4 OCTOBER 1851, Page 2

The Indian overland mail reads like one great obituary. Most

of the deaths recorded are, of course, " fee-griefs due to some single breast"; but two or three of them are of that kind which, removing influential personages, leave a void space for new actors, and the possibility at least of political changes. For ex- ample, the death of the deposed Dewan of Noonan will relieve the Anglo-Indian Government from worrying apprehensions of plots for his liberation, but may bring. into the field some yre- tender to the sovereignty who is not in their power. Agam- the death of the intriguing 'Vizier of Herat removes from Af- ghanistan a versatile and trimming politician, who was never consistent in anything but in his adherence to the English inte- rest. But of infinitely more moment than either is the death of Mr. Bethune, the Legislative Member of the Supreme Council of Bengal. Mr. Bethune was a humane enthusiast. His consistent and unwearied efforts to promote education among the females of India entitle his memory to the respectful veneration of the Hindoos. But in his capacity of Legislative Councillor Mr. Bethune has left a less unequivocal reputation. He was at least the ostensible author of the " Black Acts," which a year or two ago excited such well- founded alarms in the European and mercantile communities of India. He was one of those legal theorists who fancy that mere enactments can establish an uniformity of law for which society is not ready. In an empire composed of such dissimilar and hetero- geneous materials as that of India, the compulsory uniformity which the acts in question were intended to introduce would have led to the most iniquitous inequalities. Mr. Bethune, it is true, was merely the official agent for carrying into effect a pet crotchet of higher and more permanent authorities ; but it is possible that his successor may be a man more capable of discerning the realities of life ; and should this be the case, he may be able to arrest or at least check the precipitate thirst for uniform legislation, to gratify which Mr. Bethune so willingly lent himself.