EAST INDIAN MEETING.

A numerous and respectable Meeting of the East Indian Community, was held on the 28th March, by public advertisement at the Town Hall, for the purpose of receiving the report of the Agent to the East Indians, who has lately returned from his deputation to England.

Mr. W. M. Woollaston was unanimously called to the chair, and opened the business of the Meeting with some prefatory observations; after which, he called upon the Secretary to the East Indians' Petition Committee to read Mr. Ricketts's Report, which, however, is much too voluminous for publication in the columns of a daily journal. It reviewed all the proceedings which had taken place, with reference to the East Indians' Petition, from its first agitation, and a detailed account of Mr. Ricketts's proceedings in England connected with the object of his delegated duties, and particular accounts of the nature and effect of his interviews in the first instance with Messrs. Loch and Astell, in February 1830, the former of whom stated the inclination of the Court to ameliorate the condition of the petitioners and remedy the legal grievances under which they laboured; but as to the abolition of political disabilities, it required grave consideration, and on this, there existed much difference of opinion. From Mr. Astell, Mr. Ricketts could get no decided or satisfactory reply, and he in consequence at once waited upon Lord Ellenborough, who undertook to consult the Law Officers of the crown upon certain legal technicalities. The Petition was entrusted for presentation in the Commons to Mr. C. W. W. Wynn, but with that gentleman's consent it was subsequently handed over to Lord Ashley who proffered his services and took a warm interest in the cause, and assured Mr. Ricketts at one of his interviews, that every branch of the India service was to be thrown open to East Indians; promised that the Court of Directors should write to that effect to the Bengal Government, and offered to give Mr. Ricketts a pledge in writing that this would be carried into effect. Up to the 30th of March, the exertions of Lord Ashley were prompt, but on that day he declared to Mr. Ricketts with the deepest regret, that things having taken a turn in another quarter, he was obliged to decline presenting the Petition, however happy he might have been to do so. In consequence of this unexpected change, the Petition was entrusted a second time to Mr. Wynn, by whom it was presented on the 4th of May, and referred to the Committee on the affairs of India, before which, as well as the Committee of Lords, to whom it was referred on presentation by Lord Carlisle, in the Upper House, Mr. Ricketts was examined.

As the report is to be published we shall not go into it at greater length, but confine ourselves to saying, that it was received with the greatest satisfaction, and contained flattering acknowledgments of the kind assistance afforded to the cause, and the interest taken in its success by Lord Carlisle, Lord Ashley, Mr. Wynn, Sir James Mackintosh, Sir C. Forbes, Mr. J. Stewart, Dr. Lushington, Mr. J. Hume, Dr. Bowring, Mr. Crawfurd, Sir A. Johnston and others.

Mr. A. Heberlet first addressed the Meeting.

MR. CHAIRMAN, and Gentlemen,—The very full and interesting report which has this day been read to us, must bave satisfied every one who has listened to it, that Mr. Ricketts, in the arduous mission so readily undertaken by him, has ably and creditably fulfilled all those expectations which the most sanguine minds may have entertained, when he left his native land, deputed by his suffering countrymen, to

ask, on their behalf, from the wisdom and justice of the Parliament of Great Britain, for remedies calculated to remove disabilities under which they have long unfortunately laboured.

Mr. Ricketts's zeal for the advancement of our best interests, has for years past held him prominently forth as a gentleman meriting much of our commendation and gratitude; and from what he has latterly done, no dispassionate mind, I am convinced, will refuse to accord to him the just meed of being ranked at the head of our class. In saying so much, I am satisfied I do not over-rate his talents or exertions: they are indeed above all praise. We certainly have not yet experienced the fruits of his endeavours to ameliorate our condition; but it is to be hoped, after the part he has so ably taken, and the reception he so happily met with in England, as well as from the disposition that has of late been manifested, both by the local government and by the home authorities, for the welfare and happiness of all classes composing the population of India, that the time is not far distant when all that we now complain of as disabilities, odious in themselves and incompatible with our descent, will at once be removed. Even if they are not, Mr. Ricketts has a strong and undeniable claim upon his countrymen at large, which must for ever excite in his favour their warmest and most heartfelt gratitude. In personally assuring that gentleman, who has done a great deal for us, that his countrymen and their posterity can never forget the extent or importance of his labours in their cause, I beg to propose, that the report of his proceedings, which future generations will peruse with the same interest and satisfaction that we have this day felt in listening to it, be approved, and printed for general information.

