The Press. — London, England, 1857-09-05 00:00:00

874 burral► bibi might be very young, fond of dancing, and I therefore stay late, which it would not suit au older dame i to do. _ I once saw a lady, far from well, after a dinner party at Government:house, and wishing very much to go home, who, on my urging her to do so, hesitated, because another person in company—the wife of a man of higher official rank than her own husband—did not seem disposed to move. I took the opportunity of impressing on the poor sufferer that the sooner this custom was broken through the better. However, she did not like to infringe it, and so she sat on. It is in these social sketches that Lady Falkland excels, but her descriptions of town and coun try are not the less animated and interesting Sight-seeing in India, she remarks, is very Litiguiug The early sun I always found very overpowering ; it is impossible to go out in the middle of the day unless one is protected in a carriage or in a palanquin ; the afternoons are so short, and it is so hot till late in the day—the sun keeping up his strength to the last—that it requires some resolution end a good deal of health and strength to over• come all these drawbacks. Fortunately 1 had all three, and fancied I could set the sun at defiance ; and though I had one slight coup de soled during my zesidence in India, I never learnt prudence. Had I been as prudent as I ought to have been, I should have seen nothing. It is (she adds) by making expeditions like that I made to Alundi and other places, and by taking an interest in the daily es ents of native life, that the monotony of an Indian► existence is ameliorated. It is not always easy to appreciate the significance and value of what is constantly before our eyes ; but I think people can learn to do so ; and nowhere is such a faculty more valuable than in India, where one is left so completely to one's own resources— that is, the ladies; for assuredly the gentlemen who hold office have much to do, and are hard worked, being employed early and late. This appears to be a sensible view of an L►dian life. It was the opinion of no less an authority than the Duke of Wellington that Europeans took too little exercise in India. In point of fact they eat, and drink, and sleep far too much, and shorten their lives in pro portion. As to power to withstand the sun, some of the recent forced marches of troops show that the sun may be defied with coin• partitive impunity. To be sure, a great stimulus sustained our men ; but we are con fident that a little more energy, and a little less indolence, would prolong European life in India. Among Lady Falkland's many graphic sketches of Bombay and its environs, that, of the journey up the hills is the best. It is too long for extract, and will not bear abbreviation. Only those, says Lady Falkland, who have lived in the plains, can understand the feel ings of an attenuated and exhausted Euro pean, the first day after he has arrived on the hills. " When you wake you think you have " received a new set of bones ; you get up " refreshed, and your feet seem to run away " with you" : The windows can be closed without your feeling it too warm, and open without feeling too cold. There are fir ? places in the bungalows, and how often have I known people to have a fire for the pleasure of seeing one, and in order to make them think they were " at home." Then a fog! when it does come ( which is the case sometimes), how it is welcomed by many, who say, oh ! it reminds one of" home !" And I plead guilty to having gone out and stood in a shower purposely to receive the refreshing drops. It is often possible to remain out till nine in the morning when it is cloudy, and also to go out early in the afternoon. The air is apring-like, light and crisp; when the slightest feeling of keenness arises, a soft breeze conies to your relief immediately. Early in the morning—as is the ease in all hilly corn• tries—mountains are partly covered with floating mists, which run along, visiting every rocky peak, which looks instantly cool and refreshed. These mountains are about 4,000 feet above the sea, which was visible in certain lights from the window of our bungalow, at the distance of thirty miles as the bird flies; and when the sun declined we could sometimes see little white specs on the distant ocean—they were ships. At other times the blue line of the water became a sheet of gold. This was the usual effect of the afternoon sun on it. Then there were ligl.ts and shadows for ever changing, throwing the sketcher who attempted to colour from nature into the depths of despair. The sunsets are superb at Mahabaleshwur, and the scenery is magnificent:— Among these mountains there is the wildest scenery that can be imagined, and spots where no human foot can ever have trod. It wualways a strange feeling to look down on those wild solitudes, so completely inaccessible even to the children of the soil, who never could have set their feet among the dense jungle, nor climbed np the perpendicular sides of the abrupt surrounding mountains, among which wander