The Sheeas thus reduced to desperation, and continually engaged in an unequal contest, which, they foresaw, must sooner or later term inate in their destruction, readily gave support to one, not only openly professing indifference to religious controversy, but whose mother, and first wife, being of their own sect and persuasion, Kuzzil Bash, gave strong support to his assertions of impartiality and unconcern on that point.

Thus by birth, and marriage, being intimately connected with the weaker and oppressed party, and secretly, no doubt, prejudiced in their favour-at any rate his alliance with the Persian is a strong argument in support of such-he found no difficulty when taking up arms against Sooltan Mbommood Khan, nephew Hubeeb Ollah, and also the hisson of Kamran, the Prince of Herat, the whole three most orthodox Soonees, and thereby inimical to the Kuzzil Bash, in drawing them over to his aid, and through them he finally found himself master of Cabul. This diversion of the Moorad Khanee in his favour was a most important feature in the case, though I by no means mean to assert that to this only, is to be attributed his success. The gallantry of his conduct at Herat and other places; his having sustained in four or five engagements, so many reverses from Hubeeb Ollah; his again renewing the contest, and finally driving out his hitherto successful foe, fully warrant the assumption that in those days Dost Mahomed possessed the spirit with the genius of a soldier; added to which, his extreme simplicity of life, which he preserves to this day, being remarkably plain in his dress and style of living; his unassuming demeanour, good address, and persuasive tongue, and the readiness of approach which he allowed to the meanest soldier, always attracted to him a large body of all castes.

On feeling himself firm in his new position, on the throne of Cabul, and perceiving that he was not in possession of a sufficient treasury, or that number of troops which could enable him to attempt the subjugation of any neighbouring country, he set about aggrandizing himself, by weakening the power of his brothers; and he accordingly deprived the celebrated Jobbor Khan, the staunch friend of all Europeans, a man of most amiable character and mild disposition, of his possessions in the Khiljee country; another of his brothers, Mahomed Zuman Khan, he deprived of the rich jageer of Jullalabad. Why he has not usurped Candahar is to most people a matter of surprise; it may be, however, owing to its distance from Cabul-being at the extremity of his dominions, and not under his immediate surveillance, he fears, that did he drive out his brothers and appoint a deputy, that, through some insurrection of the troops and people, or treachery in the Governor, the place might fall into the hands of Kamran, who every year attacks some part of the country, and whose bitter enmity of himself and brothers, leaves him assured, that any league or coalition between them is utterly out of the question. There is in my opinion another reason why Dost Mahomed has not endeavoured to bring the Candaharee chiefs under subjection; his sons are scarcely sufficiently advanced in years, or possessed of that experience, which would enable them to act independently away from his inmediate controul; but eventually, when more acquainted with the art of governing, under the instructions of their present very efficient and accomplished preceptor, in abidance to the system he is now prosecuting, of appropriating every thing to himself, one of them, no doubt, in due season, will supplant the present occupiers of that Province, should Dost Mahommed continue in power much longer.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

No. XVI.

Captain T. J. Taylor.

Our gallery of portraits, and series of memoirs, are devoted to those who have distinguished themselves in the public service, or in the cause of local literature. The subject of the present sketch, has a claim on both grounds to a niche in our temple of fame; and this seems a proper occasion for elevating him to his pedestal therein, since he has so recently resigned the public service to devote himself to mercantile pursuits-pursuits not less useful to society, and which will not we trust, prove less lucrative to himself.

Capt. Thomas James Taylor, late of the Madras Cavalry, was born December 22d 1804, and is the second son of Thomas Taylor, of Seven Oaks, Kent, and of Lady Lucy Rachel, youngest daughter of the late Earl Stanhope and niece of the Minister, immortalized in Tory song as "The Pilot that weathered the Storm"-of Pitt the great rival of the greater Fox.

