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 before, " 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 " lot,"
, 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.unsY
Middlesex, on Saturday. the 4th day of Docesabect 1.4