ly accepted, and the Commission fell to work. The
results of that work did not show themselves quickly enough to satisfy
the most practical, and, (to its credit be it spoken,) the most exacting
of Governments; and Macaulay was under the necessity of explaining and
excusing a procrastination, which was celerity itself as compared with
any codifying that had been done since the days of Justinian.

"During the last rainy season,--a season, I believe, peculiarly
unhealthy,--every member of the Commission, except myself, was wholly
incapacitated for exertion. Mr. Anderson has been twice under the
necessity of leaving Calcutta, and has not, till very lately, been
able to labour with his accustomed activity. Mr. Macleod has been, till
within the last week or ten days, in so feeble a state that the smallest
effort seriously disordered him; and his health is so delicate that,
admirably qualified as he is, by very rare talents, for the discharge
of his functions, it would be imprudent, in forming any prospective
calculation, to reckon on much service from him. Mr. Cameron, of the
importance of whose assistance I need not speak, has been, during more
than four months, utterly unable to do any work, and has at length been
compelled to ask leave of absence, in order to visit the Cape for the
recovery of his health. Thus, as the Governor-General has stated, Mr.
Millett and myself have, during a considerable time, constituted the
whole effective strength of the Commission. Nor has Mr. Millett been
able to devote to the business of the Commission his whole undivided
attention.

"I must say that, even if no allowance be made for the untoward
occurrences which have retarded our progress, that progress cannot
be called slow. People who have never considered the importance and
difficulty of the task in which we are employed are surprised to find
that a Code cannot be spoken of extempore, or written like an article
in a magazine. I am not ashamed to acknowledge that there are several
chapters in the Code on which I have been employed for months; of which
I have changed the whole plan ten or twelve times; which contain not a
single word as it originally stood; and with which I am still very far
indeed from being satisfied. I certainly shall not hurry on my share
of the work to gratify the childish impatience of the ignorant. Their
censure ought to be a matter of perfect indifference to men engaged in
a task, on the right performance of whic