The Press.
London, England, 1858-03-06 00:00:00

234

castes, and their municipal institution of
hereditary village offices, which have survived
every change of government, and which even
now seem likely to prove the surest basis of a
land settlement and revenue system. Thirdly
come the Mahommedans, with a creed, unlike
the Hindoo, essentially of conquest, but sus-
ceptible of reaction under the influence of
that which it overcame. Thus the institution
of caste has been half adopted by the Moslem
rulers, partly from convenience, partly from
the inevitable assimilation of coexistent
practices. Lastly come the Christians, the
inhabitants who have made the least lasting

impression because they have never considered
the country their home. Mr. Ludlow's bias
will be partly indicated by the conclusion to
which he is led by the transitory nature of
British occupation:—
When we thus review the infinitesimally small number
of Englishmen in India, as compared with its vast
population of 180 millions, the conviction must rise strong
upon every one, that we cannot possibly hold it, otherwise
than for a time, as a hostile, or even merely as a con-

quered country, passively submitting to our rule, but
incapable of actively supporting it. The English element
in India must be largely increased; above all, the perma-
nent element, the settler element. And let us remember
that we have only ourselves to thank if it is so weak. It
is only of late years that Englishmen have been allowed
to settle at all in that country; only of late years that
Englishmen have been freed from the liability to be ex•
pelted at any time, simply because it pleased the local
Government to expel them. We have laboured with our
eyes open, as it were, to build upon the sand, to blast
away every fragment of rock upon which the edifice of our
power might have stood firm.
As we have recently devoted considerable
space, in reviewing Miss Martineau's work, to
the historical aspect of British India, we need
say no more than a word or two about Mr.
Ludlow's second division. His method is to
relate the external events, and then the internal
policy, of each epoch, or of each governor-
generalship, and this he does in a lucid and
comprehensive manner. The bias of his mind,
though violent, is not insidious, and all who
are in the habit of reading with their eyes
open will be led to make use of their judgment
on each occasion on which he draws attention
to the misdemeanours of the Company or its
servants. The book is in fact an indictment
by a very clever lawyer of the East India
Company and the British nation, for rapacity
on the one side and hypocritical connivance
on the other. She Company is charged with
having made American slavery possible by its
virtual prohibition of the cultivation of sugar
and cotton in its territories. The two most
brilliant servants, Clive and Hastings, of its
earlier dominion, are stripped, the one of his
military renown, the other of his political
merits. The only governor-general to whom
full justice is done is Lord George Bentinck.
The worst is made of the Zemindaree system
and the Permanent Settlement. The sub-
sidiary•alliance system of Lord Wellesley
meets with an equal amount of disfavour.
Lord Broughton's confession in reference to
the Alfghan war, " I alone did it.," is insuffi-
cient in Mr. Ludlow's view to save Leadenhall-
street from guilty complicity in the disasters
which followed. Without giving more in-
stances it will be enough to say that the person
who reads this book, and no other, will be
apt to rise from it with the notion that not
only the time has come to cashier the Directors,
but that they ought never to have existed at
all. We do not accuse Mr. Ludlow of any-
thing but a very strong leaning on one side.
His work is in some respects more correct in
its details than other compendia which have
lately appeared.
As an instance of superior acc•iracy, we may
notice the short account given in vol. ii., lect.
12, of the suppression of Palmer's House at
Hyderabad by Mr. John Adam. Miss Mar-
tineau's narrative, as we should have men-
tioned in speaking of it on a former occasion,
is in this point calculated to mislead. The
true history of that dark transaction has yet
to be written, but Mr. Ludlow's statement.
allowing for a certain discreet reticence which
he has apparently exercised, comes as near to
the real story as is at present practicable.
For this he is in some measure indebted to
Mr. Kaye. On the other hand, a tendency to
unfairness of judgment is visible in such
passages as the following:—
Even that invaluable ally of ours, the Eaja of Puttiala,
has been far from well used by us. It is only two or