| Description | He has his father's letter and does not want to see him downcast on William's account. He explains the business of taking bail in a case and that the Nizamat court found no irregularity in William's proceedings. He was bound by law to issue a warrant to apprehend Mr Hedger: once presented to the magistrate's presence he would have taken Hedger's reply and offer him release on bail. The policemen in that case could not have offered bail on his arrest, and even in England such a thing would not apply. William discusses the issues of summons, warrants, and bail, saying that the Nizamut Adawlut found him right, and the lawyers tell him he is wrong and therefore he will act on the only interpretation he can, the letter of the regulations, while trying to discover any error he made in their interpretation. His father's remarks on sunspots are interesting. They say in India that an inundation is always accompanied by the same sort of event in Europe. William encloses the cases he referred to in his last letter but did not send, describing the legal issues in each. He thinks that in more than half of the cases he hears in his own court, he cannot depend upon the truth of witnesses. But contradiction does not imply falsehood in doubtful cases, yet on this he has to determine sentences. He is going to Berhampore to give evidence in a few days, then will tour the district in tents with Spencer. He had another narrow escape when meeting a snake-charmer. Upon examining some of the snakes he found they had their fangs extracted, as he had expected. On handling another, William was startled by a cry, gripped the reptile too low and the snake curled round and bit his finger. The poison lay all around and entered the wound. William took the snake off with his left hand, and seeing that he really had poisonous teeth, asked the snake handler to wipe off the poison, then called for a handkerchief to bind round his arm above the elbow. He slashed the wound and bathed it in water, forcing out a wine glass of blood through the wound, and drank a bottle of sherry in lieu of brandy. He describes making a snake swallow a hen's egg. He ends the letter with a few general comments including 'what an excellent discovery that is of Bessemer's'.
Headed: 'original in pencil'. |