The Press.
London, England, 1857-09-26 00:00:00

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 26, 1857.

But if you wish poor Sappho far away
(Hard to conceive such bate)
Here the beauty of the original is quite ob-
scured—the mingled tenderness and vanity
which Ovid could express so well But we
have already devoted more space to Mr.
Jumps than his book is worth, and we take
our leave of him with a strong recommenda-
tion to purchase a dictionary, a grammar, and
a gradus.

The Garies and their Friends. By Frank J.
Webb. With an Introductory Preface by

Mrs. Harriett Beecher Stowe. London :

Routledge.
THE work before us is stated to be from the
pen of a free coloured man, and is to be re-
garded, we presume, as an authorised protest
against the injuries and indignities to which
his class is subjected by the citizens of the
Great Western Republic, " the freest nation
upon earth." It comes to us with the sanction
of Mrs. Beecher Stowe, who vouches for the
truth of its facts, and with a further " sub-
preface" by Lord Brougham, who maintains
its literary merits. Against such authorities
RS these it might well seem presumptuous to
rebel, and we are happy to state we have no
intention of doing so. We have no means cf
contradicting the facts, and we fully concur
in his lordship's admiration of the style.
How far the " cuique sua arte credendum'
is a safe maxim to rely upon may be a moot
point. People will decide upon it differently
according to their innate tendencies. Our
own opinion is that a practical knowledge of
the facts of any case is a recommendation
outweighing any danger from the predilections
by which that knowledge is usually accom-
panied. And could we therefore be certain
that Mr. Webb was a trustworthy witness to
facts we should entertain a high opinion of
the utility of his present work, notwithstand-
ing the possibility that he might have.coloured
them somewhat highly. For the credibility ac-
corded to his work in this country Mrs. Stowe
is answerable; and warning our readers that
we put forward no claim to guide them upon
this head, we shall proceed to offer a few
comments on the nature and management of
the story.
We agree, then, with Lord Brougham that
the literary merits of this work are consider-
able. The characters, whether true types or
not of classes in American society, are
thoroughly human, and talk and act with an
air of reality. The incidents are exciting, and
the language both forcible and pure. But
there are, nevertheless, grave defects in the
management of the story of which we are
bound to take notice. The death of the
Garies in the middle of the book is a most
injudicious contrivance, and destroys the in-
terest of the remainder. There is nothing
left to read for except the exposure of Stevens,
for the children of the murdered couple crc
so hastily disposed of that we care little for
their fate, and that exposure takes place so
abruptly that the effect is much impaired. In the
second place, the scenes are sketchy ; iu proof
of which assertion we may mention the great
difficulty we find in selecting anything for
extract. The attack upon the houses and
property of the coloured men, which is the
great event of the book, is not dramatically
told ; and if our readers will compare the de
fence of Walter's house in " The Garies " with
that of the inn in " Hawkestono" they wia un-
derstand what we mean, and see how great an
opportunity was lost.
How far " The Garies" he a correct picture
of American society is, like the moral of the
book itself, beyond our power to determine.
We daily hear much of the comfort and in-
telligence of the working classes in America,
yet the description of the Ellis family seems
rather overdrawn. The father is a carpenter;
but both he, his wife, and his daughters are
not perceptibly different from the " ladies and
gentlemen" of the story.
When, however, we turn from the abstract
merits of the tale to the position of the
author, our encomium should be much less
qualified. Viewed as the production of a
social pariah, one of a proscribed clue, who
had the greatest difficulty in procuring even
the rudiments of a liberal education, "The

Garies" must be acknowledged to evidence
an intellect of unusual vigour, and an imagi-
nation of some fertility. It will not suffer by
comparison with the works of undoubted
masters, and so far must be held to have com-
pletely answered the end of its publication—
i.e., the vindication of the coloured race from
the injurious supposition that they are totally
unfitted to succeed in the higher pursuits of
life.

We may say, in conclusion, that the subject.
matter, if true, shows, not the urgency of the
anti-slavery cry, but rather the urgency of
caution and moderation. If public opinion in.
a city like Philadelphia can connive at such
proceedings, it is clear that society is not ripe
for abolitionism. We only mean that this is
the impression that Mr. Webb's book will
create in England, and however deep the
horror excited by such irrational atrocities as
those of the Philadelphians, it will yield to
the conviction that the abolitionists will only
make matters worse by pressing their opinioua
at present.

