The Press. — London, England, 1858-12-04 00:00:00

THE PRESS, DECEMBER 4, 1858 1200 amiable temperament has reflected a kindly light upon those with whom he came in contact, and may even have proved contagious. M. Fressange certainly spoke of them in a much less favourable manner. " Their character," says that observant traveller, " is serious and reflective : they are in " continent and revengeful, lively, susceptible at once of the most brilliant qualities and the " greatest vices." lie adds, however, " hospita ". lity is reckoned honourable through the whole • island." We had marked many passages for extract, particularly the description of the court ball, but cannot now find space for more than the following account of a grand battue which took place about 100 miles from the capital, given to Mr. Ellis by a native : And these are the animals we obtained in the end of September and beginning of October:— -- - - 3003 223 i 63 326 Wild cattle . Wild fowl . Wild boars . . . Large amphibious turtle Large baskets of fish . Eels . Burrowing tenrecs Teurecs that do not burrow Lemnrs or monkeys . . . . 43 Crocoliles . . • • • • 13 We we►e only ten days bunting the wild oxen, and, when the flesh (of the oxen) was finished, we hunted the wild boars two days only. The wild fowl we took all in one day. We did not shoot the fowls, but obtained them by catching them, and striking them only. The wild cattle and the wild boars were killed by the soldiers. and the birds were caught by them. The crocodiles and the others, viz. the fish, the turtles, the monkeys, and the hedgehogs, were caught by .he people, farmers, or villagers." Such is the account, written from the field, which one of the hunts- men gives u the result of thirteen days' sport. 183 11 having mutinied against his government and murdered his officers, he way blown away from a gun. We don't know how the Peelites will relish the fol lowing : In Vie first place, we deny emphatically what is so loudly Bsserted by the Governor-General's aristocratic friends, and the assertion of which will doubtless win him an earldom, that he saved India. India was saved at Delhi, and with the taking of Delhi Lord Canning had nothing whatever to do. For this it would be hard to blame him. It was afterwards, when India was saved and had to be reorganized, that we leernt, with daily increasing conviction, that India was without a head. Lord Canning's first step was significant. If ever there was a time when a Governor-General might be glad to be free from all questions of detail, and left at leisure to settle and dictate general principles, it was at the beginning of 18.58. This was the time chosen by Lord Canning for the revival of forgotten precedents, for proceeding to AlLimbed, there to take upon him, in addition to his duties as Governor• General of India, the office of Governor of the North-West Provinces. Was it that governors were not to be had? On the Governor General's own secretariat staff was Mr. Edmonstone, whose ability to administer a government Lot•d Canning himself can hardly deny. Was it that critical matters were pending in the north-west, which would in any case involve a reference to the Supreme Government, and the settlement of which, therefore, by the Supreme Government in the first instance would effect a valuable saving of time ? This sounds plausible, and is, we believe, the very excuse alleged for an act which is now generally felt requires justification. It might be accepted were it not for one unlucky fact. Nothing has been settled For years we had all denounced the regulation system ; politicians hail condemned it, the people had groaned under ' it. In the Punjaub the system had been utterly abolished ; the abolition consisting (to state the cue very briefly and very popularly) in the sweeping away of the whole race of professi mal attorneys, confronting litigants face to face, and by aswitt, cheap, and easy procedure deciding disputes according to the intelligible p"inciplea of a brief and comprehensive code, not according to a tortuous and contradictory mass of precedents, which had grown up with no authority to recommend and no care to digest them. In a word, the abolition of the regulation system accomplished the reform most important of all others to Asiatics ; it brought plaintiff and defendant both into the very presence of the judge; it substituted a man for a system. It swept away mass of pestilent ►echnicalities, and a tribe of still more pestilent lawyers. It was always regarded as a striking instance of the strength of vested interests, that in spite of the growing conviction of every administrator and statesman in India, in spite of the pro►ed success of Vats non-regulation system in the Puojanb, the regulations still held their ground in the older provinces. At last the mercy of heaven and the fury of the sepovs had rid us of the regulations. It remained only for Lord Canning to accept and ratify the reform which ruin itself had effected. Lord Canning deliberately re-established the regulation system. Several other paints fatal to the Governor. General's capacity are brought out strongly in this paper, and even the Ellenborough despatch is partially vin dicated. Unlike the other two magazines, Bonney this month is rather better than usual. " Died in a Fit" is a very good tale by that unflagging pen which