The Press.
London, England, 1854-06-17 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

reader for the judicious remarks which follow on the
works exhibited. Just so much of explanation is
given as the visitor is likely to require, and the criti-
cism, always enlightened, rather quickens thought
and suggests ideas than enforces opinions. A litter
book for the purpose could not be desired. Mrs.
Jameson is at issue with Owen Jones and some other
authorities on the important point of the colouring of
sculpture. She thinks that " its essential excellence
" and real character are diminished in proportion as
" it assumes the powers and purposes to itself the
" aims of painting." Mr. Owen Jones in his apology
for the colouring of the Greek Court maintains that
the Greeks coloured their sculpture, and asserts
that colour has been found on the hair, eyes, lips,
and drapery of fragments. In his little book the his-
torical and material evidence on the subject has been
collected.

An admirable guide to the Geological Island, by
Professor Owen, will be eagerly bought at threepence ;
and a satisfactory handbook to the Courts of Natural
History will also be welcome.
Ten other books form guides to the various
" Courts "—Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, Roman, &c.
In preparing them the directors have probably calcu-
lated that the appetite of the public for instruction in
the various. styles of art which have prevailed since
the earliest monuments will be more eager than it is
likely to prove. Most of these books are heavy read-
ing, and the visitor who, in his thirst for instruction,
should laudably purchase the whole series, would find
his hands seriously encumbered and his pockets
lightened by the process. One general handbook
would be much more convenient. As it is, we fancy
that visitors in general will find the " Guide to the
Palace and Park," Mr. Jameson's " Courts of Modern
Sculpture," and Mr. Owen's " Geology " of most
utility.

Routledge's Shilling Guide to the Crystal Palace.
London : Routledge.
A WELL-PPINTED volume of upwards of two hundred
pages, describing the Crystal Palace, with its various
courts and objects of science and art. It is cone•
niently arranged, intelligently written, and contains
a large amount of information in a popular shape.
It supplies, besides, a sketch of the Great Exhibi-
tion of 1851, with its results, together with some
novel details of the origin and progress of the pre-
sent enterprise.

Miscellaneous Works of the Right llon. Sir James
Mackintosh. London : Longmans.
IN this new edition an attempt is made to give as
much order and method, sequence and connection,
as can be given to writings so fragmentary and dis-
cursive in their character as the miscellaneous works
of Sir James Mackintosh. Thus his works are clas-
sified under the heads of philosophy, literature, and
politics, and a volume is devoted to each. All Sir
James's important works, except, of course, bis his-
tory of England, are comprised within this compass ;
but from his contributions to periodicals only a selec
tion has been made of such "as partake most largely
"of the character of completeness." The text has
been by no means held sacred; on the contrary,
" inaccuracies and redundancies of expression • •
" have been throughout corrected and retrenched,"
and in several places parts have been transposed.
Works like those of Sir James Mackintosh, for the
most part printed hastily, may require considerable
revision, but when it is not effected by the author
himself, or by his authority, the alterations should
be indicated : if this is not done, the reader
must either compare several editions, or occa-
sionally doubt the accuracy of the text. Certainly
it is more agreeable to read a work without
notes than otherwise ; and on this principle, in ano-
ther instance, the editor has acted judiciously by
omitting long quotations originally appended in that
form, so that by these means brevity is attained, and
we have in these small volumes an edition of the
works of Sir James Mackintosh commencing with
the French Revolution and closing with our own
Reform Bill. There is also an ample alphabetical
index.

Are we Bound by our Treatits? A Letter to the
Right Hon. the Earl of Aberdeen on the Confisca-
tion of Berar. London : Allen and Co.

A PLEA against the annexation of Berar, deserving
notice, though likely to receive little or none. The
writer contends, and supports his view by the autho-
rity of Lord Auckland, that the treaties by which we
recognised native States contained au acknowledg-
ment of the right claimed by princes of such States
to elect their successors, after the Oriental manner.
This right was admitted without dispute, according
to the author, during a period of twenty-one years—
from 1820 to 1847—in which time fifteen adoptive
sovereignties were actually recognised by us :
" In 1848 these same authorities—completely ignorin

their own recorded principles, and the acts done- %nadir'

571

them—without any reason whatever assigned for the
change, denied that Hindoo sovereign princes had a right
to adopt their successors ; that there was any obligation
upon the British Government to recognise such adoptions:
they claimed for the British Government the right to deal
with native sovereigns as it asserted the Moghul emperors
would have dealt with them. They resolved that ' heirs
and successors in our treaties could have no other meaning
than "heirs male of the body '." ' and, by virtue of this new
code, they have recently seined upon the principality of
Berar, embracing an area of 76,432 miles, with a popu•
lotion of 4,6:i0,00J souls, and a revenue of half a million
sterling, upon the plea that the deceased sovereign of that
State having died without heirs of his body it had become
an escheat to the British Government.

" That is, having by an act of power set aside those who
claim to be heirs, the British Government put in a claim
to the inheritance as successors to the Emperors of DOA
and forcibly took possession of the principality."
England treated with the Rajah of Berar on terms
of equality in INN : the treaty was next year broken
by him, and the territory might then have been ap-
propriated with some show of justice, as a punish
ment of his treachery. This was not done: the
traitor way removed, but his power placed in the
hands of a native and related prince, the ltajah
Ragojee Blionsla, then a minor. The rights cf this
prince were fully recognised in 1820, on his attaining
his majority. He died, still young, and without chil-
dren. By Hindoo law the right of naming a succes-
sor devolved on his widow. This practice is common
in India : over and over again we have suffered it to
be followed, of which instances are given. But Lord
Dalhousie lays down the rule that all native States
are to be absorbed at the first opportunity. To this
questionable principle of policy all treaties must give
way; and the rule, if fully acted upon, applies to
between two and three hundred native princes, all of
whom foresee the fate of their dominions in that of
13erar. Verily, we have a right to talk of Russian
aggression on Turkey, or American buccaneering
in Cuba!

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
Booxs.

Transmutation ; or the Lord and the Lout.
Chapman and Hall.
Orr's Circle qf the Sciences. Vol. I. Orr and Co.
. .

.Royal Hotel Guide.
Catherine Ashton.

Smith and Bon•
Longman and Co.

The Hero of Ostr Day. M. Lermontoff. Hodgaon •
The History of India. W. Erskine. Longman and Co.
Ambrose the Bculytor. Mrs. R. Cartwright.
Smith and Elder.
The Flitch of Bacon. W. H. Ainsworth. Routledge.

PAMPHLETS.
The Peoples of Europe. J. W . Jackson. Maclachlan and Co.
Faith in the Works of the Teacher. IL Moseley, M.A.
Parker and Son.

The Horticultural Journal. ]'art T.

1 )illon.

Thoughts on Education in India. T. A. Wise.
Smith and Elder.
Indian Irrigation. Lieut.• Colonel C. W. Grant. Ditto.
On the Order for Morning Prayer. Rev. J. W. Lister.
&slays.
Religious Restoration in England. C. Wordsworth, I►.lb.
Rivingtons.