1. Our Indian Army. A Military History of the
British Empire in the East. By Captain
Rafter. London : Bryce.
2. India : its History, Climate, Productions. With
a Full Account of the Origin, Progress, and
Development of the Bengal Mutiny, and Sug-
gestions as to the Future Government of India.
By J. H. Stocqueler. London : Routledge.

3. Delhi: the City of the Great Mogul. With an
Account of the Various tribes in Hindostan—
Hindoos, Sikhs, Affghans, Sc. By Mrs. Colin
Mackenzie. London : Bentley.
1. Tue first of the batch of books upon India have
appeared. Captain R liter gives a " Military His-
tory of the British Empire in the East," carefully
compiled from the standard works of Thornton and
Mill, Malcolm and Orme, and other eminent writers
upon India. The book is concisely written. Captain
Rafter has managed his materials with skill. The
tendency of his political views is in favour of the
reform of "the most griping, covetous, and jealous
" monopoly that has ever existed "—the East India
Company. As Captain Rafter wrote and published
his book previous to the present rebellion, the reader
will not be surprised at meeting with much praise of
the " faithful sepoy :"

English readers, in general, seem satisfied with knowing
that there is an army of black fellows called sepoys, who,
they have some vague idea, are dressed in silks and satins,
armed with popguns and daggers of lath, and who go to
war, like the Pope's soldiers, with umbrellas over their
heads in wet weather. They are astonished, however,
when they hear that this army numbers upwards of 3110,000
men of all arms ; that it is one of the best drilled and dis.
cipliued forces in existence ; that it has undergone the
greatest fatigues, privations, and physical sufferings, with
the most indomitable spirit and patience ; and that it has
fought some of the most desperate battles that are to be
found in the annals of any nation, ancient or modern.
Having passed several of his early years in India, and
being pretty well acquainted with the real nature of service
in that country, the compiler of this volume has under-
taken the pleasing task of laying before the public, in a
concise and popular form, a narrative of the stirring and
important events by which this army has disttnguishol
itself during the last century, in the formation of an
empire such as the world has never before witnessed, and
probably never will see again.
An excellent comment, we have no doubt, will appear
upon this passage in the next edition.
2. Mr. Stocqueler's work is a rapid summary of
the history, climate, and productions of the country.
Mr. Stocqueler brings down his historical narrative
to the present moment. Of the nature of Mr.
Stocqueler's views upon the causes and origin or the
present rebellion, it will suffice to state that, while
he refuses to see in the annexation of Oude any sti-
mulant to conspiracy, he confines the rebellion to
the sepoys, and regards it merely as a fanatical
impulse, arising from a dread that loss of caste
would follow the use of the greased cartridges. He
admits, however, that previous alienation had long
existed among the sepoys, who looked upon them-
selves as hound to us simply by good pay and pen-
sions. Without passing any definite opinion upon
present events, Mr. Stocqueler makes his soup be-
fore he has caught his hare, and settles the question
of the future government cf India. He would have
" more simplicity in the machinery of Government."
He proposes a Viceroy directly responsible to a
Board of Commissioners, presided over by a Secre-
tary of State—the Board of Commissioners taken
from experienced residents in the East Indies,
nominated by the Sovereign, and entirely superseding
the present Board of Directors. In addition, he
advocates the "largest possible infusion " into India
of "European agency ;" in point of fact, the eolo-

