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

THE PRESS, JANUARY 2, 1858. under this system of annexation are gradually melting away like the kings and rajahs of the East. The volumes before us are all excellent of their kind. Mr. Buckland's researches (1) seem to have lain in the less frequented walks of natural history. Frogs, efts, sticklebats, rats, anct snakes are his special favourites. The monkey, also, has a con siderable space to himself. We are glad to see Mr. Buckland's papers collected and published. They exhibit considerable industry and curiosity, some quaint humour, and a power of lively narrative. "My Feathered Friends " (2) is a very kindly, honest little volume, full of sound boyish reminis cences, redolent of bird's nesting and bird-trapping. Say what we will of its cruelty, the passion for birds • eggs is deeply implanted in the natural boy. Nor can we be sure that the choice of high trees by the wildest class of birds for the situation of their tares may not he wisely ordained by Providence as an in centive to the masculine feat of " swarming " up a smooth trunk. To all boys worth their salt, who have not been rendered blase by too early an enjoy ment of the gun, Mr. Wood's book will be a treasure. Mr. Broderip's "Zoological Recreations" (a), of which we are glad to see a third edition, is a book of greater bulk than either of the above two, and has more pretensions, perhaps, to the character of a scientific;work. It is composed of a series of papers originally commenced in the New Monthly Magazine, when that periodical was under the management of Theodore Hook, and extending down to the year 1848. They are pleasingly written, and treat of a large variety of birds, beasts, and fishes, both wild and tame—English and foreign. All these three are excellently adapted for Christmas presents. " A ' Popular' History of British Crustacea" (4) has as little the appearance of a popular work about it as anything we have long seen. It is entirely tech nical, and is, we dare say, very correct. But, as we don't understand the subject, we cannot lay down an opinion. The plates seem good. The Gordian Knot. By Shirley Brooks. With Illustrations by John Tenniel. No. I. London : Bentley. THzriE are few cultivators of light literature in whose minds the announcement of a new story by Mr. Shirley Brooks will have failed to roue a' high degree of expectation. To such persons—(don't despise them too much, 0 votary of the ponderous and philosophic —!)—the paper-knife, as it passes through the soft damp leaves of a young and tender serial, imparts a sort of tremulous excitement. What, then, must be their feelings when the:, find them selves actually cutting the " Gordian Knot "? They know whose name is one of the first to be enrolled among the contributors to every fresh magazine, and who is not the less a firm pillar of support to some of the older ones. And they will not be disappointed, we can venture to assure them, in the first instal ment of the novel now before u?.. Mr. Brooks here exhibits most of the qualities which have hitherto made his productions welcome. He will not, we trust, be offended if we express our belief that is just the writer to obtain the refusals of the two great novelists of the day—and this, though a secondary position, implies no inconsiderable public. There are many whom Dickens irritates—some people, they say, have lately found him tedious; there are - many for whom Thackeray is too philosophic, too cynical, too difficult.. Mr. Brooks catches these hearts on the rebound. Long practice, an attentive study of the faults as well as the merits of the best models, and consummate tact, have made him the easiest novelist of the day. He never dwells too long on an idea—never bores you with " skip." If he has an idea or an allusion a little subtler than usual, he bides enough of it to flutter the reader with having made a discovery, yet not enough to obscure it to his comprehension altogether. He is tent suit peuntalin—what would a novel be without such humour ?—but we. do not recollect that he ever laughs at what is really worthy of respect, or that he excites any feeling which one would be ashamed to acknowledge. "The Gordian Knot" begins freshly, and seems likely to twine itself among those parts of society of which the author has heretofore shown himself a skilful delineator. He will evidently be most ably assisted by Mr. Tenniel, whose illustrations to the present number are well drawn, and show a keen appreciation of the spirit of the book. The air and attitude of the man with the eyeglass in the archery party are extremely happy, and the scene of the tiger's escape has equal merit of a more exciting character. Suggestions for Indian Reform. By J. T. Mackenzie London : Jones and Causton. Tuts is a practical pamphlet upon the great question of the day—lndian Reform, Mr. Mackenzie speaks with the authority of a long personal experience of India, which keen observation and mature reflection have turned to a practical purpose. The great change he advocates is the formation of one single 19 responsible Council for India, presided