de, Upon, height, exaltation,' &c.

Both these particles, as they are called, become nouns when the word

و من

or from, is used with them, as, d, 'I sat on his right

alighted from the top, or the back of the, نزلت من على الفرس : side

horse.'

is similar to the English bot, or boot, superadded, let there be.' The derivation of these words is disputed; but there can be scarcely any doubt but that is the root.

lac,,, Lŵl, have the same signification with the English but, beout or without; '; 'All the tribe came but, or beout, Zied.'

القوم خلا زيدا

,

The two first signify 'vacancy' and 'exception,' and are known to be derived from verbs. The third is the imperative of a verb, and signifies 'forbid,' or let it not be;' as,

. حاشالله

, has, I believe, nearly the same signification.

Läl is a conjunction, and signifies or, also either; as, e lol aj bol “ba, either Zud or Omr came to me.' It also signifies if; and el, muftooh, denotes certainty.

The following, which is translated from the Shuruh Moolla, will give the origin assigned to this particle.

The origin of Lolis, which signifies 'at all events.' The verb is cut off by, or ellipsis. The letters are then changed

ادغام

by grammatical process, as to, and the union, or pleal, of the two letters, Lis thus made to stand in place of the noun lago.

زم

It will be seen by the foregoing, that some of the particles are supposed to be, and some are actually admitted as, nouns and verbs; and, although in most cases they cannot be used conversely, still it appears merely because in their original usage they have become obsolete.

It may be remarked here, that words may be formed in the Arabic from which some of the particles can be legitimately derived by permutation, although unsatisfactorily in reference to sense.

I am, Sir,

3d September, 1836.

Your most obedient servant,

A. Z.

THE PROPOSED BANK OF INDIA.

THE late period at which the Prospectus of the proposed Bank of India reached us, last month, prevented our giving more than a cursory notice of a scheme, the objectionable features of which, however, struck us at first sight: we resume the consideration of it, therefore, with better information, and after maturer reflection upon the merits of the scheme.

The necessity which calls for a great banking establishment for India, upon the scale proposed by the scheme in question, must be founded upon the absence of some facilities, financial and commercial, which such an establishment would supply; and, accordingly, it appears to be assumed, that there is a wide field for the investment and employment of capital in India, which cannot be occupied by the enterprize and resources of British merchants in the ordinary course of mercantile operations. This doctrine is almost. diametrically opposed to that which was employed to overthrow the commercial privileges of the East-India Company, namely, that the unassisted resources of British merchants are not only fully equal to the supply of India with the requisite capital, but that that capital was prevented from immigrating to India by the influence of the East-India Company's monopoly. And when we see the names appended to the Prospectus,* we cannot help feeling a little surprised at their sanction of a scheme which implies so severe reflection upon their former opinions.

That there is no want of capital in India, seems to be pretty well established by the facts, that the Government can contract loans there, to any required extent, at four per cent.; that there is a redundant supply of British merchandize to the eastern markets, and that complaints are actually made by the mercantile body, that the remittance of Indian revenue excludes an equal amount of commercial capital from being invested in eastern products imported into Europe. Moreover, as an additional proof of the repletion of the Indian money-market, and of "the diffusion of British capital" in India, the French and American trades, with that country and China, are carried on chiefly with the capital and credit of British merchants.

We are, therefore, of opinion, that there is no call for such an establishment as this. But, admitting that there is, let us next examine the character and pretensions of the one before us.

The Prospectus sets forth, that the only banks in India are the Bengal and Union Banks at Calcutta, the Government Bank at Madras, and a Bank at Agra; that the Union Bank is the only one of which the capital is wholly furnished by individuals on the principle of a joint-stock bank, but it has no charter, and its circulation is limited to Calcutta and its vicinity; that the Bank of Bengal is partially supported by the capital of the Company, and managed by its servants; it has a charter terminable on a year's notice, its capital is 75 lakhs, divided into 500 shares, and its circulation is 116 lakhs; that the defective constitution of this bank, owing to its * At the head of which are those of Baring, Brothers and Co., Charles Cockerell and Co., Fletcher, Alexander and Co., Palmer, Mackillop and Co., and a host of Liverpool firms.

