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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2011
[It will be of use to the future historian of British India, to know the precise periods at which the British government granted to the natives of the Island of Ceylon, and of the different parts of India, those rights which are alike calculated to elevate both their moral and their political character; and, also, to be enabled to refer to the opinions which were entertained at the time upon the subject, by the people of the country. One of the most important of these rights was that of sitting upon juries, and of being tried by juries of their own countrymen. It is, therefore, thought advisable to record the period, and to give some account of the circumstances under which the British government granted this right to the natives of the Island of Ceylon, and to the natives of the different parts of India; and, also, to give a copy of a paper written to Mr. GræMe, the late Governor of Madras, by Rám Ráz, who was native Chief Judge of the Mysore country, and one of the most enlightened of the Hindú inhabitants of the peninsula of India.
page 250 note 1 A man of the second, or military, tribe of Hindús.
page 250 note 2 A man of the third, or mercantile, tribe.
page 250 note 3 A person of the fourth, or servile, tribe.
page 253 note 1 A hall, or court of justice.
page 250 note 2 The era in general use throughout the south of India. The king whose name it bears, commenced to reign a.d.78.
page 250 note 3 Sirfojee Rájá.