over by a Minister for Indian Affairs, the President of that Council, and supported by a Vice-President, both political appointments. The Council of India Mr. Mackenzie would have formed of practical men resident not less than ten years in India, and ap pointed for life—each to preside over a separate Dopartment of Finance, Justice, Trade and Sta tistics, Public Works, Army and Navy, Political Re lations : Each of these six members should be individually re. sponsible to the President of the Council for the efficient management of his own department; and they should col lectively form a Board to assist the President and Vice- President in discharging all the home duties pertaining to Indian affairs. They should, however, possess no votes in the Council, but be strictly executive officers of the Presi dent and Vice-President, privileged to advise, but bound to obey ; and they should be precluded from sitting in either House of Parliament. These being highly paid appoint• menta, the parties holding them would of course he pro - hibited from all professional employment, or other busi ness occupation. Mr. Mackenzie then discusses at length the various reforms needed in the local administration of India, and we aro bound to say that his suggestions are marked by moderation and good sense. We do not agree, however, with his recommendation that no officer should in future hold a civil appointment. Experience has proved unquestionably that the military administrators in India are the best, and wo think that in all unsettled districts the civil offices should be filled by army men, a sufficient supply of young officers being appointed to fill their places in the regiment so as to preserve its efficiency. Upon the trade of India Mr. Mackenzie offers some remarks which are must excellent iu spirit, and well worthy of attention : The traditional policy of the East India Company has always been to assume that India had attained the maximum power of her consumption of British goods. Such was the doctrine laid down when the monopoly trade with India was thrown open in 1833, and subse quently—even to the present time; but not now to be tolerated, seeing that the trade has since increased more than fourfold ; for whilst the British goods taken by India in 183. i amounted t:i 2,68.2 ; 221i., its imports fur 18-)6 had increased to 10,971,338/. Large as this increase is, from a long residence in Cal cutta and the interior of India, and from my familiarity with its laws and customs, I can safely assert, that so far from having reached, as some aver, the consuming power of its hundred and sixty millions of inhabitants, we are only now on the threshold of a gigantic system of com mercial intercourse, whereby the prosperity of Great Britain arid her Eastern possessions, and the good feeling and happiness of their populations, may be alike and illimitably promo!ed. The obstacles which impede the realisation of this great object could be very easily removed by a wise and patriotic Government. The condition of so populous a country as India, with every variety of climate and soil, and with a capacity for yielding every description of produce we require, must be a matter of vital interest to every one—from the labourer who lives on the produce of his daily toil, to the capitalist who desires the safe und lucrative employment of his wealth. Doubtless the Indian authorities will still adhere to their traditional doctrine that the inhabitants of India cannot consume more British goods than they now import ; and such assertions can only be met by the common-sense argument, that a country which we are enormously assist ing each year to enrich by the large amount of products which we take from it, will add to its power of consump tion in proportion to the increased security which may be given to the property of the producers. I will cite an instance in point. Having induced the natives of the villagas in my occupa tion to establish several large bazaars, I sent native mer chants to Calcutta to purchase British manufactures, in order to their being sold in common with native produc tint's. The result was that, in the course of a few years, the sale of British goods was multiplied to tenfold its pre vious amount. Or to refer to one particular article, a large quantity of British cloth for covering umbrellas—white, preen, and red—having arrived at Calcutta, and the other European materials for the manufacture of that commodity being blso procurable, I suggested this branch of industry to the native merchants, and the experiment was conse qucutly made; and in a few months, so great was the demand, that the commonest native was seen walking about with his Belette-chatty (English umbrella), in place of the native article made from the bamboo and the leaves of Indian trees. Nor does the trifling character of the goods, as in this case, militate against the importance of the principle at issue; for tbat consumption will be most permanent which involves the purchase of a comparatively inexpensive article by the general populatioa of u densely peopled country. A fair and legitimate exportation