1.-"That the Report now read, be adopted and printed for general information." Mr. Kirkpatrick in seconding this resolution observed, that it was quite unneces sary for him to recommend the motion to the support of the meeting, as they had already repeatedly expressed their approbation of the Report. He would, however, take the opportunity to express his feelings on the occasion,-expressions which would be merely an echo of the feelings of the meeting. He could not but feel the highest satisfaction at witnessing the perfect unanimity which pervaded the meeting, as contrasted with some differences on a former occasion, which he did not wish to remember. He had heard the assertion, that East Indians could not be unanimous, and he blushed for those who made it; and were the feelings of the meeting other than what he had witnessed, he should blush for them and for himself. But he felt there was no ground for shame; on the contrary, he rejoic ed in perceiving that they were one.

He would not make any particular remarks on the report. The meeting had heard of the manner in which Mr. Ricketts was received in England by men of influence who merited their thanks; and no one could regard but with execration the conduct of persons in a certain quarter. The best thanks which East Indians could render to their friends and supporters in England, would be the earnest prosecution of their rights, by which it would be made evident that they were worthy of the privileges which they claimed. Had the Report informed them of complete success, the meeting would not have been of a deliberative kind; they would have only to share in a triumph. Something has been done; but there was yet much to accomplish. By their unanimity and their earnestness they would oblige their friends to plead more earnestly for their rights,-which not all the efforts of their enemies could withhold from them. The East Indians sue for no favour; they do not seek to be elevated above their fellow-citizens, they only demand to be placed upon an equality with them; they claim their rights.

Mr. Kirkpatrick concluded by saying, that overcome by his feelings, he could not venture to speak any longer, however willing he might be to address them on so interesting a subject.

This resolution was unanimously carried.

Mr. Pote in rising to propose the second resolution" that a review of the proceedings of the East Indians' Agent in England, confirms the Meeting in a sense of his zeal and labors," observed, that in order to understand fully the nature and value of Mr. Ricketts' exertions, it was necessary to take a transient view of the grievances and disqualifications, from which it was the object of those exertions,

to release Indo-Britons. Those grievances and disqualifications were comprehended in the Petition, that had through the delegate been sent up to Parliament. However, some might object, that there were various errors in that document, (though he could never concede this point) yet all must concur, that a great mass of injurious or inefficient legislation was there truly described, of a nature so oppressive, that he would not hesitate to say, that their operation upon any class of men, however barbarous, or destitute of knowledge, or sensibility, would be to degrade that class below what the vilest barbarism or ignorance could effect, for it would degrade them below their self esteem, and this was left for the support even of the rudest savages. The particulars of their grievances they would find embodied in their petition, the effects of them they felt in every act of doing and suffering, and in every moment of their lives, as surrounding them with the disgrace and obloquy that always attends legal disqualification, and he said it with truth, and grief proportioned to the truth of the remark, that a body of men against whom no offence could be charged, and who stood in many ways in the relation of consanguinity to Britons were, while under the protection of the noblest, freest and most enlightened government of the modern and ancient world, visited, by the concurrence of the British people, with such contumely and scorn as was seldom the lot of the most infamous guilt.

This was shortly the condition of Indo Britons and from this it had been the labor of Mr. Ricketts' life, by every effort he could make to extricate them, he would however call their attention at present to the last exertion of this description which Mr. Ricketts had made; as it would bear them out in supporting the resolution it was his (Mr. Pote's) business to submit.