Asiat.Jour.N.S.VOL.21.No.82.

Y

immediate connexion with the Government, renders it an inefficient instrument for the public service, nor is it what a wealthy independent Bank might be, the Government Bank transacting the Government business. The state of the money-market at home, and the desire of obtaining profitable employment for the accumulating capital of this country, render this, therefore, a favourable moment for the introduction into India, with the co-operation of His Majesty's Government and the Company, of a large Banking Company, which should adopt a sound system of Banking, and effect the following objects:

The Bengal Government keep their Treasury quite distinct from the Bank of Bengal; but a Bank properly constituted might supersede the necessity of the Treasury, the Financial Agency at Canton and Madras, and thereby occasion a considerable saving to the East-India Company; a Bank relying upon its own resources, and those resources known to be large and adequate to its operations, might, adhering strictly to Banking principles, not only transact at a moderate charge the public business, manage the payment of interest of the public debt, facilitate the receipt of the revenue, and its subsequent diffusion through the various channels of the public expenditure, but it might provide the remittance to Great Britain of the sums required there, for the home charges of the East-India Company, and enable the East-India Company to act up to the intention of the Legislature, by keeping their Government entirely aloof from that interference with the commerce of India, which the present system of remittance involves.

This "Banking Company," therefore, proposes, not only to supply the requisite capital for all the agricultural and commercial transactions in India, and to be a depositary for private capital, but to become the Government treasury, to receive and disburse the collections throughout the provinces, to undertake the financial agency at Canton, and remit the home charges on account of the Indian territory in short, to relieve the Government entirely of all financial duties. The very image of such a scheme is somewhat alarming, both from its magnitude and novelty; but a very slight degree of consideration will shew that it is pregnant with dangers, both prospective (in theory) and present.

In the first place, it contemplates the annihilation of all the existing separate establishments, and such a connexion with the Government as will secure it against all chance of competition. The proprietary of the establishment will be located in England, at an immense distance from the scene of operation, and without the power of immediate control over its functionaries. It is meditated that the proprietors' liability shall be limited to the amount of subscription only, a condition, indeed, which the Legislature is not very likely to sanction. The plan is consequently founded essentially upon the principle of monopoly,-a monopoly very analogous to that of the East-India Company (which has been abolished solely on grounds of public policy), without many of its qualifying incidents, not taking into consideration the character of that body.

But to consider the scheme further. What would be the effect of making the coffers of the Bank the public treasury in the various districts

of India, and allowing its notes to have the free range of that immense country? Is it not obvious that it would place in the hands of a body of private individuals, cemented together by no other bond than the hope of gain, and subjected to an imperfect responsibility, an almost unlimited command over the money-market of India, so as to affect at pleasure circulation, prices of commodities, exchanges? What, again, would be the consequence of consigning to this private company the remittance of the surplus revenue of India? Is it not plain that it would give the Directors the means of exercising a most dangerous influence, and a far more objectionable interference with private commercial enterprize than was so loudly complained of when it was merely incidental to the mercantile character of the East-India Company? The equivocal kind of connection which, it is contemplated, shall subsist between the Banking Company and the Government,— a connection which is at once eschewed and recommended,-appears to us by no means one of the best features of the plan, either in principle or in respect to its certain practical consequences.

The machinery of the administration of this Banking Company, as far as we have been able to learn it, is not calculated to lessen our apprehensions of the scheme, if it should be carried into effect; but this is an objection so subordinate to considerations which apply to the principles of the scheme itself, that we spare ourselves the ungracious office of exposing its suspicious character.

