The Press. — London, England, 1858-01-02 00:00:00

is telling a story. She never dwells too long on a sumac incident, and all the scenes and oc currences described contribute in some manner to the development of the plot. There is no great originality in the conception of cha rac:er, but, on the other hand, there is an avoidance of those puzzling and abnormal types which so many writers affect, and an adherence to the old sources of emotion—the loves, fears, and ambitions of humanity—which always interest when treated with oven a mo• derate amount of skill and rightness of feel ing. Hofer is the hero of " The Year Nine," and the characters of the chief actors in that glorious but unfortunate affair are neatly deli neated, and supported by a vivid and appro priate background of Tyrolese scenery. The book will furnish an hour's pleasant reading to all who wish to refresh their recollections of this episode of history, and may perhaps send a tourist or two to Innsbruck and the gorge of the Eisaeh. 3. " The White House by the Sea " is a first attempt, and not a very vigorous one, but the authoress has much sympathy with what is good and noble, and is not by any means destitute of inventive power. What she seems to require is a wider knowledge of life and a more extended sphere of observation. The most prominent character in her novel is a fasci nating gentleman who manages to make three young ladies in love with him at once, and is finally e irried off by the worst of them. The other two are so soft as to forgive him, and the heroine, who tells her own story, seems to offer the other cheek to the smites, and friend ship in the place of love, with very Christian, but very improbable, humility. The tale in its chief " motives" reminds us of that very charming book " A Lost Love "—sufficiently so to make it worth whsle for the authoress before us to observe the manner in which " Ashford Owen " has treated some very similar characters and situations. In " The White House by the Sea" a degree of cares sing familiarity establishes itself between the male and female characters which is hardly, we should hope, a reflex of the manners pre valent in the authoress.'s own circle. " Kiss ing" and " stroking of hair" take place on the very slightest provocation, and are appa rently supposed to have no meaning whatever. The book is well written and has many good points, but the characters are too much like those pretty annelids which shrink and retire when hurt, but expand again with that insen sibility to damage characteristic of a low order of vitality. 4. On the strength of a familiarity with polite society, and of a tour in Spain, Captain Beresford has written a novel of the very weakest and trashiest character it has ever been our misfortune to read. Nearly the whole of the first volume is devoted to the account of the travels of a fashionable party— of the very highest rank—from Gibraltar to Ronda, where the author thinks it worth while to give complete accounts of the city, scenery, and bull-fights. The incident properly be longing to the novel is an intrigue, followed by an elopement, which of course leads to most distressing results in the remainder of the book. Captain Beresford is not like the hero of " Sybil "—he does not " stand by his order." Mr. G. M. W. Reynolds himself never described the aristocracy in a more heartless, vicious, and foolish light than the author of these volumes. They show as little wit in their conversation as honesty in their lives, and the few who take the charitable and vir tuous line are as weak as the others are wicked. Captain Beresford may have seen a good deal of life, but clearly not of that " life " lie has attempted to describe. We do hops that before be ventures a second appearance on the stage of fiction, he will study more carefully, and delineate more accurately, the manners and customs prevalent in that society of which he is so profoundly ignorant General Report on the Administration of the Several Presidencies and Provinces of British India during the Year 1855-56. Calcutta : Published at the Gazette Office. THE first of the annual Illue•books on the Indian Presidencies has just been issued from the Gazette office at Calcutta. It is in two THE PRESS, JANUARY 2,185 S. thick volumes, consisting of about nine hun dred pages, and accompanied by an atlas by way of supplement. It is entitled a " General Repo►t on the Administration of the Several Presidencies and Provinces of British India during, the Year 1855-50." Our readers will remember that Lo►•d Dalhousie concluded the able " Minute " in which he recorded the events of his administration at Calcutta, with a notice that the Supreme Government at Calcutta had resolved to require thence forth "from the Government of each Presi• " dency, from each Lieutenant Governor, aad " fron► the chief officer of every province, an " annual Report, narrating the incidents " which may have occurred during the year " within their several jurisdictions, and stating " the progress that has been made, and all of " moment that may have been done, in each " principal department of the civil and military " administration." His lordship, with curious emphasis, added—" My parting hope and prayer " for India is, that in all time to come these " reports from the Presidencies and Provinces " under our rule may form, in each successive " year, a happy record of peace, prosperity, " and progress." That the " happy record of " peace, prosperity, and progress " would be so rudely and so speedily interrupted does not seem to have occurred to Lord Dalhousie. The first volume of the present Blue book comprises a review of (1) the Home Department, including the arrangements as to chaplains, civi'. servants, uncovenanted officers and their position, Roman Catholic chaplains, publica tion of official papers, conveyance of mails, &c. ; (2) the Military Department, which is briefly comprised in two pages dealing with Pega and the Punjaub ; (3) the Financial Department, inclusive of the public accounts, revenue, Mint, opium trade, banks, Govern ment treasuries, reduction of the price of opium, and the establishment of a uniform system of accounts in the separate Presiden cies ; (1) the Public Works Department, divided under Beng.d, Madras, and