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At a period of life when most men are immoveably fixed in the places of their birth or long and familiar abode surrounded by the ties of family connections, dissuaded by all the natural considerations of ease, by social friendship and domestic love, and bound too to the spot by the engagements of business and of property this lover of his country shook from him every motive that would have influenced other minds, and leaving ease, pleasure,business behind him, boldly adventured to a foreign land, to the hazards of a strange climate, to the labors of an undertaking vast, absorbing and intricate almost beyond comprehension, and this in the solitude and dreariness of strange society, far from the sympathies and consolations of the circle from which he had been wont to draw his joys. What mind, said the speaker can perfectly comprehend or appreciate such self sacrifice? It is fair in estimating the character of human efforts to enquire how many have appeared capable of the same performance. Regarding the act of Mr. Ricketts, in this view, we see him placed in a proud and peculiar station, won by the grandeur and virtue of the great motives that inspired him, and the self devotion he exhibited; nor was this all: the Meeting learned by the report just read that the conduct of the business he undertook was through its course in all respects suited to the high merit of its adoption. Every labor, every difficulty was chearfully encountered; alone and surrounded by the subtleties of a court by the opposition of the proud, and negligence of the indifferent, his tenacious and faithful mind could be neither suppressed nor diverted; he was found repeating efforts, to animate the sluggish, recal the faithless and convert the hostile; to his personal efforts they must attribute all that they recognized as favorable to the success of their cause, and looking at him thus, invested with the highest qualifications, and as one who has brought those qualifications to bear for their service, they could not refuse their heartiest and unanimous consent to the terms of the resolution he should have the honor to submit.

Mr. Pote next adverted to the report, which he said, while it bore testimony to the labors and abilities of the delegate, yet appeared to him to indicate no such approach to the desired point as ought to be satisfactory. Every thing evinced the necessity of repeated and strenuous exertions. He earnestly recommended renewed efforts. There was no dependence to be placed on the smiles of Courtiers, no faith in the promises of lords who were proverbial for the facility of making and breaking a pledge, but indeed none in this case could be of any service to the cause but themselves, and in this as in most earthly concerns there was no reliance so sure and infallible as that reposed in the perseverance and activity of the parties

concerned. If, said Mr. Pote we unremittingly, zealously and firmly persevere in our exertions following the example of our respected delegate, we must succeed, for when did industry and perseverance fail in their efforts! Even in the purposes of the base and the bad, the efficacy of these qualities are well understood, what then have we not to hope who are acting, for interests and objects in favor of which all the best feelings and affections of universal human nature are enlisted. In every uncorrupted soul we shall meet a warm coadjutor and the combined sense of mankind must triumph.

Mr. Pote then read the following resolution:

2." That a review of the proceedings of our Agent in England confirms this Meeting in the firm persuasion that all that unwearied exertion, devoted zeal, and unshaken attachment to the cause, could have effected, has been done for promoting the success of the East Indians' Petition to Parliament, and generally the interests of the East Indian Community in England."

Mr. Welsh in seconding Mr. Pote's motion spoke as follows:

MR. CHAIRMAN,-I beg leave to second the motion; and after the very eloquent and glowing speech we have just heard, I need not say that I cannot but rise with great reluctance to venture a few observations of my own. Mr. Pote has taken so wide and in my humble opinion so correct a view of the entire case connected with the East Indians' Petition, that I feel happy at being relieved from the necessity I should otherwise have labored under of taking a retrospective survey of the particular circumstances which were considered to require the deputation of Mr. Ricketts to England as a measure of indispensible necessity. I cannot however refrain from doing an act of simple justice to the Gentlemen of the East Indians' Petition Committee, and their active and zealous friends and supporters who appear to me to have been actuated throughout by the sincerest and most laudable desire to improve the condition and prospects of the community to which they belong, and of which they have proved themselves to be most worthy and patriotic members. In their choice of Mr. Ricketts to be the bearer of their Petition and to express their sentiments before the legislature, I believe I merely express the opinion of every individual present when I say, that they selected one whose whole soul had long been devoted to his Country-one whose well-known public character afforded the surest earnest of his doing all that the "patriot's fire" can urge a man to do in a laudable and patriotic undertaking.

If there be any who might feel disposed to cavil with this decision, and require to be shewn some specific beneficial result-the attainment of some positive good, or the mitigation of some positive evil, I can only say that they are unreasonably sanguine-they would overleap all difficulties and attain the end without considering the means by which it can alone be possibly arrived at. If there should be any individuals so unjust or so weak as thus tacitly to acknowledge their inability to judge the means while the end remains yet to be developed, I am not utterly hopeless of being able to convince even such that they have no tenable ground for dissatisfaction at the result, as far as it goes, of Mr. Ricketts's mission. Let them for a moment consider the difficulties which beset that gentleman at every step. The most formidable impediment in his way, though a passive one, was the proverbial indifference of the British public to questions of Indian policy-an indifference naturally arising from the unceasing contemplation of distress at home and disaffection in a sister isle. Add to this the powerful tide of prejudice which has so long and so uninterruptedly been suffered to overflow the land from its wellknown fountain in Leadenhall Street, poisoning the recipients and sources of information in its course-consider these difficulties I say, and none I am sure will refuse to give Mr. Ricketts credit for at least energy of mind in venturing single handed into the field, as Mr. Pote has so forcibly observed, in undertaking to interest a listless legislature in behalf of his constituents, and attempting to expose in the broad light of day, and in their true colors, the hollow pretences and illiberal prejudices which have hitherto had the effect of retaining an enlightened and rapidly increasing class of subjects of the British crown, in a state of civil "outlawry" if I may be allowed to use the strong and uncontradicted expression

