The Press.
London, England, 1858-07-31 00:00:00

fittraturt.

The Private Journal of the Marquess of Hastings,
KG., Governor-General and Commander-in-
Chief in India. Edited by his Daughter, the
Marchioness of Bute. Two Vols. London :
Saunders and Otley.

THlt appearance of Lord Hastings's journal
affords us the opportunity of making a complaint
as to the manner in which such books are brought
out, which is fully warranted by the practice of
editors in general ; and which we designedly
place in a prominent position because it relates
to a matter seriously affecting the comfort and
convenience of even the most cursory reader.
The notion of " editing," as applied to letters,
diaries, and other biographical materials, is in
these days a singular one. Either the "editors"
or their publishers seem purposely to set their
aces against all such help as might be afforded
by maps, tables of contents, notes, divisions into
chapters, connecting narratives, indices, or even
the common typographical conveniences of head-
lines and marginal summitries. They have an
absurd idea that the addition of these things
impairs the elegance of a book, and that every-
thing should be sacrificed to preserve the appear-
ance of the unbroken river of type in its meadow
of margin. it is therefore as well to remind
them that, if we except the decorative binding, a
book, consisting as it does merely of a quantity
of printed pages, cannot possibly constitute an
intrinsically pretty object. It pleases the eye by
association alone. And we confess that the well-
filled sheets of books like the one now before us
are acquiring, from the causes we have men-
tioned, associations which are anything but
pleasing. Nothing requires an index so much as
a journal, because its contents are necessarily
heterogeneous, and observations or events re-
lating to each subject fare of course unclassified,
and mentioned just as they happened to have
occurred to the writer. Whenever a book of
this class falls into our hands, we always see
before us a dreary prospect of maps to be con-
sulted, routes to be drawn out, references to be
made, dates very frequently to be added, a species
of index to be compiled, and a variety of work to
be done which the " editor," if the word has any
meaning, ought to have performed for us. Pro-
bably, however, the fault in many instances rests
with the publisher, to whom such materials are
sold in the mass, and who contents himself with
placing them in the same undigested manner
before the public, without getting them licked
into shape. The Marchioness of Bute, in the
discharge of her functions as editress, has
apparently restricted herself to making certain
omissions in the journal, adding the dates at the
top of the pages, and prefixing some observations
which would be sensible enough if not defaced
by the typographical absurdity of printing every
pronoun relating to Lord Hastings with a capital
letter; e.g.:—

Francis, second Earl of Moira, afterwards crested Mar-
qneas of Hastings, was appointed to the givernment of
British India in the early part of IRI3, which post He held
for nine years. He was constituted both Governor-General
and Commanderin-Chief by Ella own solicitati tn, not from
an overweening love of power, but because He felt that
under the then anxious stale of Indian affairs, it would he
impossible for Him to carry out His views of duty to His
country with a divided authority ; and He therefore stipu-
lated, before lie accepted :he appointment, for the labour
and responsibility of both offices. Nor was it from merce-
nary motives that He grasped at this lofty position, for He
omitted to mike any terms as to remuneration, and He
yielded the question of adequate recompense when He
found it was arranged that the salary of Governor-General
only was to be assigned to Him, satisfiel that the concen-
trated power gave Him adithonal means of usefulness,
&a &c.

There is no map, although the greater part of the
journal consists of a tour, and as the names of
the places visited are not placed so as to catch
the eye, it is very easy for a reader to lose him-
self and have to turn back several pages to know
►hat spot he is reading about. When we once
know the name of the book before us it is surely
enough. Of what use is it to any human being
—an observation which will apply t..) many other
volumes—to repeat the title of a work six or
seven hundred times by printing it at the top of
every successive page ?
11111111611111.