Bombay, and giving a complete account of the progress made by the Government in the introiuction of roads and bridges, canals and irrigation, railways, harbours, post-offices, barracks, and other works of improvement in every part of H in lostan The second volume, which is entirely de voted to a summary of our progress in the Putijaub, after a short introductory sketch of the m:iehinery of government in that impor tant district, is divided into twelve sections, dealing respectively with judicial matters, revenue, education, public works, postal ar rangements. the electric: telegraph, marine and navigation, finance, ecclesiastical affairs, poli tical administration, military arrangements, and miscellaneous matters—the latter includ ing a census of the Puujaub, emigration, agri culture, mining operations, and a variety of subjects too numerous to specify. The ap pendix to the second volume contains a variety of tables, each in itself admirably digested, showing at a glance the financial position of the Punjaub and the cost of troops under the orders of the Chief Commissioner, and em bodying an interesting correspondence be tween Lord Elphiustone, Sir John Lawrence, and the Commissioner in Scinde relative to Major-General Jacob and his well-known " Horse." To this is added a report on the newly-conquered province of Pegu, also with statistics and tables; reports on Hyder abad and the Straits settlements ; and a com plete history of the Diik or Post-office from the date of its reorganisation under Lord Dalhousie, and of the operations of the elec tric telegraph, which has been introduced, thanks to Sir William Brooke O'Shangh nessy, not only into the three Presidencies and the Punktub, but even into the distant province of Pegu. The maps include surveys of Rangoon, and of the mineral districts at Khangra, and of the operations completed and commenced iu the way of roads and railroads in Pegu and the Punjaub. The one fault which we have to find with this Blue-book is the want of arrangement. It contains a mass of the most interesting and important details respecting almost every part of our Indian empire, and yet, owing to the want of a consistent and uniform plan, the book as a whole is very nearly useless for the purposes of reference. In order to give a clear idea of the present state of India, we should have thought it would have been the obvious course to have arranged the book in four or five parts, on the principle of a geographical division, beginning with the Supreme Govern. meat, the Presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay; the North-Western Provinces; the provinces of Oude, the Punjaub, &c. ; until we come to the non-regulation districts. In each separate Presidency, Ste., the progress of edu cation, religious worship, postal arrangements, agriculture, railways, and telegraphs should have been given, we think. 'Then the income and revenue system, the judicial system, finance, army, &c. &c., should have been traced out. A marginal abridgment should also have been added throughout, and a good alpha betical index should have concluded the volume. We should then, assuming that the details given were accurate in point of fact, have had in our hands just such a work as Lord Dalhousie wished so much to see, a work that would have been useful to the historian, the politi cian, and the journalist—more especially just at the present moment, when everything of a trustworthy character that bears upon our present fortunes and future prospects in India meets with such a ready and certain sale. We venture to think that anyone who would take the trouble just now to sit down and reduce into a plain, short, readable compass the sub stance of these two large volumes on our table would compile a book worth placing in the hands of every member of the Upper and Lower Houses of the Legislature, before Par liament meets in February. The present Blue-book perhaps will bo one of the most valuable of the future series on one account, as giving the picture of the official state of our Indian empire just at the very moment that the mutiny was about to break forth. On a future occasion we may, perhaps, enter more into the details hero recorded We desire at present to call attention only to the volumes. The Peerage of the British Empire By Edmund Lodge, Esq., Norroy King of Arms. Twenty-seventh Edition. London : Hurst and Blackett. IT is generally understood that this is the "peerage-book" which has the honour of especial reference by the most illustrious per sonage in the empire. We can easily under stand how her Majesty must occasionally be in doubt as to who is " Lady Mary This," or "The Hon. Mrs. That," since the daughters of dukes, marquises, and earls retain the title of " Lady " after their marriage, even if they are allied with the humblest commoners ; while the prefix of " Hon." is also placed before the daughters of viscounts or barons. The Peerage before us is specially arranged with reference to this difficulty. In it there is an index to the " married daughters of dukes, " marquises, and earls," and another to the daughters of viscounts and barons who have been married to commoners. It is obvious that the names of male ;patricians can easily be found by referring to the list of surnames of the aristocracy. Another advantage of this peerage-book is that one volume contains the genealogy of the peers, and another volume gives the references and states the immediate relatives of the present holders of titles. There is no necessity, therefore, to purchase both volumes, and there are many who do not care to possess the genealogical volume. That the volume is particularly patronised by the Queen and Court there can be no doubt. Such being the case, we think that even more care should be taken in fixing its correctness. We chanced to open the volume before us at the title "Listowel," and we see a mistake. It is stated that "Lady Emily Hare" married "John Richard fledges Wrixon " Becher, eldest son of Sir Henry Wrixon " Becher, Bart." now, reference to the Baro netage will show that Sir Henry Becher was born in 1826. So that an eldest son, born of a father at that age, and marrying in 1857, is scarcely within the bounds of possibility. For " eldest son of Sir Henry Beoher " it should