The prominent objections to this proposed Bank of India appear to us, therefore, to be these: 1. That such an establishment is not called for, either by the state of the money-market in India (where there is already floating capital waiting profitable employment, constantly increased by the remittance of bills and merchandize thither), or by the inability of the Government to collect its revenue. 2. That, admitting that a well regulated Bank in India, by collecting a fund of capital available for agricultural and commercial purposes, and lowering the rate of interest by competition, might be beneficial to that as to every country, the present scheme is fraught with more evils than it could correct. 3d. That its certain effects would be to interfere with those principles of free trade, for the sake of which the East-India Company's commercial privileges were withdrawn, and to re-establish a system of preference and privilege. Lastly, that the corporate body into which these virtually exclusive privileges would be placed, would not only have every facility and every temptation to abuse them, to the extensive injury of the community, but would be at the mercy of its own subordinate functionaries at a distance.

These broad and glaring characters, impressed upon the very face of the scheme, render it almost superfluous to criticise it more closely. But it cannot escape observation that, although the projectors profess to "adopt throughout the acknowledged principles upon which a sound system of banking should be founded," they plainly desert the radical and only sound principle upon which a legitimate Joint-Stock Bank should be based, namely, solely to facilitate the internal transactions of a country, out of which pro

vince it should never travel. It may possess either of two internal actions,but it is questionable whether they should ever be united,-one facilitating the circulation of money previously existing either in the precious metals or their direct representative; the other, formed upon fixed principles and under public control, for the purpose of issuing a paper money in lieu of coin, to a limited extent, the convertibility of which should be secured into gold or silver of a given standard. Confined to either of those internal operations, the formation of a Joint-stock Bank may, when required, greatly promote the interest of the community; but if it be ever contemplated to permit such an institution to traffic in the foreign exchanges, and to make such negotiations a main source of profit, it is clear that the power thereby given may become, by the union of an immense capital in one body, ruinous to individual enterprize, and perfectly inconsistent with the legitimate action of a bank professed to be established for the promotion of the internal prosperity of the country.

The proposed Indian Bank is formed mainly for the last-mentioned object, unless indeed, as it has been hinted, it be one of the intentions to stimulate the productions of the country by the bank advancing, to a given extent, with reference to value, the means to indigo-planters and others for producing the articles, in the cultivation of which they may be embarked; a system the most unsound for the conduct of a bank, which was perhaps ever promulgated. The issue of notes, in lieu of coin, may be a legitimate object when duly regulated; but mixed up, as such a power is proposed to be, with every species of internal banking and advances to the agriculturists,dealing in the foreign exchanges between India, China, and Europe, and all other parts of the world-giving credit to every sort of speculator in distant commerce, similar to the wild system of over-trading fostered by the American banks-possessing the Government deposits, and superseding the Government treasury it really becomes a proposition of the most outrageous kind that was ever submitted to the public.

NECROLOGY.

THE following biographical sketches of distinguished members of the Royal Asiatic Society, deceased during the past year,* are given in the last Annual Report of the Council:

Major David Price entered the service of the East-India Company in the year 1780; and was honourably distinguished during a course of active service in India, for a period of nearly twenty-four years. Sometime after the capture of Seringapatam, he was appointed to the staff at Surat by the Hon. Jonathan Duncan, governor of Bombay. It was in Surat that he made the collection of Persian historical and other manuscripts, which he eventually bequeathed to this Society, and which were laid before the members at a late meeting. At

The following is a list of those members of whom death has deprived the Society during the past year:-Sir Colquhoun Grant, K.C.B.; Sir John Kennaway, Bart.; Richard Blanshard, Esq., F.R.S.; Alexander Boswell, Esq.; Colonel Thomas Duer Broughton; David Carruthers, Esq.; Henry M. Goodhall, Esq.; Richard Thomas Goodwin; Professor Hamaker; Captain Henry Kater, F.R.S.; H. Julius von Klaproth; Francis Mendez, Esq.; Colonel Gervase Pennington, C.B.; Major David Price, M.R.S.L.: Professor Reuvens; Lieut.-Colonel James Tod.