stray.

Sing sweet, ye gilded songsters, o'er his grave,
Blow soft, ye jungle-breezes, o'er his tomb,
Crop not, ye antelopes, the flowers that wave
Upon this hallowed spot, his desert home.

Mourn o'er his grave, thou sacred tree, and rear
Around his dust thy holiest guardian spell;
Accept this parting tender of a tear;

Farewell, regretted youth, a long farewell!

OOMANOONDA.

THE NEW CRIMINAL LAW OF INDIA.

The Penal Code of India, which has been prepared by the Law Commissioners, and submitted for the approval of the Government, is one of the most important public documents which ever came under our observation. We have commenced its publication in extenso this month, and shall continue it until complete, believing that it will attract much attention at home, not merely amongst persons who have connexions with India or with Indian topics, but amongst the community, since it is an experiment of a perfectly new kind—an attempt to construct, upon European views and principles, an original system of criminal jurisprudence, applicable not to Europeans merely, but also, and principally, to an Eastern society, composed of refractory and conflicting elements, and influenced by notions utterly incongruous with ours.

It would be an egregious piece of presumption, in the little time we have had for examining this great work, to affect to pronounce an opinion upon its merits. It is evidently the fruit of much labour and consideration, and time and deliberation are requisite in order to form a correct judgment as to its fitness for the end in view. The formidable character of the undertaking, far exceeding that of the Napoleon Code, or of any other modern attempt to systematize the jurisprudence of any nation governed by European maxims, whilst it will greatly enhance the merit of the framers of the Code, if successful, ought to qualify our disappointment if they shall have failed, and induce us to examine it with candour, if not with diffidence, and to treat its apparent defects with indulgence.

Our present purpose is to give our readers an outline of its principles and enactments, reserving till a future time, when we shall be in a better condition to appreciate its merits, a criticism of the Code.

The preliminary Report states some of the difficulties which the Commissioners have had to contend with, and whilst it contains a modest acknowledgment of probable defects, deprecates a definitive sentence upon the Code till the other parts of the system-the civil law, and the law of procedureshall be produced. The Commissioners state, that their system of penal law "is not a digest of any existing system, and that no existing system has furnished them even with a ground-work." Admitting the value of that sanction which long prescription and national feeling give to institutions, they assign reasons why they have not taken the existing system of penal law in force in British India as a basis for their Code; and they remark, that the experiment of introducing an entirely new system, superseding at once the ancient, has been tried with success, and without the smallest sign of discontent, at Bombay. The Bombay code, however, affords no ground-work, in the opinion of the Commissioners, for a Code for all India; the penal law of that presidency is superior to those of the other presidencies only in being digested. The English criminal law, administered by the King's Courts at the presidencies, is a system framed without reference to India, and requiring extensive reform, even in this country, to which it was originally adapted.

Under these circumstances, the Commissioners have deemed it necessary to frame an entirely new Code, taking suggestions from all the existing systems, and comparing it with those of Western jurisprudence.

They think it necessary to offer a kind of apology for the copious use they have made of illustrations, which will, in their opinion, facilitate the understanding of, and likewise defend, the law; they will, moreover, "lead the mind of the student through the same steps by which the minds of those who framed the law proceeded." It was necessary to make the law precise in its language, and illustrations will explain language that might perplex an ordinary reader. The illustrations serve as a collection of decided cases, with these two advantages, namely, that they do not supply an omission in, or put a strain on, the written law; and they are not decisions by judges, but by the legislature, without being made ex post facto to serve any particular turn.

The Commissioners then make some suggestions as to the course which they think it desirable should be pursued where doubtful points occur. In criminal cases, they are of opinion that such points should be submitted to the Indian legislature, which might refer them to the Law Commission, if that Commission should be a permanent body. By this means, the Code may gradually, in successive editions, be improved and perfected. All new criminal laws should be fitted to the Code, so that they might, at the next edition, appear in their proper place.

They have not, for reasons stated to the Governor-general in Council (but not specified in this Report), inserted in the Code any declaration as to what places, and classes of persons, it shall apply.

The Code itself, to which we now turn, consists of twenty-six chapters, and 488 clauses.

Chapter the first consists merely of general explanations of the sense in which certain expressions are used in the Code, some of which appear superfluous, but are, perhaps, necessary to obviate cavil.

The second chapter treats "Of Punishments," which are of six kinds :death, transportation, imprisonment (of two descriptions, rigorous and simple), banishment, forfeiture of property, and fine.

In an elaborate note, at the end of the Code, the Commissioners enter into an explanation of the reasons for the choice and application of the penalties they have adopted; for the admission of capital punishment into the Code, and for its sparing infliction; for making transportation perpetual; for making two grades of imprisonment, the rigorous and the simple (which form of punishment they think may be hereafter modified, when their Code of prison-discipline shall be prepared); for giving Government the power of commuting sentences without the consent of the offender; for the making banishment a penalty; for limiting the forfeiture of property to persons guilty of high political offences; for leaving a large discretion to the Courts in case of fine, and of imprisonment if the fine be not paid. This note deserves very serious consideration, since it embodies some of the fundamental principles adopted by the framers of the Code.