bisons, tigers, cheetahs, hyenas, s will deer, jackalls, and monkeys. New points commanding glorious prospects are often dipcovered, niirrJw paths are cut in the jungle. ThA sides such a path form high tapestry walk of long reeds, grasepieuhes, and ferrfs, entwined with wild flowers, ir THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 5, 1857. while overhead the trees with their boughs and leaves form a ceiling of network. Below us were ravines and rocky precipices, where we watched the shadows falling lower and lower till seemingly lost in fathomless depths, where even the rays of the Indian sun could scarcely penetrate. In the distance were count less ranges of mountains almost the same colour as the sky, with the high lights Here and there on their rocky peaks of a similar rosy tint to that of the clouds. Nearer to us, mountains, thrown up in the strangest forms, stood out in bold relief; some appearing to have been suddenly raised, and almost looking as if " rearing up;" others that seemed to have been torn asunder, stood as isolatei pyramids; others again appeared to have been cut into square blocks, and form some of the most conical shaped ones; it was almost disappointing not to see smoke and flames rising up into the blue sky. The second volume of Lady Falkland's journal is devoted to the overland route home— the voyage up the Nile, Thebes, and the Pyramids. These are subjects with which we all are more or less acquainted, but our readers will find in Lady Falkland's varied descrip• tions, if not much that is new, yet everything to interest and amuse. In a word, " Chow- Chow," is a most entertaining and agreeable collection of anecdote, observation, and re miniscence. The Mutiny of the Bengal Army. By One who has Served under Sir Charles Napier. London : Bosworth and Harrison. IT is too early yet to attempt a history of the mutiny in the Bengal army. We have to put down the rebellion, and when we have done that with success, and restored tran quillity to India, the time will have arrived for an historical narrative of the momentous event. Nevertheless, we are glad to see a dis position to discuss the causes of this alarming revolt. There is abroad at present a feeling fostered by certain journals that the nation does not desire " discussion," hut " vengeance." We venture to think that reflective men of all classes, though astounded by the suddenness of the event, and appalled by the terrible atrocities which have marked its course, are desirous of discussion in order to arrive at some definite conclusion as to the real causes of the outbreak. "What caused this mutiny ?" is a question in every mouth. Let us see if "One who has served under Sir Charles Napier" can assist us to a reply. The writer, a resident in India, and an eye witness of recent events, is neither a partisan of the East India Government nor of his former Chief, and in a plain, unvarnished narrative discusses the organisation of the Bengal army, gives a masterly exposition of its faults in detail, and points out how the ab sorption of all regimental authority by the Central Government at Calcutta inevitably ied to a relaxation of discipline among the men and a loss of influence among the officers. For years, lie asserts, all this has been ripen ing into mutiny. Lord Ellenborough in his brief career restored the discipline of the army. Lord Dalhousie arrived in India, and the old system of centralisation was orce more enforced, the discipline of the army once more weakened, and at length destroyed. When that noble earl left India, although he stated that the condition of the native soldier wleft nothing to be desired," the Bengal arm y as upon the eve of a revolt. This laxity of discipline snd want of organisation was incontestably a fertile source of discontent among both officers and men of the Bengal army ; but the ultimatum which brought about the rebellion was the annexa tion of Oude, carried ont by Lord Dal housie in 1856, with the consent and ap probation of Lord Palwerston's Government. That annexation was the act which preci pitated us into one of the bloodiest re volts that the empire has ever contended against, and for this reason, that the Bengal alloy was mainly recruited from Oude, and that the Oude sepoy preferred the rule of his native sovereign to the regulations of the Com pany. Upon this point the opinion of our writer is worth extract : Colonel Sleeman, for many years onr agent at the Court of Lucknow, and one of the ablest men who ever held that appointment, was so well aware of this fact, that he lost no opportunity of impressing upon Govern ment his conviction that the annexation of Gude would produce disaffection in the native army, principally because it would transfer the family of the sepoy from the operation of the regal regulations and justice of the king of Oa& to our own civil courts. But Colonel Sleeman died, and Sir James Outram reigned in his stead. New councillors, aware of Lord I)alhousie's mania for annexation, succeeded the tried statesmen who had hitherto so successfully administered the affairs of our empire on a