TO THE FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS OF THE

ORIENTAL HERALD.

WE regret, as sincerely as any of our readers can possibly do, the necessity of reverting to a subject to which we would fain hope we shall never again have occasion to recur: we mean the difficulty, or rather the impossibility, of including all that the nature of our publication renders it a duty to lay before its supporters, within the limits originally assigned to each separate Number.

We are so strongly attached by habit, as well as by a sense of its advantages, to regularity in size and price, to uniformity in arrangement of materials, and to consistency in advocating public principles, all of which ought to characterize a public journal ambitious of public approbation, that we witness any departure from the one with reluctance, and from the other with indignation. For the latter, indeed, no sufficient cause could ever happen, and no sufficient reason ever be assigned: but of this we feel ourselves in no danger of being accused. For the former, however, we have had many and very urgent causes; yet rather than deviate from the scale of charge originally fixed by the publisher, unless driven to such a step by a necessity beyond our power to overrule, we have continually exceeded, by several sheets, the size originally fixed for each Number, so as to incur an extra expense in the printing of the work, sufficient to absorb, entirely, even the necessary remuneration of the subordinate assistants, and leaving to the proprietor and conductor no return whatever, either for the capital or labour required in the undertaking.

The sacrifice on all such occasions being voluntary, we have neither a right nor an inclination to advert to them with regret. Those who have watched the progress of this publication from its first commencement to the present period, will, we are certain, bear witness to the total absence of all allusion to this subject, except as an indication of our earnest zeal in the pursuit of higher and nobler ends than mere remuneration. From the 1st to the 15th Number of the work, the last issued from the press, not less than 1000l. sterling has been expended in mere extra disbursements for labour and materials, over and above what a strict adherence to the original scale of size and price would have required: but it has been incurred cheerfully, because a hope was entertained that such exertions would be met by a reciprocal spirit of extensive and zealous support on the part of those interested in the good government of India; and because it

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