The Press. — London, England, 1858-04-17 00:00:00

368 beg the reader to bear in mind, when perusing the following papers, that they are not the effusions of a mere theorist, but contain some of the pungent maxims arrived at by a man whose life has been passed in action. Him. self believing in Universal Law, the General has dared to apply its priaciples to business immediately in hand, pre suming that what was true for the whole could not but prove true for the particulars of this whole. The assertion that General Jacob " believes in Universal Law " may raise a smile in bureau cratists, who believe only in precedents, and others will think that the declaration savours of pedantry. Captain Pelly, however, means nothing more than that General Jacob is a man who wishes to base his practice upon scientific principles. Of the peremptory tone, the broad and bold views, and the trenchant style of these " opi nions," we may cite General Jacob's remarks on "The Secret of Our Rule in India " To the Anglo-Saxon race self-government is essential. Bat force the Oriental to take his share in government, and you will soon have no government at all. The former considers that which unnecessarily interferes with his freedom to be wrong, and thinks and acts upon the principle that all men have equal rights. The latter con siders being compelled to govern himself as the greatest oppression and tyranny. He expects to be ruled, and to be ruled well ; otherwise he will, perhaps, rebel and destroy his bad rulers. But in no case will he attempt to establish freedom. It is obvious that two races of men with principles of action and feelings different, can never be successfully managed by adopting one system, and forcing it alike on both. But while incapable of self-governotent, the natives of India, like other human beings, feel gratitude and dewed= towards those who raise their moral, intellectual, mid social position; and are actuated by a strong wish Nisi airiest zeal to show that they are worthy of the rtifsoiabie position to which they are raised. Too mi.- timistflesie their equals to submit to their rule, they cheer tally stalhait to an English gentleman, whom they all ac and feel to be their superior. ka l i C i tt India, then, by being in reality, as in reputa tion, a superior race to the Asiatic; and if this natural minority did not exist, we should not, and could not, rank the country for one week. If, then, we really are a lafifilly superior race, governed ky higher motives, and passeising higher attributes than the Asiatics, the more the Natives of India are able to understand us, and the more we improve their capacity for so understanding, the firmer will become our power. Away, then, with the assumption of equality; and let us accept our true posi tion of a dominant race. So placed, let us establish our rale by setting them a high example, by making them feel the value of truth and honesty, and by raising their moral and intellectual powers. But if we are not superior to the Indians, the attempt to retain our sovereignty over them will be as hopeless as it will be vicious. And England neither can nor wishes to be powerful in evil. That opinion was delivered in 1854. The General believes in " race," but he does not think that "race" can do everything. Policy, justice, and the proper method of rule must still be considered, even by the statesman who kali the most impl cit faith in " race." In 1854 General Jacob actively turned his attention to the defects in the Indian army, and from his long paper on military reorgani zation we shall take some passages:— Qualifications, not numbers, are necessary for the leaders of native Indian soldiers. One active, energetic, right feeling, and right-thinking English gentleman can, even when alone, iutuse an excellent spirit into thousands of these Eastern soldiers, till they will follow him anywhere, obey him in all things, and feel the greatest pride in acting is his absence as they know he would wish them to do if present. The feelings thus engendered are most powerful and moat honourable. The native officers and men feel the deepest gratitude towards him who has raised their moral, intellectual, and trot-illy position, and are actuated by the strongest wish and energetic seal to show that they are worthy of the re spectable position in which they find themselves. With thirty Europeans, on the contrary, instead of one, the native officer finds bin-self of no importance, and the aepoy becomes a lifeless automaton. The Englishman becomes too common to be held in pr,per and wholesome respect. He is seen holding no important position, but in the performance of trilling duties which any native officer or non•commissioned officer would do squally well. He is often seen idling away his time in frivolous, or wasting his energies in vicious, pursuits. The prestige of the superior race is thus de stroyed, while it too often happens that the European officer, having nothing important to occupy him,loses some what of his own self-respect. The young boy is placed in command of the old subedit, from whom, when anything is to be done, he has to crave instruction ; and the men see that, so far from taking