nisation of India, the employment of Europeans in
all the minor offices of control hitherto held by
natives, and the establishment of a powerful native
police force in lieu of a regular native army. The
scheme may or may not have much to recommend it in
detail, but it is to be remarked as exhibiting the
tendency of popular feeling in favour of the abolition
or modification of the existing double Government.
3. A new and revised edition of Mrs. on
Mackenzie's entertaining work will be read with
interest at this moment. Her vivid representations
of life in India, and her accurate and descriptive
account of Delhi, are exceedingly interesting. In a
preface to this edition, Mrs. Mackenzie takes " the
paternal view" of the blessings of our Indian
government, and maintains that it has been every-
thing that is just and beneficent. If our govern-
ment of India had been so mild and just as such
partisans represent it, the present insurrection could
not have existed a month. It is because the rebels
are favoured by the mass of the population that they
are enabled to keep the field against us, to besiege
our residencies, and to massacre our people. Hence,
to maintain the paternal theory, it is necessary to
show that the rebellion is confined to the sepoys.
"It is a mutiny, not an insurrection," says the
writer of the preface, whose style every one will
detect, and whose matter is beyond Mrs. Mackenzie.
But in the next paragraph he admits that the Maho-
medans "are dissatisfied" at being deprived of their
supremacy, and the native princes "intrigue"
against us. What better proof can be given in
favour of an insurrection ? Are the Mahomedans
confined to the ranks of the army, and have
the native princes, deposed or regnant, no influence
with their people as well as their soldiers ? Besides,
in a population numbered by millions, if those mil-
lions are well affected towards us, how is it that we
do not raise another native army to suppress these
sepoys? Is there one European in India, except the
officials at Calcutta, who would put a musket into
the hands of a native ? That is the best test of loyalty.
But it is useless disputing the mere military theory ;
every fact contradicts it, and its most unscrupulous
partisans have at length admitted that the rebellion is
the result of a vast and well-organised conspiracy of
people and troops against our rule. The remaining
paragraphs of the introduction are written in a more
accurate spirit :
That which has rendered the mutiny possible is the se-
paration between the European officers and the Sepahis.
The officers are better men, both morally and intellec-
tually, than they were forty years ago, and, as a body, un-
rivalled for integrity and for both military and adminis-
trative talent, for the simple reason that our countrymen
have nowhere such a earriCre ouverle aux talents as in India.
Why, then, have they less influence? Why is the army in
a worse condition than formerly ? Becalm the Govern-
ment have, first, by their absurd system of centralisation
deprived officers of all power of reward or punishment, so
that even Sir Charles Napier, when Governor in Scinde,
could not punish a Bengal Sepahi under his orders; and,
secondly, by the pernicious interference of civilians, from
the governor-general downwards, in purely military affairs.
The officers lose all heart, the Sepahi loses all respect. If
the Sepahis were again made dependent on their officers;
if the latter had the power of rewarding and punishing,
their old intercourse, influence, and affection would revive.
Personal influence is the only sure hold we have on the
Indian army, and this has of late been systematically
discouraged.
Government, endeavouring to do everything itself, is
overpowered with details, and consequently business stands
still, and those officers who press even the most important
questions or facts on the notice of the pvernor-general are
considered troublesome and importunate.
The three armies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, are
completely distinct, and although all have suffered greatly
from centralisation and civil interference, yet the disci-
pline of the two latter is far more strict than that of Bengal,
and the native officers are promoted by merit and not by
seniority, which of course makes them more efficient, and
gives influence to their European officers. In both, men
of low as well as high caste are admitted, while in Bengal
the army is composed exclusively of men of high caste
and Mussulmans, about every third Sepahi being, a
Brahmin. Of course when a regiment is formed of men
of different races, castes, and creeds, combination and
mutiny become almost impossible.
A man must be born a Hindoo—he cannot become so.
For instance, the children of a Hindoo rajah by a Mussul-
man mother are brought up as Maho.nedans, as they
cannot share their father's caste unless the mother also
belonged to it. The Hindoos look upon religion as a
matter of birth, and hold Christianity to be as fit and true
for us as woolly hair for a negro, or Himlooism for them-
selves. It follows that they have no idea of proselytism,
and as men of different castes can have but limited inter-
course with each other—as they can neither eat, drink, nor
smoke together—the Hindoo has no idea of nationality.
The Sikhs are a modem sect of Hinduo dissenters.
They have no castes, and any one may become a Sikh.
They have little sympathy with the Hindoos, and an
intense hatred of their old foes the Mahomedans, whom
they have tyrannised over in the Punjaub, as the sons
of Islam have tyrannised over the Hindoos.
The Mahomedans in India have adopted Hindoo preju-
dices of caste to such an extent that they will not eat with
Christians. They are divided into the two great sects of
blitahs and Sunis. who detest each other all over the
world, and who can scarcely be restrained from open
warfare, anti both parties in India are extremely ignorant