The Press. — London, England, 1855-05-12 00:00:00

456 to a navigable stream. Coal also has been met with in several places, though it has not yet been thoroughly exa mined as to extent or quality ; but mines will doubtless he worked to supply steamers ere long. Limestone is found in abundance in Northern Cachar, but it has not yet been burned in any quantity. The staple products of the district are rice, mustard seed, cotton, silk, lac, wai, sugar, treacle, ivory, and opium. In 1847, there were 2,420 poorahs of land cultivated with opium; and, calculating that a poorah of laud yields ten seers of cotton cloth saturated with kanee or opium, the annual produce was 800 mounds 20 seers, which is equal to 48,520 lbs. Valuing it at the average rate of five rs. per seer, the Ryutts realised from the sale of opium 121,300 rs. There is no article of commerce sought after with such in- tense avidity in Assam as kanee or opium; and its baneful effects can only be appreciated by those who witness the degeneracy of the people. The volume is divided into three parts. The first is devoted to a stirring narrative of an expedition to the highlands of Assam under the command of the author, related by way of a diary, and forming a picture of a very wild and rugged district, inhabited by a people bar barous and faithless, yet possessing some curious observances of superstition and social ceremony. The object of this expedition was " the conciliation of the tribes and the acquire " ment of more accurate knowledge of the " country;" and if the former may be supposed •to have been, like similar attempts in other quarters of India, more in appearance than reality, Major Butler unquestionably suc ceeded in the second part of his arduous task. The second part is devoted to an account of the " Hill Tribes of Assam," and, from its greater detail of manners and customs, will probably attract in a greater degree the atten tion of the general reader. The following are some curious customs, remotely resembling similar observances amongst the Celtic tribes of Northern Europe : When a man's house is robbed, or cotton or grain is stolen from the field, if the thief is apprehended he is fined ten rupees, shich is paid to the plaintiff, who then pur chases a pig worth one rupee, and four annas worth of liquor, and gives both to the council for their decision on his case. If the charge of theft is not substantiated, the complainant is fined a pitcher of liquor. A year after the death of a man's wife he summons her relatives, treats them with liquor, and solicits permission to rut his hair. In the second year he again assembles his late wife's brothers and relatives, and gives them a feast of a pig, rice, and liquor, intimating that his wife has been dead so long, and that he is desirous of marrying again. If his request be acceded to, he may again enter the state of wedlock; but without permission he cannot marry again. A widow is bound by the same custom as a widower. She may marry again after three years have elapsed from the death of her husband, with the consent of her deceased husband's relatives. If a man dies at night his body is burned in the morn ing. Vegetables and rice are placed on the spot where the body was burned, and the relatives of the deceased address the ashes of the consumed corpse thus: " We bid you farewell to-day ; whatever money and rice you have acquired leave with us." On the following day friends resort to the deceased man's house, and offer up a sacrifice of a fowl to the gods Tevae and Sangron. Major Butler found the ideas of these natives in reference to religion very vague and indis tinct, yet evincing some notions of future re wards and punishments : Most indistinct notions are entertained in regard to re ligion. The Kookies certainly seem to believe in a future state of retribution and a plurality of gods or spirits, who they affirm have equal power. The principal deities wor. shipped are called Tevae and Sangron, to whom fowls, pigs, and spirituous liquor are offered in sacrifice on all occasions of sickness, famine, or other affliction, which they conceive is the surest method of averting evil and bringing their wishes and undertakings to a successful termination. The Rookies have no images or temples of any kind. When the spirit departs from the body, the angel of death is supposed t' convey it away according to its merits in this life. If a good life has been led in this world the soul is transported, with a song of triumph, to the gods, ever after to remain at ease, and free to go whither it listeth. The sinner, however, is subject to a variety of torments — to impalement, to be cast into a deep, burning gulf, hang ing, and to exposure to the excruciating agony of being immersed in boiling water. As to bow long liberty and happiness are enjoyed by the good, or how long the wicked are tormented in the next world, no definite ideas seem to prevail. They imagine they are born again in some other state. These extracts will afford an idea of the style and matter of this volume, which we consider unusually successful in creating an interest ou an Eastern subject. The work is illustrated by lithographed views