hits now for so many successive months supplied the main element of interest in both Bentley and the New Monthly. All the other articles possess merit. The Englishwoman's Journal as yet exhibits no signs of flagging. The papers in the present number are mostly short and practical, and usually very fairly written. Titan is written with a good deal of talent. The tale writing department is the best ; and, as we have said befor e , " Behind the Scenes in Paris "is a really good and interesting story. The other articles are all pretty good, and we see with great satisfaction that there are in this numbn none of those singu larly absurd effusions for which Titan has hitherto been rather celebrated. Colburn's New Monthly, the Dublin University Magazine, Davenport Dunn, and the Art Journal arrived too late to enable us to do justice to their contents. We observe in the first-mentioned one of Ashley's contributions which seems to promise very well, and two other stories which are above the ave rage. Civilization in Russia" seems an earnest article. In the Dublin there is a good paper on " Statistics of Irish Property," and two or three lite rary articles on attractive subjects which we have not had time to read. ".Gerald Fitzgerald" is good this month. In Davenport Dunn the principal event is Lord Laekington's marriage to Grog Davis's daugh ter. The subjoined is excellent : With a quiet step, and firm, neither " overtaken " by liquor nor fatigued by the night's debauch, Davis hastened to his chamber. So long as he was occupied with the cares of dressing his features betrayed no unusual anxiety; he did, indeed, endeavour to attire himself with more than ordinary care, and one cravat after another did he fling on the floor, where a number of embroidered vests were already lying. At length the toilet was completed, and Grog sur veyed himself in the large glass, and was satisfied. He knew he didn't look like Annesley Beecher and that " l o t," , still less did he resemble the old ' swells" of Brookes's and the Carlton, but he thought there was something military, something sporting—a dash of the " nag," with market"—about him, that might pass muster anrthere " At all events, Lizzy won't be ashamed of In;," It at. tered he to himself. " Poor, poor Lizzy," added he in a broken tone; and he sank down into a chair, and Icin7ki his head on the table. In the Art Journal " The Book of the Thames " is inished. It ha 4 throughout its course proved a most attractive feature in this interesting and grace. ful serial, and we are pleased to see that it is about to be published separately. Midday Thoughte for the Weary. L3ndon! T, _ Hatchard. Tioncim we are well stored with devotional literature, yet the little volume entitled " Midday Thought, • is one of a class of books which cannot be t)o numerous. The really devout Christian wants some. thing more than the assistance of the book•sheif companion, which can only be consulted occasionally, and he will turn with gratitude to what may become his nude mecum, both literally and figuratively— something which he can carry with him in his pocket, and have at hand on every opportunity as wherewith to refresh his troubled spirit. This precisely the character of " Midday Thoughts•• They are a selection of the most comforting texu, combined with some of the most beautiful ideas and feelings of holy men of old and of modern times. The compilers tell Us that they collected the extracts in a course of devotional reading during a period of mingled trial and happinesg, and they appear anxious to place within the reach of others the consolation which they themselves must have experienced from such reflections. To all who have no such spiritual guide to calm and elevate the intervals of business, we earnestly recnarnenil the possession of " Midday Thoughts." The Church-rate Question, 1859, considered with a View to the Session of Parliament of 11359. By the Rev. J. Mould, If. A., Rural Dean aad Vlesr of Tamworth. THE members of * the Legislature, and olers inte rested in the Church-rate question, will derive con siderable information and assistance from Mr. Mould's pamphlet. It thoroughly sifts the fallscir, and complications with which the anti•Church-raie party have investel it, and shows where and in s',at way alteration is demanded. The real grarcenoi of the difficulty consists in the absurd assumption ,f the charge being one upon the person instead of apcn property. This is first and unanswerably dealt wit!:. The abolition of the rate is next shown to be, in plain English, a robbery of the Church, fa the sake of putting 350,000/. a year into the pockets of the owners of real property. They might of course, as Mr. Mould allows, appropriate this sum to the re-endoe meat of the Church, but for Churchmen to trust to their doing so would be an act of mere childish cre dulity. He dues not, however, repudiate a change in the present state of things. On the contrary, the law as it stands is admitted to be far from satisfactory. and not unfrequently a source of selfishness and feeling even among Churchmen themselves. AU this Mr. Mould proposes to remedy by limiting the purl:l4oes to which the rate shall be applied, and levying it by a yearly commutation in each parish cf the average annual sum required. He does flat object, under circumstances of special emer gency, to have recourse to pew rents, whin, moreover, he thinks would be serviceable in correcting the injurious monopoly of large pee!, or almost rooms, by one or two exclusive individna.s. These suggestions are preliminary to the introduction of two proposals which were started some time back by several of our leading statesmen. The lust specifies the liabilities chargeable on a rate ; the tra7 lifications for churchwardens, wbo are as a:sine qua non to be Churchmen ; directions for the apprePfla' tion of parish money ; and the appointment of com missioners to determine the annual assessment 1 , ;.