The Press.
London, England, 1854-09-30 00:00:00

930

others, she was ever faithful to him. While
his colleagues stood aghast at the boldness of
his conceptions, and would if they could have
tempered them, he threw their trembling
council aside, seized the helm himself, and, as
he piloted the vessel through the storm,
laughed at the terrors and dismay ho had
created. But the same recklessness of charm-
ler that distinguished Clive, not, however, un•
mingled with a cooler examination of his
resources than his colleagues gave him credit
for, was the source of those errors which his
admirers ever deplore. Having put his foot
upon the neck of the natives, he did not hesi-
tate to crush them to an extent far beyond the
necessity of his position. To them he was
ever ruthless ; and he never. in pursuit of his
great object of destroying them, hesitated to
break his faith.

But what in Clive's character were spots—
which we would gladly pardon, if we could,
out of admiration for his otherwise splendid
qualities, and also out of consideration of the
vast services he rendered to the State—
became the adopted and settled policy of his
pigmy successors when he left Bengal. Be-
cause he had snatched Fortune's cornucopia,
and poured out its treasures at his feet, they
deemed themselves authorised to scrape up
gold by every low and dirty means their posi-
tion afforded them the opportunity of employ-
ing. He had boldly forged a signature in
order to destroy a throne incompatible, as he
deemed it, with his country's safety—they
put up the powers of the State to auc-
tion, and, after knocking down kingdoms,
belied their engagements when the cash was
paid. He committed crimes to further his
country's glory—they in order to fill their
pockets with the proceeds of another and
another kingdom's sale.
The remainder of the history of that period
is so well known to our readers that we m.ty
be spared the task of recapitulating it. The
infamies of a Hastings—the deeper infamies
of an linpey—have been depicted in words of
fire by a Sheridan and a Burke. The me-
diocrity of a Shore has' long consigned the
name of Teignmouth to obscurity ; but we
cannot pass over, without paying to it a warm
though brief tribute of respect, the name of
the amiable, the virtuous, the good Corn-
wallis.
In later times it has been the fashion to un-
dervalue this excellent nobleman and not less
excellent Governor-General. That he should
not be appreciated by the modern school of
Indian politicians is intelligible, for nothing
was more opposed than his generous nature to
the grasping of their sordid system. An
English nobleman, he respected the rights
and pitied the fallen state of the nobility of
India, and did all he could to soften to them
the pains attending the change of rule. The
" perpetual settlement," as it is called in
Bengal, was his act, and the wisdom of it has
been shown by the fact of more advancement
having been made under it than has taken
place in any other part of India. To every
landholder holding from the Company he
gave a lease of his land at the then rental
for ever, and this laid the foundation for
that wealth and prosperity which so
conspicuously marks the territory in which
the system had existence. If the plan has not
been-even more successful—as successful as
the good Lord Cornwallis could have desired
—this has been owing to the subsequent tam-
perings of the Company, who, jealous of the
prosperity and envious of the wealth which it
has created, have long sought to make it prove
a failure, so as to justify their breaking the
covenants, and resuming the lands which the
Marquis Cornwallis thus leased away. There
are some names in India that will never
be forgotten ; but of all that have ruled there,
there is none so worshipped by the natives as
the great and good Cornwallis.
• Here we pause for the present, reserving our
further notice for another number.

La Russie et tAngleterre. Par Bruno Bauer.
Trad nit de l'Allemand. Charlottenbourg.
THE author of this pamphlet takes a German
view of the Eastern question. Ho has had
access to the best sources of information, and
though, from his local prejudices, and from his