THE PRESS, JULY 31, 1858

We gladly turn from these matters to the book
itself, which—though occasionally wearisome, as
journals are apt to be—is exceedingly well written,
and does not need the apology of the preface, since
its language shows neither "antiquity" nor " ob-
scurity,' and is as good English at the present day
as in 1814. It contains thany passages expressed
with great neatness and clearness, many of
striking good sense, and many remarkable for
their descriptive merit, conveying as they do the
author's impressions in all their freshness, and
enabling us vividly to realize many aspects of
Indian life and manners. It expressly excludes
any connected picture of public affairs, for a
statement of which the persons for whom it was
written are referred to the " Letter-book," and
' confines itself to topics of personal observation
and interest. Still, public affairs are occasionally
alluded to, and generally in a suggestive manner.
Lord Hastings landed at Madras in September,
1813, and remained nine years Governor-General,
till 1823. His journal only reaches to the end of
1818, as he found the pressure of business too
great to enable him to continue it any longer.
Ilis health must have been excellent, for he
combined, as we have seen, the duties of com-
mander-in-chief with his own, and also kept
up the state ceremonial of his office in its
full and oppressive splendour. We find no
entry of public importance till 1814, at which
date Lord Hastings found himself obliged to
comply with the urgent requisitions of the
Directors at home by sending them 350,0001.,
and was in consequence "on the brink of great
distress," being also exposed to the constant
butF France,
erre
Ceylon,
ar
ii i fromva Persia,allwhich the
Gloslveernof
ments were supported out of the Indian revenue.
This embarrassment was only relieved by a
timely contribution of three millions from the
Nawab of Oude. There was, too, an additional
and graver source of disquiet. The quality of
the relations we had established with the native
princes appeared to the farseeing eye of the
Governor-General to involve " the elements of a
" war more general than any which we have
" hitherto encountered in India" :

In our treaties with them we recognize them as inde-
pendent sovereigns. Then we send a resident to their
courts. Instead of acting in the character of ambassador,
he assumes the functions of a dictator; interferes in all
their private concerns; countenances refractory subjects
against them; and makes the most ostentatious exhibition
of this exercise of authority. To secure to himself the
support of our Government, he urges some interest which,
under the colour thrown upon it oy him, is strenuously
taken up by our Council; and the Government identities
itself with the Resident not only on the single point but on
the whole tenor of his conduct. In nothing do we violate
the feelings of the native princes so much as in the deci-
sions which we claim the privilege of pronouncing with
regard to the succession of the musnud. We constantly
oppose our construction of Mehomedan law to the right
which the Moslem princes claim from usage to choose
among their sons the individual to be declared the heir-
apparent. It is supposed that by upholding the right of
primogenitnre we establish art interest with the eldest son
which will be beneficial to us when be comes to the throne
I believe nothing can be inure delusive. He will profess
infinite gratitude as long as our support is useful to him ;
but, once seated, his subsequent attachment will always be
regulated by the convenience of the day. He, too, will in
his turn have to feel our interference in the succession as
well as in minor instances. With regard to the latter it
mi4lit be argued that some interest of the Company is
always really involved. The simple existence of such an
interest is not the true question. What should be consi-
dered, is, whether the matter be of a proximity or msgni-
tude to make the prosecution of it. desirable at the ex-
pense of the disgust and estrangement which you sow by
the procedure.

The tour through the Upper Provinces, which
forms the staple of the book, commenced in June,
1814, and in the extent and variety of its ap-
pointments exceeded the "progresses" of most
sovereigns. The first part of the route lay up
the Hooghly and the Ganges, swollen with the
melting of the Himalayan snow; the fleet of boats
now sailing and tacking over the broad stream,
as it flows for miles through the interminable
plain, with its rice-fields and occasional clusters
of mango and palm ; now laboriously dragged
past some dangerous rock, against a narrower
and swifter current ; now passing villages, with
their mean huts and tortuous lanes, now some
vast and half-ruined fbrt, now mosques and
tombs, and minarets and ghauts of stone, with
their flights of steps leading from the entrance of
some venerated but dilapidated temple, down to
the turbid and sacred stream. Then the great Com-
pany's Representative lands for the evening ride

or the promenade on an elephant, or to bold a
levee, whither comes a Rajah, or Baboo, with
his offering of shawls,richjewels, and diamond-
studded swords, which the Governor-General
touches and declines, accepting the gift for the
Company, and taking for himself a muslin hand_
kerchief, a pair of Cashmere stockings, or some
other article of trifling value. These civilities
he returns by a wreath of white flowers, throwil
over the neck of the visitor, or by embraces
graduated according to a minute etiquette, or by
a dress of state and a fur robe, in which that
potentate departs, sweltering but happy, to his
barbaric splendour and his squalid zenana. Some,
times an absurd scene would occur :

The gravity of the durbar was put to the test by a white.
siczl accident. After the Rajah had tendered his nuzzur
(the present offered to a superior) I requested him to sat
down in au aria-chair. His weight, for he is very hit
ensb!ed him to compass this easily ; but when he was to
:
rise, and be invested with a kheistit, he was so wedged Chit
the chair stuck fast to him, and there was some trouble in
disengaging him. Luckily, everybody preserved &stead!
countenance, so that there was no addition to the Rajah's
embarrassment.

