The Press.
London, England, 1854-03-11 00:00:00

before his circumatanoes admit of it, he may remain a poor
man all his life ; but if he will be content to economise in
this as well as other things at first, he may in time he able
to travel as quick as Le likes.
But this is comparatively a very insignificant part of the
question. The main point is, that iu thus aiming at a very
high speed at once we certainly delude ourselves oompletely,
and lose the very thing we are aiming at. The advocates
for high speed say, " Let us have a thoroughly good speed
at once ;" and then they proceed to attain their end by laying'
down in one corner of India a few miles of their grand'
railroad. along which you may travel your first stage at
thirty miles an hour, and then continue along the remaining
1,000 miles of your journey at three miles an hour if the
monsoon permits you to move at all. They have laid ten
miles a year at Bombay, so that ten years hence, if a gentle-
man wanted to go from thence to Calcutta, he might go the
first 10 miles in three hours, and the remaining 1,200 in
seventeen days, travelling night and day ; or his average
speed would be 8} miles. The extent of the spaces for
which we have to provide communications is totally lost
sight of, and in consequence of this the whole system is
without a foundation.
A few of the axioms adduced by way of con-
clusion are worthy of being impressed on the
memory of every Indian reformer.
1. The great point to be kept in view is, not
to make the most perfect communication over
a short distance, at heavy cost, leaving the
rest of the country untouched ; but to adopt a
system by which the principal part of the cost
of transit will be saved throughout the whole
country in the shortest possible time.
2. As a consequence of the above, high.
speed railways are unsuited to the present
state of India, and absorb money which might
be more usefully expended elsewhere.
3. A great extent of river navigation may be
improved and canals cut, so as to lessen cost
of transit on such lines by nine-tenths, at a
cost varying from 1001. to 3001. per mile. Be-
sides this, cheap lines of railway and good
common roads ought to be largely under-
taken.
4. In England the probable coat of convey-
ance of goods is eight millions, or one-seventh
the amount of public taxation. In India it is
probably fifteen millions, or three-fifths the
amount of taxation.
a. The traffic of India is susceptible of al-
most unlimited increase and two-thirds of it
would be effectually accommodated by the
construction of 20,000 miles of road, railway
(cheap) and canal, with improved river navi-
gation, at a cost of 350/. per mile, equal to
7.000,000/.
6. Whatever is done should be done quickly
—done under effective superintendence, and
with borrowed money, not waiting for a sur-
plus out of the current revenue. The invest-
ment is safe, the profit certain, the national
benefit incalculable.

Ticonderoga ; or, the Black Eagle. A Tale of
Times not long Past. By G. P. R. James,
Esq. London : Newby.
WE have often been amused with the contrast
iu an assize court between the inexperience of
a clever young banister, with natural talents
but little training, and the calm skill of a vete-
ran practitioner, whose knowledge of routine
makes him more than a match for the undisci-
plined intellect of his more gifted and youth-
ful competitor. A similar contrast may be
seen between that long-tried storyteller, Mr.
James, and the throng of clever but crude
writers who seek to encroach upon his prac-
tice in supplying a certain amount of fiction.
The author of " Ticonderoga " has gone for
twenty years the rounds of all the Eng-
lish libraries, and since his settlement in
America he appears resolved to travel the
" Far Western " circuit as a fictionist. He is
still as able as ever in addressing his literary
juries, states his romantic cases with the regu-
larity of an old practitioner, puts his charac-
ters into the witness-box in duo form, and now
and again appeals to the feelings, in that
matter-of-fact style of eloquence which, though'
not classical, is often highly effective with
"common juries." He succeeds, with his un-
tiring energy and sound professional know-
ledge, in ga►ning an approving verdict from
his readers. He seems never to be baffled,
like other novelists, by the difficulties of a
plot. If it flags for want of incidents, he gets
up a duel, wounds one of his heroes, and casts
a heroine into an incipient consumption, of
which she is cured at the end of the third vo-
lume by matrimony. If the plot has too

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