• the prescribed commutation. The second substim: tially recapitulates these alterations, with the don of Lord Derby's " redemption " clause, whicl , obliges every landowner claiming exemption es a Dissenter to pay his quota to the guardians of the poor, to be applied by them in specified ways. L prn this point Mr. Mould oilers some valuable remarks, with a view of avoiding subsequent confusion and uncertainty, which would give parishes a desirso.e latitude to have these payments made out of the poor rate should three-fifths of a vestry so determine We have rarely seen the question of Chneterstes more clearly or ably argued than it is in this pane phlet, and we strongly recom mend the general prin ciple it advocates ns one well calculated to solve the problem to the satisfaction of all parties. London: Printed and Publishei by ALFLLED PM, at the 0115,:e , 110, Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in tb• C.un s Y Middlesex, on Saturday. the 4th day of Docesabect 1.4 PERIODICAL LITERATURE. Mosr of the magazines this month have something about Japan. Blackwool is descriptive, Fraser corn mercial, and Bentley historical. But neither of them contain alytbing particularly well worth quoting. In Blackwood, the good ship " What will he do with it?" is coming mij•tstically into port; Darrell's pride is beginning to waver, an the usual " Bless ye, my children !" to loom in the distance. There are no other very good articles in Oil:lumber. The paper on " Sermons" is sound and just, but verges on the dry. The tale called "Cousin John's Property" is not quite up to the Blackwood mark, nor is the essay on Mr. Bright quite so good as the subject requires. In fact, it is too diffuse, though the comparison be tween America and this country is good. Fraser this month is not a particnlarly brilliant number. It is useless to affect to believe that the magazines are always equally good, but it is solely because we see the high level which three or fonr of theta do manage to maintain that we feel it incum bent on us to notice the very slightest symptoms of a falling off. The article we like best in the present number of Fraser is entitled " People who are not Respectable." The remarks on Mr. Disraeli, though coloured by all the prejudices that are natural in au enemy, are still good humoured and smart. " Snake Birds" is a very pleasinzt paper in Beta's best style. " India in a Mess " is also a sensible as well as an amusing contribution, and we give the following extracts from it : Let in old Indian who retired--say only ten years ago, just before the Panjaub campaign—let him revisit the Bengal Presidency, and see if our language is exaggerated. Where is the quiet, comfortable cantonment, in which three or four regiments lived in en amicable fraternity of dulness for three or four years ; where the drive on the mall, and listening to the bacd, were as the rising and the going-down of the sun for regularity; where men amok together in the cold weather and perspired together in the hot ; played a little cricket, played a little billiards ; and so spun out three years of existence tinder the name of service, till " the relief " came and took them all away The cantonment is burnt to the ground ; the blackened site of the old theatre is occupied by the tent of the bearded, brown-clothed officer who commands the field force which overawes the neighbourhood. A regiment of Panjanbis come in to-day, a troop of Royal Artillery marches out to-morrow. "Where were these Ponjaubis in my time?" thinks the veteran; "and what the devil are the Royal Artillery doing in India? " Or does he think to visit the regiment of his youth, in which he served from the green days of ensignhood till he attained the dignity of lientenant-colonel commanding' Some of the lads will be left among the captains, and of the native officers will not Gangapandy and Pirbaksh rejoice to see their old Sahib? Alas' the old regiment has no existence on the fact of this earth. Of those captains tour fell at Cawnpore, another at Delhi, one subaltern, whom he recollects, is commanding a corps of outlandish horse, raised among some Indian tribe of whom nothing was written in the geography nooks of our veteran's youth. tiangapandy is wandering, it is supposed, with rebel hordes in Onde; of Pirbeksh it is happily known that R. e • It• a 13 at T. re, • ne• 'elf 11), me F— lu; s a ts.' xts, and 'es. Lai of nus ion 0m tail ess, day A a BT rot nit. eon. 31r. kiss •ra:e raft uata in of anon Frith. e, in ke of men Mr. dos- ist to m- ange ,the !tory, id ill- All g the and ish ct not imer- rhich, le in f ar, 'akin ii back tint qua- y gad opris• com- ent by bawl• which as of the Upon narks, snd of the rmine a-rates pita' prir , r e the ------- 0115,:e, mat)