Capt. Taylor went to Eton in 1814; in 1819 left that celebrated school; and in 1821 went to Haylebury College, with a view of becoming a member of the Bengal Civil Service. He lost his appointment, however, by one of those boyish freaks which, however mischievous and deserving of reprehension, are too severely punished by the loss of a valuable appointment. Such a punishment is, indeed, visiting the sins of the child upon the man. Our youthful aspirant to the honours of the Civil Service, thought proper to engage in an engineering frolic of opening the College gates, by the gentle compulsion of gunpowder. Unhappily for him, this is not one of those frolics which the frolicker can commit by stealth

And blush to find it fame ;

for the exploit, in that respect often surpassing the perpetrators, makes a noise in the world, and the noise of the blowing open of the College gates, cost Capt. Taylor his civil appointment. We apprehend too, that he must have shown his talents for engineering on this occasion, more prominently than his fellow delinquents, for out of fourteen, the punishment of all was remitted, expect his own. It was a glorious thing in those days, however, to be a near connection of Tory Aristocracy, and accordingly Capt. Taylor's loss was made up to him, by an appointment in the Madras Cavalry

Cedat toga-armis ;

the gown of the civilian was exchanged for the gay uniform at the sabreur, and the subject of our memoir came out to India, in 1823, and served with

his Corps in the Dekhan till 1827, when, disheartened by the slowness of promotion, and probably impressed with an idea that he had talents for a more intellectual vocation than that of a Cavalry Officer, Cornet Taylor resolved to go home and study for the bar. He went to Egypt with that view, but was recalled to attend a court martial and detained until the season was too far advanced for going home; and Mr. Lushington, having come out as Governor of Madras. and offered him an appointment on his personal staff, the Cornet was induced to accept it and adhere to his profession. It was in this situation that Cornet Taylor became acquainted with Lord William Bentinck, to whose statesmen like discernment he is indebted for his subsequent advance in civil appointments. In 1829, Cornet Taylor exchanged his situation on the Governor's personal staff, for an office in the Commissariat, where he had more scope for those talents for business, which he has since displayed. He continued in the Commissariat for six years, and during that time was employed on several Committees, one of which was that of the Madras Post Office. For his services on that Committee, Captain

Taylor received the special thanks of Government.

In the early part of 1834, it was resolved, that the Military Secretariat to Government at the minor Presidencies, should be held, as that office had long been held in Bengal, by Military men; and Lieut. Taylor accordingly became a candidate for the office of Deputy Secretary to Government, and Sir Frederick Adam, the Governor, actually stated to an officer high in rank, his intention that Lieut. Taylor should have the vacant office. Circumstances, however, subsequently induced the Governor, as a means of inducing Col. I. C. Fraser to accept the office of Secretary, to give that officer the nomination of his own Deputy, and as Colonel Frazer nominated the late Capt. White, then Assistant Adjutant General of the Army, and a most amiable and accomplished officer, the claim of Lieut. Taylor was set aside.

The feelings of Lieut. Taylor will be somewhat understood from the following letter, which he some months after addressed to the Governor-General, stating that the door to advancement in his own presidency was closed, and trusting that His Lordship would stretch forth a helping hand, by appointing him to the Secretariat of India. This, however, was impossible, as it was not determined to open the Secretariat of India to members of the other Presidencies; but it is not improbable that this latter may have had some effect in inducing His Lordship's subsequent nomination of Lieut. T. to the Customs and Post Office Commission. TO THE RIGHT HON'BLE GOVERNOR-GENERAL LORD WM. BENTINCK. MY LORD,

&c.

&c.

&c.

Years have passed since I last did myself the honor of addressing you. They have been to me years no less of labour than of disappointment; for, after all my endeavours to merit advancement, I am precisely where I stood in the beginning of 1829, still officiating in the Commissariat Department.

At the period when I last addressed your Lordship, I was anxious for employment in Persia, which country I then hoped would open a fine field to a soldier's ambition; but subsequent events showed me the delusion of such hope,