Or, as at Benares, he receives the deputation of
the Pundits, who present him with a splendidly-
illuminated historical work,* and exhibit their
mast promising pupils, who sit on the ground,
like intellectual game-cocks, and chant, in aurae.
bean strains, the principles of medicine, gram.
mar, jurisprudence, and religion. Or he returns
the visit which he has received, is carried in his
palanquin through courts whose brilliant illumi-
nations only exhibit their mixture of splendour
and meanness walks over flowered silks, which

are scrambled for by the servants when he has
passed ; is ceremoniously embraced, and lightly
sprinkled during the conference with rose-water
shot into the air from syringes ; witnesses the
monotonous chorus of dancing girls ; is carefully
examined by the ladies of his host's family
through their curtains; and carries away on his
shoulders the fragrant wreath of jessamine and
roses. Or, after spending the day in beating the
ravines for lions (the Governor-General is a keen
sportsman, and will shoot partridge, lynx, deer,
or peafowl when he cannot have the king of
beasts), he attends a fete such as the following:—

In the evening we set out to dine with the Newel) Vines..
Illuminations were prepared, and they certainly were be-
anything of the kind I have elsewhere witnessed.
With a delicate attention, lamps had been forborne to be
placed within the pirk of Conatamitis ; that being considered
as too exclusively ours to be meddled with. But as soon•
as we got ont of its gates we saw the whole road toward,t•
the palace bordered with posts, on each of which many
lights were fixed. As we approached the palace triumphal
arches of lamps, raised on bamboo frames, had an elemant
and most brilliant appearance. Proceeding further, we
came to a place where, on each side, there were, in trans-
parencies, the representation of a bazaar or market. Tne
costumes of liindoos and Chinese were strikingly por-
trayed. Thence we approached a kiosk, or summer house,
decorated with lamps in a manner extraordinarily tastebiL
But all this splendour failed in eomptaison with what
opened upon us when we came to a sort of esplanade
before the windows of the banqueting•room. It was al
large as a middling•sized field in England. Time whole of
it was laid out to imitate a parterre of flowera. The num-
ber of lamps with which the ground was covered for tha:
purpose must have been immense, and the disposition of
their various colours, to render the representation accarate,.

was very happy.
When he moves he has a double set of tents,
one of which is sent on during the night aisd
pitched immediately after daybreak. Each of
the large ones (as we have heard, though it is
not mentioned in the journal) required a hun.
dred men to pitch it, and the whole equipage was
regarded by the natives with great respect.
His camp-followers amounted to ten thousand
people, and included all sorts of traders, even
that of working jewellers; and of course such
practitioners as the following extract describes :
One of our party saw a snake caught by a native lxilong-
ing to the fleet, and mentioned to ins the circumsuniceti
which involve a point of natural history novel to me. The
man was walking in a field by the river, and my informant
was close t) him. A large cobra capella crossed the pith:
the man immediately ran towards it. The snake
did aut
coil itself, but continued its retreat with its head raw('
eight or ten inches from the ground and turned hack. The
man stooped, pausing for an instant, as if to fix the snake 'a
eye with nis own. lie then suddenly seized the tail with his
right hand, and raised it sufficiently to throw the reptile's
head to the ground ; then he slid the forefinger and thumb
of his left hand swiftly along the anake.4 bark ( drawing the
animal back by the tail at the same tillYti) till he pinched it
just at the head. He next twisted the body of the snoke

• This appears to bad btMft ikept by Lord Hastings, ••
meant to be. The editor altlglit have told tts where it ist in
what it is about, if still in the possession of the family]