a pride in them and in the service, their European officers are generally longing to be removed from them, craving intensely for staff appointments, &c. The example of the idle, the evil-minded, end the indif ferent, does more harm than the good can remedy. The following remarks are worthy of special attention:— The presence of a great umber of European officers, and the assimilation of everything to a European model, however absurd that model may be, has enabled the native THE PRESS, APRIL 17, 1858. army to acoord in all outward appearances, ceremonies, and forms, to the European armies, bat its real efficiency has been thereby destroyed. A sepoy of the line, dressed in a tight coal; trousers in which he can scarcely walk, and cannot stoop at all ; bound to an immense and totally useless knapsack, so that he can hardly breathe ; strapped, belted, and pipeclayed within a hair's-breadth of his life; with a rigid basket-chako on his head, which requires the skill of a juggler to balance there, and which cuts deep into his brow if worn for an hour; and with a leather stock round his neck, to complete his absurd costume—when compared with the same sepoy, clothed, armed, and ac coutred solely with regard to his comfort and efficiency, forms the most perfect example of what is madly called the " regular " system with many European officers, con treated with the system of common-sense now recommended for adoption. Let the oommon-sense system be adopted, and nearly one-half of the cost of the native army of India might be saved to the State by reduction in the number of European officers, while the real strength and military power of the army would be more than doubled. And upon the utter impolicy of flattering men's prejudices, the following passage is a favourable specimen of the style of General Jacob's " views and opinions ": The supposing it necessary to flatter men's prejudices, &0., which appears to be so much insisted on throughout the Bengal army, is a sad mistake,—it is the greatest evil which can exist,—it is the destruction of all mutual con fidence and respect. It creates and fosters those very prejudices and mutual misunderstandings which it pro fesses to " conciliate." Why did the soldiers of the Tenth Legion love Cesar? Because they were proud of him, not because he coaxed them. Men and soldiers, native or European, hate being commanded by " spoons." Show the men that you respect and regard them as soldiers and men, not as Hindoos or what not; treat all men under your command as men and soldiers, without any regard to (although without giving offence to) caste or prejudices; treat the native officers as gentlemen, and you will soon understand each other perfectly. The differences of religion, &c., between officer and man are forgotten—posi tively never thought of : you hsve one common interest, and the European commander, if worthy by nature of his command, becomes the object of the most profound respect and regard—even though his demeanour be not very " con ciliatory." There are other qualifications, besides those mentioned by Captain Trawer, which, in my opinion, are essential to, or very desirable for, a good commandant of irregular cavalry. He should, if possible, be a good and successful partizan soldier, quick in danger, fertile in resources : indeed, until a commanding officer and his regiment have been on service together, the corps must be con sidered in a greater or less degree in an imperfect state : the proper feeling between each other can hardly exist. But, after all, everything else is of trifling consideration when compared with a natural talent for command,—that quality, or combination of qualities, whereby a commander gains not only the respect of his own men, but makes them respect themselves, and raises their character in their own estimation, and in that of the world. This is the grand secret of being loved, respected, almost adored, by the native soldier. Parts of these opinions read like truisms, but there is a calmness and unexaggerated force even in the most positive of them, though cer tainly the gallant General does lay down the law like an Anthony Absolute. On the policy of the Persian war into which Lord Palmerston plunged us, the General said, in January, 1857: — The effects of each expeditions as th it now being under taken against Persia will be momentary only, will be enormously expensive, and will leave matters on our frontier of India, as regards security from threat, insult, or real attack, exactly as before. If the expedition be undertaken in order to punish Persia for insolence, &c., well and good : let us then under stand that revenge is our solo object ; and this we may indeed accomplish, if thought worth our while. I have nothing to say to such proceeding*. But if oar object be to secure India, we must fail lamentably. Lord Palmerston and his supporters would of course say that the expedition was for punish ing Persia, and had no arriere pensie with reference to the defence of India The cir cumstance that General Jacob was commander in-chief of the expedition gives additional in terest to the expression of his opinion on the impolicy of the war in which the gallant