contrary principle, and in an evil hour Lord Dalhousie decided upon seizing Oude. Be resolved to do it, too, in a manner the most offensive and the most irritating to the large Makomedan population of India, and the most prejudicial to our own character for truth and honour. He secretly collected traops, entered the kingdom of Oude like a thief in the night, marched the British force directly upon Lucknow, and then, with the capital of Oude virtually in his own hands, gave the first intimation to the King of his impending fate. Wajid Ali, of course, was unable to resist, and Ou•le became from that moment a province of the British empire. It is impossible to describe the mixed feelings o indignation and hatred which pervaded the whole Mussulman population of India when they heard of this deed. Naturally treacherous themselves, they yet had an instinctive admiration for honest and truthful dealing, and they had hitherto placed implicit confidence in the word of an Englishman. When, however, they learned the story of the annexation, the juggle by which the King of Oude had been done out of his dominions, their hearts filled with rage and a desire for revenge. Our Mahomedan sepoys were by that act alienated at once and for ever, and the 'Endues began to reflect that the kingly power which could condescend to trick a king out of his dominions, might by a similar manoeuvre cheat them out of their religion. Such were the consequences of this flagi tious act. The discontent of the sepoys took a practical shape under the tutelage of tho Mahomedans, and the rest is matter of history. Our author faithfully details the events of the revolt, from the first symptoms at Barrack pore to the outbreak at Meerut, down to the siege of Delhi and the investment by the rebels of Cawnpore and Lucknow. He attributes the positive revolt of the army to the inju dicious measures of General Hewitt at Meerut. To be sure it is the last straw which breaks the camel's back, but we suspect that the disease was too deepseated for cure by any measures which an individual general in com mand of an outpost might choose to adopt. Possibly General Hewitt's want of judgment and lack of decision precipitated, if it did not give reins to, the career of the mutineers, but the rebellion was only a question of time after the annexation of Oude, and under the faithless and aggressive policy pursued by the East India Government. The details of the mutiny are too fresh in our readers' minds to need extract, but a personal sketch of Lord Canning's advisers at this terrible crisis is not without interest. The Supreme Council of India is composed of four members, in concert ►with whom the Governor-General administers the affairs of the country. At the time of Lord Canning's assumption of office these members consisted of Mr. Dorin and Mr. J. P. Grant, members of the civil service; General Low, of the Madras army ; and Mr. Peacock, of the English bar There were four secretaries to Government : Mr. Lushington for the financial, Mr. Beadon for the home, Colonel Birch far the military, and Mr. Edmonstone for the foreign depart ment. The following description is given of the members of council and the military and home secretaries : MU. DORI N. Mr. Dorin was a man who, in a service of thirty-three years, had never been fifty miles out of Calcutta iii the direction of the interior; he was, therefore, practically ignorant of the manners, and customs, and peculiar re• quiretnents of the people of India. For all practical purposes those thirty three years might as well, or even with more advantage, have been spent in England. He was verging upon sixty years of age, and in all his habits was a very sybarite. His experience of ruling had been principally confined to the financial department, but even there his budgets bore a stronger resemblance iu their results to those of Sir Charles Wood than to the inure lerf(ct calculations of Sir It. Peel or Mr. Gladstone. In 854, during Lord Dalhousie's absence in the Neelghery hills, he had temporarily assumed the presidency of the council. His tenure of that office was chiefly remarkable for the outbreak of the Sonthal rebellion, and for the weak and inefficient measures pursued to check it. He was in dolent, void of energy, deficient in mental culture and ability, and certainly in no other country but India, find in no other service but the civil service, would have attained any but the must subordinate position. MR. J. P. ORANT. Mr. Grant was a very different character. In the prime of life, active, energetic, and pcssessed of a certain amount of ability, he might, had he been trained in any other school, have done good service on the occurrence of a crisis. Un• fortunately, he laboured under a complete ignorance of the habits and customs of the natives of Upper India. Accus• tomed, during his service, to deal only with Bengalees, he had imbibed the extraordinary notion that they were a type of the Hitlostanee3 generally. His vanity was so great, that he would not stoop to demand information even from practical men of his own service. With the super•