of Sir James Macintosh in the House of Commons on the presentation of the East Indians' Petition.

That Mr. Ricketts succeeded in triumphing over the apathy of the British statesman and legislator, the Report we have just heard abundantly testifies. Public men shook off their habitual lethargy and bestowed a degree of patient investigation into the statements of the Petition, which could scarcely have been expected. The Board of Control and the Court of Directors heard, in silence heard, the distant appeal for justice, and it is to be hoped, pondered on the novel circumstance, with every wish to relieve those whom not a single member of either of those bodies dared to deny having hitherto suffered to remain in their native land, in a state of civil outlawry! Thus far, then, the progress of the petition was as favorable as could have been anticipated. What will be done eventually in the shape of redress, remains yet to be seen. But here ends Mr. Ricketts' responsibility, and, I believe, we may safely say, that he has done his duty.

It is to be regretted, that the dissolution of Parliament took place at the time it did; and, that the all-engrossing interest excited in England in consequence of the late glorious events in France, and the still deep and breathless interest, which England must continue to feel in watching the aspect of continental politics, should render it more than likely, that the present Parliament, harassed by more immediately important calls on its attention, will be unable to devote that patient investigation into the merits of the India Question, which, the approaching period of the Charter's expiration so imperatively demands. What modified relation the East India Company will bear to this country, remains yet to be developed; but, we may depend upon it, that the state of the country, and the character and prospects not only of the East Indian Community, but of the entire native population, will advance and brighten, or sink and retrogade, in proportion as the benign spirit of genuine philanthropy, or the demon of insolent despotism, shall preponderate in dictating or swaying any changes that may be made in the judicial and commercial characters of the Company. That the spirit of philanthropy may prevail, who does not wish? who does not fervently hope? but that the blight of despotism may wither that hope, who is exempt from apprehending? Under such circumstances, it is impossible to anticipate the final result of the East Indians' Petition with any confidence. As far as Mr. Ricketts is concerned, I feel happy at being able to avow my honest conviction, that he has discharged the trust reposed in him, with credit to himself, and honor to his country; but the Petition itself, launched on the troubled sea of politics, and at a time, when the atmosphere of Europe would p d portend a storm, must in some measure be left to seek its own harbour; it is

"Like a weed

Flung from the rock on Ocean's foam to sail,

Where'er the surge may sweep, the tempest's breath prevail."

From what I have said, it is not to be inferred, that I would advise East Indians, to relax in their exertions. Far from it; they have put their shoulders to the wheel, and must carry through the work they have commenced. They must smile in their turn at the deceitful and alluring smiles of courtiers, those smiles, whose hollow fascination has been so felicitously lashed by Mr. Pote, and upheld by the justice of their cause, persevere in their exertions until they witness the substantial fruition of their wishes. My conviction however, is that, if the East Indians' Petition should ultimately meet with no redress, (for what is not possible in the fluctuating world of politics) Mr. Ricketts cannot be made fairly chargeable with any such unfortunate issue. But the Petition cannot fail for the pride of the Lawyer and the Statesman, will not suffer any acknowledged legal abuses to exist, without an effort to remedy them; will not hear of a body of men existing without the pale of any acknowledged code of civil laws, without endeavouring to supply the deficiency. The wants of a legal nature of the East Indians, will be supplied in some shape or other; and it is to be hoped that the enlightened spirit of the age will at length cause the removal of all political disabilities also.

It is absurd to see our rulers starting at shadows of their own creation. I should conceive that their ridiculous jealousy must by this time be worn perfectly threadbare, and cannot survive much longer. And then the eternal and unmeaning objection of "incapacity." Good God! and is it come to this-that every school