of land scapes, figures, and antiquities, and a map of the district. There are also appended to it some valuable statistical tables of population and revenue. THE PRESS. Our Consuls in the East. By an Anglo- Levantine. THE author of this pamphlet blames, as unjust, the outcry which of late has arisen against the Turks; pleading as a set-off against their Crimean failure the previous campaign on the Danube under Omer Pacha. According to him, diplomacy, instead of helping, has hindered reform, the Porte being defi cient rath-:r in authority to enforce good measures, than in will or knowledge to frame them. lie praises Lord Stratford personally, but finds grevious fault with the Levantine consuls as a class. These officers, far removed from Constantinople, having often to act on their own responsibility, and, from the vast in fluence which England exercises over Turkey, really filling diplomatic posts, ought to be equal in educa tion and capacity to at least the resident Ministers at inferior European Courts. The reverse, he says, is the case. Few are familiar with the language of the country ; still fewer with its habits ; some arrive full of prejudices against Mussulinan rule, give cre dence to every exaggerated tale of oppression, and thereby %exasperate, instead of removing, local quarrels. Nor are these the most serious abuses which exist and flourish. In the old days of arbitrary government, most Christian traders, wherever resi dent, were glad to entitle themselves, by the pay ment of a sum of money, to the protection of sonie European functionary, undergoing, in fact, a process of quasi -naturalisation, which secured immunity, not only from ill-usage, but also from the vayment of certain taxes. The cause and justification of this very irregular procedure has long since ceased, but the practice itself continues and is made a mere pretext for receiving—we will not say for extorting—money. "There are consuls in some Turkish towns who " make several thousands a year, though their salary "does not amount to as many hundreds." It often happens that these official personages are themselves violators of the law. One is named as having—in ternational treaties notwithstanding--broken a qua rantine strictly and regularly established. Another intercedes (a stronger term might be used) for the release of a criminal found guilty of manslaughter under aggravated circumstances, if not of actual murder. A third, on the request of one of his pro- Ugh, summons a large number of persons in the poorest class to a town a hundred miles distant, there to prove the invalidity of a pecuniary claim set up against them, to which it was naturally thought they would submit rather than incur the expense and in convenience of resisting it. A fourth is mentioned as notoriously accepting'presents or value, and oven demanding them where not freely tendered, under threats of withdrawing his consular protection. In each instance the pamphleteer supplies details of these alleged offences. We repeat them without com ment, not vouching for the accuracy of each parti cular narrative, but knowing too much of the system under which such officers are appointed to discredit them when related on competent authority, and with every appearance of truth. The Christ of History. By John Young, M.A. London: Longmans. IT is the aim of this " argument," as it is styled by the author, to show— that the manhood of Christ, as it appealed to the senses and the minds of the men of his own times, supplies and sustains the proof of his Godhood. For this purpose the circumstances of our Lord's life and ministry are examined to demonstrate that it is impossible to reconcile his spiritual character, on any known and natural principles, with the outer conditions of his life. The following passage affords a view of the general scope of the volume, and more particularly as relates to our Saviour's prediction of his spiritual kingdom : This, then, is the state of the case, as a mere matter of history :—A young man, destitute of tesourees, of patronage, and of influence, commits himself to an enterprise which, so long as he lives, is not appreciated or even understood. He is persecuted and scorned, deserted by his friends, betrayed by one of his disciples, falsely accused, and condemned to a disgraceful and torturing death. But, alone, with death before him, and without one earthly support, he calmly believes that the enterprise shall triumph, and that he shall reign in the minds and hearts of men! Can this have been only human ? Was there ever a manifestation of mere humanity like to this? Can anything short of the union of divinity with this humanity account for the acts and states of Christ's mind The volume is closely reasoned throughout, and many passages are remarkable for weighty eloquence. The contrast between Christ's teaching and that of the most famous philosophers of antiquity is, though not perfectly original, yet admirably set forth : Christ also is the only teacher who always expresses himself, not only without doubt, but without effort. Socrates and Plato reach some lofty and holy thoughts, but it is with great labour, and atter protracted and severe study. Jesus Christ utters the highest truths with perfect facil►ty, and presents them in familiar and simple language. Re has needed no laborious and prolonged search, he em• SATURDAY, ploys no severity of argument, and gives no sign of effort. Truth is native to his soul, and his words are the imme diate, and natural, and unlaboured outpourings of the ful• ness of his mind. _ _ _ We are constrained to ask, who was this Jesus Christ; what could he be, that even the sage of Athens suffers by comparison with him ? While this question waits solution, differences between Christ, and Socrates, and Plato, still wider and more startling than those which have been named, crowd upon the mind. First.