of British goods end manufactures to India would give full and remunerative employment to all classes at home, and relieve to a con siderable extent the increasing evil of pauperism. But these beneficial results may not reasonably be hoped fur under a rule which prevents the peasant from clothin himself or his family as he might wish, lest the servants of his zemindar, landlord, or the professional robbers, or the equally dangerous and predatory police, should con strue it into a sign of increased prosperity, and resort to greater acts of oppression and tyranny by extortion. Nothing can make him a large and permanent customer fur pods of British manufacture, if we maintain a systent, the operation of which has been so graphically described by the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal inhis Minutes alms be " second son of the late SiejWilliam Wrixon " Becher, Bart." This error is the more no ticeable as the Listowel title has for three generations belonged to a " Court family." The late earl had been for several years a Lord in Waiting, and this book rightly states that in 1840 her Majesty stcod sponsor for the Lady Victoria Hare, and the present Countess Dowager Listowel is one of the Ladies of the Bedchamber to her Majesty. A distinguished subject of her Majesty, the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas iu Ireland, is placed in a ridiculous position under the title of "Doneraile." It is stated that " Charlotte Henrietta St. Leger" married, "12th July, 1842, the Right Hon. " James Hunter Monahan, Chief Justice of " Cornrcion Pleas in Ireland " ! An absurd error ! The Chief Justice has a son practis ing at the Irish Bar, who has already distin guished himself in the University and in his profession, and ho would be au extraor dinary prodigy if he were the issue of a marriage that took place in 1842. The fact is that the Chief Justice's namo is not " James Hunter Monahan," that he was married at a much earlier period than 1842, and that he is not connected at all with the St. Leger family. We marked some other errors in this volume ; but, as a whole, the work is more accurate than others we have examined. Lord Macaulay appears for the first time in the libro doro of the peerage. His family is thus mentioned:— MACAULAY, BARON. (Macaulay.) Thomas-Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay of Roth ley, Co. Leicester, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom ; a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn, and High Steward of the Borough of Cambridge. His Lordship is distinguished as an Author, especially for his popular " History of England," from the accession of James the Second. He was born in 1800, and is unmarried. His Lordship is the eldest son of the late Zachary Macaulay, Esq., who for more than forty years laboured for the abolition of the slave trade; he was b. in 1708, and d. 13 May 1838, having had issue, 1 Thomas-Babington, present and first Lord. 2 Rev. John, Rector A Aldingharu, Lancashire, m. and has issue. 3 Henry-William, d. in the Cape de Verd Islands 25 Sept. 1846 ; having m. 23 Nov. 1841, the Hon. Margaret Denman, sth daughter of Thomas, Ist Lord Denman, by whom he had issue. (She re-m. 10 Aug. 1848, Edward Cropper, Esq., of Dingle Bank, near Liverpool.) 4 A daughter. 0 Jean, d. 23 Sept. 1830. Creation.-1857. Motto.—Dulce periculnm. Town Resider ce.—Holly Lodge, Campden Hill, Ken sington. In Fraser's Magazine for November there is a curious and interesting article on Lord Ma caulay, and on the Babingtons, whose name he inherits. It is worthy of attention, and we were much atteacted by its contents. The fore going notice seems to us careless. Why should not the birth or death of " Jean " have been accurately stated ? The dates of the noble lord's brothers' births arc not given, nor is the issue of the Rev. John Macaulay, whether male or female, stated. One would like to know more particulars about the family of so distinguished a person. NATUPAL HISTORY. 1. Curiosities of Natural History. By Francis T. Buckland, M.A. London : Bentley. 2. My Feathered Friends. By the Rev. J. G. Wood, M.A., F.L.S. London Routledge. 3. Zoological Recreations. By ,W. T. Broderip, Esq., F.R.S. Third Edition. London : Griffin and Co. 4. A iPopular History of British Crustacea. By Adam White. London : Reeve. IT is not without a certain feeling of melancholy that we turn over the pages of volumes like the above, devoted to the " furred and feathered crea tures "of which these islands are prolific. The pleasures of the naturalist are among the most innocent, healthy, and manly which our race is per mitted to enjoy. They form the be"t education of boyhood, the best relaxation of manhood, and the best consolation of age. Therefore it is that works on this subject affect us with sorrow. For, do they not remind us that the sphere of the naturalist's labours is in this country growing narrower and narrower? Every new railroad that is planned, every wood that is felled, every marsh that is drained, every common that is inclosed, is of course an en croachment on the domains of the /era natune, who