Chapter III. consists of general exceptions, in order to obviate the necessity of repeating in every penal clause a considerable number of illustrations. A very long explanatory note is appended to this Chapter.

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The next Chapter treats "Of Abetment," which is of two kinds, “previous" and "subsequent." A person previously abets the doing of a thing who (1) instigates another, or (2) engages in a conspiracy to do it, (3) aids the doing it by any illegal act or omission, (4) conceals, by any act or illegal omission, the existence of a design to do it, in order to facilitate the doing of that thing this offence is punishable with imprisonment, fine, or both. A person is said subsequently to abet, who, knowing the thing to have been done, aids or attempts to assist, by any act or illegal omission, the doer to avoid the evil consequences, or to derive any advantage, with a view to which the thing was done this is punishable with a less measure of imprisonment, or fine, or both.

Chapter V. treats "Of Offences against the State." Waging war against the Government of any part of the Company's territories, or attempting to wage war, or previously abetting the waging of war, is punishable with death, or transportation for life, or imprisonment of either description for life, or forfeiture of all property. The various subordinate offences which come under this head are set forth, and they include a clause to this effect: Whoever by words, either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs, or by. visible representation, attempts to excite feelings of disaffection to the Government, amongst any class of people who live under that Government, is punishable with banishment for life, or for any term, to which fine may be added, or with simple imprisonment for a term not more than three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine. It is explained, that such a disapprobation of the measures of the Government as is compatible with a disposition to render obedience to its lawful authority, and to support it against unlawful attempts to subvert or resist it, is not disaffection; therefore the making of comments on the measures of Government, with the intention of exciting only this species of disapprobation, is not an offence within this clause. This chapter is the subject of a long note, in which the Commissioners state reasons for not having included offences against the general Government of the British empire, which, they think, is not within the scope of the power given them by the Act of Parliament which defines the legislative power of the Council of India: they leave this branch of the penal law to the Imperial Legislature, and, they add, it is important that it should do "what the local legislature cannot do-pass a law of high treason for the territories of the East-India Company."

The next Chapter, "Of Offences relating to the Army and Navy," includes the abetting of mutiny or desertion of soldiers or sailors, or assaults upon them, or assuming the garb of a soldier in order to be believed to be such; they are punishable with various measures of transportation, imprisonment, or fine, or both the latter. An attempt is made in this Chapter to provide, in a manner consistent with the general character of the Code, for the punishment of persons who, not being military, abet military crimes.

The seventh Chapter refers to "Offences against the Public Tranquillity." An assembly of twelve or more persons is designated "a riotous assembly," if it is their object to overawe the Government, or any public servant in the exercise of lawful powers, or to resist the execution of any law, or to commit assault, mischief, or criminal trespass, or wrongfully restrain any person, or put any person in fear of hurt, or of assault, or wantonly to insult or wrong any person, "or if that assembly is attended with circumstances which may reasonably excite apprehension that its object is one of those aforesaid." It is explained, that "any assembly, which was not riotous when it assembled, may subsequently become a riotous assembly. Rioting is punishable with imprisonment of either kind, fine, or both.

The eighth Chapter, "Of the Abuse of the Powers of Public Servants," is an important one; it is the subject of a long note in the Appendix. The Commissioners say they have found considerable difficulty in drawing the line between public servants and the great mass of the community; but they hope that the definition of the term given in the first Chapter of the Code will comprehend all whom it is desirable to bring under this part of the law; and they endeavour to meet the objection, which they apprehend will be made, that "they have treated the transgressions of public servants too favourably." These classes of persons are liable to other punishments peculiar to them, such as dismissal from the public service; and "the Executive Government deserves to be trusted-at all events, it must be trusted; for it is quite certain that no laws will prevent corruption and oppression on the part of the servants of the Indian Government, if that Government is inclined to screen the offender." Offences under this Chapter are punishable with different degrees of imprisonment, fine, or both.

Chapter IX., which is also accompanied by an explanatory note, treats "Of Contempt of the Lawful Authority of Public Servants." It is of considerable length, and is avowedly framed upon a careful analysis of the existing Regulations of the three presidencies, passed for enforcing obedience to the lawful authority of public servants.

"Of Offences against Public Justice," forms the subject of the tenth Chapter. These include "giving false evidence" under sanction of an oath, or what is "tantamount to an oath," in any judicial proceeding; "fabricating false evidence," removing property from the authority of a court of justice, fraudulently instituting a suit, inducing a person by threat to refrain from instituting a suit, escaping from custody, returning from transportation before the term is expired, &c. The rules touching the offence of attempting to impose on a court of justice by false evidence differ from those of the English law, as well as of other codes. For these novelties the Commissioners assign reasons in a Note, in which they suggest the expediency of a law (which they have not prepared) for punishing "false pleading."

"Offences relating to the Revenue," the subject of Chapter XI., include smuggling, cultivating, or manufacturing, or offering for sale, articles, in contravention of any law; counterfeiting stamps, illegal delivering of letters,

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