—Socrates must have laboured thirty or forty years as a teacher of philosophy, and Plato a still longer period, both ever necessarily increasing their power, as well of acquiring as of communicating truth. Jesus Christ laboured only three years. Second.—Socrates had advanced to the middle period of life before he assumed the position of a public guide, and he was in his seventieth year when he died. Plato also took no part in forming the minds of others till he had reached middle life, and he was in his eighty-first year when he died. Jesus Christ was only thirty-three when lie was cut off, quite a young man. Third.—Socrates, before ne ventured to teach, spent many consecutive years under the most celebrated philosophers then iu Greece, in studying all the branches of learning with which that age was conversant. Plato, having before been taught by other celebrated masters, was for eight years a pupil of Socrates. After the death of Socrates he spent many years in travelling into various and remote countries, in pursuit of knowledge in all its branches, conversing with the priests of Egypt, perhaps even the sages of India, certainly the philosophers of Italy and Greece. Jesus Christ was never beyond the limits of Judea in his life. He had access to no famous school and to no celebrated masters in his own or other countries. The argument, from its very nature, goes over some ground occupied in" Paley's Evidences ;" but we do not think that the proof of Christ's divinity to be drawn from the acknowledged historical record of his life, as recognised by sceptics, has ever been so fully treated before. Mr. Young's volume is likely to be very serviceable in impressing youthful minds with a firm conviction of our Lord's divinity, and in counteracting the current of sceptical fallacy. Records of the Chase, and Memoirs of Celebrated Sportsmen. By "Cecil." London : Longmans. THIS is one of the most agreeable books which have appeared upon the subject. Without entering into any of the secret details of kennel management or the duties of masters of hounds, " Cecil" gives an entertaining account of the origin, progress, and pre sent state of hunting as a field sport, interspersed with many and interestiug auecdot of the horse and the hound, not forgetting the animal. hunted, combined with clever and characteristic sketches of the different packs which are now kept up, and of the features of the various counties hunted, together with personal reminiscences of the most celebrated sportsmen of the day. It is a book which every man who hunts should have by him, as offering him the soundest advice upon most points which affect the credit or character of a man in the field. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. BOOKS. Twenty Years' Conflict in the Church J. Chapman. The Castle of Ehreastein. Hodgson. Evangelical Christendom. Partridge and Oakey. The Position on the Alma. Major E. B. Hamley, B.A. Blackwood. The Romah Empire of the West. Richard Congreve, M.A. J. W. Parker. The Pride of the Mess. Routledge. The Fairy Tales of the Countess cl'Aulnoy. Translated by J. R. Planate. Do. Papers and Correspondence of Lord Metcalf. J. W. Kaye. Smith, Elder, and Co. Rational Godliness. Rowland Williams, B. 1). lleighton, Bell and Co. The Land we Live in. Orr and Co. A Day in Nismes. Beatrice Elizabeth Macaulay. Masters. Art Hints; Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting. James Jackson Jarves. Sampson, Low, and Co. _ _ _ Tales and Sketches of New England Life Harriet Beecher Stowe. Do. Beatrice; or, the Unknown Relatives. Catherine Sinclair. Simpkin and Alaraitidl. To Love and to Be bored. Do. St. Paul's Epistle to the Co►inthians, A. P. Stanley, M.A. Murray. The Heiress of Houghton ; or, the Mother's Secret. The Author of "Emilia Wyndham," &c. Hurst and Blackett. PERIODICALS. ►.aw Magazine. The North British Review. Butterwortlt. Kennedy. Tne Biographical Magazine. Partridge and Oakey. Church of Scotland Magazine. Hall, Virtue, and Co. Brownaon'a Quarterly Review. Third Series. No. X. Dolman. PAMPHLETS. Familiar Words. David Urquhart. Trubner. Iran 111. Chapman and Hall. Signs of the Times. Partridge and Oakey. A Few thoughts on the COMM. Hamilton, Adams, and Co. Balmoral. A Sketch. Bosworth and Co, The Bouquet. Hope and CO, M. SAINT-LEON, the dancer, has just received from the King-Regent of Portugal the decoration of the Order of Christ, on the occasion of the brilliant suc cess which he has obtained at Lisbon. N