Saia.—Sir Hugh Rose and the Maharajah of Cashmere have been
invested with the order of the Indian Star. A public meeting, attended only by natives, was held in Calcutta, on 26th August, to petition the Secretary of State to censure Sir Mordaunt Wells for having insulted the natives in 1859, by declaring perjury and forgery to be national vices. The following is the text of the resolution : "This meeting desires to record, not without a feeling of regret, that its confidence in the Hon. Sir M. L. Wells, Knight, as a judge of the highest court of judicature in Bengal, has been impaired in consequence of his frequent and indiscriminate attacks on the character of the natives of this country, with an intemperance incon- sistent with the calm dignity of the bench, as well as from his re- peated and indiscreet exhibition of strong political bias and race pre- judices, which are not compatible with the impartial administration of justice."
As the Court consists of three judges, and gives its decisions by vote, and the Chief Justice has never been assailed by any human being except Sir C. Wood, and the second judge, Sir C. Jackson, is allowed to be a friend of the natives, the bias of Sir Mordaunt Wells makes no difference to the administration of justice. As a matter of fact, the judge is an able and very dogmatic man, who has done im- mense good by his determined conduct with reference to forgery and perjury, and some evil by showing too clearly his political bias on the side of the Europeans. Any censure on him, after the way in which the.natives.have put their remonstrance, will be in effect a condem- nation of his severity as regards forgery and perjury.
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