General's talents were so well displayed hold a deci3ed opinion that the Persian expedition on which we are engaged, carried out on the plan of invasion, which has been determined on by the English Govern• ment, is a great error; and I am quite convinced that ere long this will be as evident to others as it now is to me. But the course of action having been determined on, no effort on my part shall be wanting to command success in any pan of the proceedings which it may fall to my lot to conduct; and I trust, that having strong convictions of my own, conscientiously arrived at and expressed, I shall not be found deficient in the force and energy necessary to the just execution of those of others. The question of the Civil Government of India attracts more attention just at present than that of military reorganization, which must be postponed, and therefore we refrain from criticising some plans of the gallant au thor, as at a proper time they will be duly noticed in another department of our Journal, as already intimated The value and interest of the work can be judged of by our rea,lera from the extracts we have laid before them. Officials, civil and military, will do well to consult its pages. Human insitsßelary pionsicaintihetlheNßorbalien and , The Ner Mind Nervous S ystem. By M.D. London : Churchill. THE t wo schools of mental investig a ti on which have i n all ages divided the world, have lately shown some tendency to approach each other. The purely deductive method, su c h as was used by some of the ancient philosophe rs , would now be employed by no write r w i t h out some leaven of the Baconian spirit. On the other hand, the extreme sensational school— some of whose disciples exclude both meta physics and psychology from a place in their cycle of sciences, and range all their pheno mena under the head of physiology—have in some instances appeared to recoil from the materialism to which such views must neces sarily lead, and admit the presence in their researches of some element which no process yet discovered by physical science is able to measure or appreciate. Between the two extremes lies a medium class of thinkers, who, unable to view life and thought merely as a result of organization, and equally unable to deny the dependence of both, in some way or other, on some portion of the bodily or ganism, suspend their judgment as to the deeper problems of the science, and content themselves with watching the relations of body and mind, and classifying from time to time the coincidences of the phenomena ex hibited by both. The work of Dr. Noble is a favourable specimen of the kind of investigation to which we refer. It relates to what Bacon calls the " Doctrina Feederis "—the connection of body and mind—the invisible bridge on which soul and sense, nerve and force, meet and clasp hands—the Al Sirat of Psychology and Physiology. Dr. Noble expressly dis claims all tendency to materialism, and though he appears to have once been a believer in phrenology, he has now been converted even from that creed by the arguments of Dr. Carpenter. He therefore makes no attempt to settle what portions of the brain may be justly considered as the special organs of mental faculties, but, starting from the broad divisions, of the nervous tissue on one side, and of the usual classification of mental phe nomena on the other, attempts to show bow far they are, generally speaking, mutually de pendent, and what evidence there is for the localization of any of the latter. His psycho logical division corresponds with the one usually adopted. Assuming that the brain is the seat of consciousness and of other mental states, which he considers to be proved by comparative anatomy and the common feelings of mankind, he proceeds to consider the phe• nomena belonging to the senses. The nerves themselves can be traced to their termination in the nervous tissue, but it has been always a problem with physiologists to localize the faculty of "common sensation," by which we ap prehend resistance in general, and acquire the impressions of hardness and smoothness, cold and heat, &c. Dr. Noble places this in what are called the " corpora dentata," a part of the cerebellum but we have not space to draw out the reasoning by which he arrives at this conclusion. In passing from the senses to the emotions, we meet with a similar pro blem in the " Camiesthesis," or feeling through which we are conscious of our own substan tive bodily existence (as distinguished from the presentation of outward objects), and the favourable or morbid condition of which con stitutes what is popularly known as good or bad spirits. That this is a distinct faculty, Dr. Noble believes on the following grounds Emotional sensibility has sometimes been regarded„ $ simply a mode of common sensation. But in a little retieo. nt, tion upon the peculiarities of the respective pheno will bring out essential differences. In the first piac% emotional sensibility maintains no sort of corresponilen with that which is tactile. On the contrary, when the former is greatly elevated, the sense of touch is sometime: abolished, or suspended. Witness the effects of hero_ , "%buil" ; tactile we but WU