OP

round his left arm, and kept it firm by pressing the arm
to hie side. Havitig obtained a knife, he forced the snake
to open its mouth, by pressing it at the angle of the jaws.
Sae quickly touk out the fangs; but he then proceeded to
lake oat with the point of the knife, from just shove the
angled the jaws, two substances, which my informant
ststes to have resembled small pickled capers. The reason
4ssigned by the man for extracting them was ta prevent the
stoke ever getting new fangs. Can these glands—tor such
i suppose they were—placed at such a distance from the
sockets in the jaw, furnish means fur the reproduction of
the poisonous apparatus? I am not aware that the existence
of such glands has hitherto been suspected by our *mato.
mists. As to the mode of catching the snake, I believe it
to he so easy that nothing but confidence is required. There
has appeared to me a remarkable want of agility in the
cobra eapella, and I even think some time is necessary to
it fur getting into a condition to strike. After the man
hol finished his operation on the snake, he suffered it to
We him without concern.

The route after leaving Benares was to Allah-
abad, then up the Ganges to Cawnpore, then by
land to Lucknow, then back again and up the
Jumna to Agra. Lord Hastings was forcibly
impressed by the first view of the Himalayas,
and frequently adverts to their magnificent ap-
pearance and the curious manner in which their
advanced ranges sink abruptly into the plain
without the usual insensible gradations. Some
of his followers were equally struck with the
spectacle, but they imagined the snowy moun-
tains to be made, like ice-cream, and a Bengal
artist who was employed to produce a picture of
them maintained that they were clouds. On
another occasion they were affirmed to be of
polished freestone, for "how could snow remain
" unmelted when so much nearer the sun ? It
" was hot enough in the plain." A visit to Delhi
could only be made under conditions to which
Lord Hastings would not submit, and he finally
returned to Calcutta on the 9th of October, 1815.

A great part of vol. ii. is occupied with the
commander-in-chiet's march into the territories
of Scindiah, and his negotiations with that
prince, which were crowned with entire success,
and much advantage to the British side. It was
during this campaign (Nov. 1817) that the cholera
first made its appearance. It had already been ex-
perienced in Calcutta and the southern pro
vinces, and on its attacking the camp five
hundred men died in one day. Its victims were
much more rapidly prostrated than seems to be
the case now, many of them dying in a few
minutes. No observations seem to have been
made which could demonstratively connect the
epidemic with any natural causes ; the soil and
the direction of the wind appear to have had
some slight influence, but the deductions were
purely empirical, and it is distressing to reflect
that after all the attention which science has
since bestowed upon the question, our treatment
still remains not materially different, and but
little more successful. Lord Hastings, with his
usual kindness, rode about the camp with medi-
cine, and succoured many who could never have
commanded any relief for themselves.
In the account of this campaign we observe a
reference to a class of people who are, we believe,
peculiar to India, and whose characteristics
explain the fact of the uniformly excellent sup-
plies which our army has enjoyed during the
present war :

The Banjaries [also spelt Brinjaries] are equally dexte-
rous [with the drivers of the hockeries or baggage-cana].
They are a remarkable community. The name implies
migrating through the desert ; and such is their course of
We. They have no fixed habitations, but move about, as
convenience of pasture invites, with their numerous herds
of cattle, in the uncultivated tracts near the foot of the
northern hills. The principal people, however, among
them keep up a constant communication with our tnilitary
stations and with the native courts; so that they are ready
at rail when their services are warted. Their business is
to furnish cattle on hire for the transportation of baggage
or grain. In the latter they are dealers; a circumstance
which enables the Commissary General to contract with
them at once for the provision and the carriage on occa-
sions when it would not be convenient to recur to our own
magazines. The grain is carried in bags hanging across the
backs of the oxen. When they are approached by hostile
cavalry, the Itunjaries make a square redoubt with the
bags, which they throw off their oxen and rear into ram-
parts with aurpriaing quickness. Most of the men have
matchlocks and are very resolute, so that the plundering
horsemen do not like to approach them. The Bunjaries
are very fair in their dealings and trusty to their employers.
These volumes throw a clear and favourable
light on Lord Hastings's mind and character. His
.Whets on general subjects were original and
clever, as will be seen front his observations on
the liindo mythology and its derivation from the