The Express.
London, England, 1855-02-22 00:00:00

DEATH OF JOSEPH HUME.

Joseph Hume breathed his last on Tuesday, at 6
p.m., at his seat of Burnley Hall, in the county of
Norfolk: There was an unvarying kindness about
Mr. Hume, that renders it impossible for one who
was privileged to have personal intercourse with
him, to think or speak of him now as a mere states-
man. Hereafter we may attempt to estimate the

politician ; at present we can only think of him as a
friend. But the voice of the universal country will
bear us out when we say that a more practical
patriot, a more upright man, a politician more
thoroughly imbued with true unostentatious benevo-
lence, never existed. And the tenacity with which
Mr. Hume persevered, for nearly forty years,

in his advocacy of economy in the national

lexpenditure, and progress in our social and civil in-

stitutions, rendered him one of the most prominent
and influential agents in the great changes which
the nation has witnessed during that time.
Joseph Hume was born in Montrose in the January
of 1777. His father—the master of a vessel trading
from Montrose—died while he was yet an infant.
His mother—a woman of superior education and in-

telligenoe—placed him in a good Scotch school, where
he obtained an elementary training that prepared
him for entering upon his professional studies with

advantage. He went through the regular medical
curriculum at the University of Edinburgh, and
was admitted a member of the College of Surgeons
in 1796.

Soon after he had graduated, Mr. Hume en-
tered the service of the Bast India Company
as a naval surgeon. Before three years had elapsed
he was placed on the medical establishment of the
Bengal Presidency. His sound sense and keen

observation enabled him to detect the defects of the
service; in particular those which bad their origin
in the ignorance of the native languages which pre-
vailed among the Company's servants. He soon

made himself master of the most essential; and in
1803—during the Mahratta war—his knowledge of
the dialects of India enabled him to join the office
of interpreter to that of surgeon. His surpassing
energy and indefatigable perseverance enabled him at
the same time to discharge with efficiency the duties

of paymaster, postmaster,aod commissariat officer. At
- . .

one time he had the medical charge of no less than
six regiments, and he was never known to neglect
any duty he undertook. His power of communicating
with the natives gave him a command of assistance
which few other Englishmen could obtain. His
career in India terminated in 1808.
The next two years were spent by Mr. Hume in
visiting Spain and Portugal—then the theatre of war—
and the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean. On
his return to England in 1811 he obtained a seat in
Parliament—being returned for Weymouth—but

retained it less than a year. From 1812 to
1818 he remained out of Parliament. He
was not, however, idle during these six years,
but laboured diligently (as a proprietor of
East India Stock) to correct the errors, and reform
the abuses, of our Indian system. His public labour'
recommended him to the confidence of his country-
men, the late Lord Kinnaird, and his brother, the
Hon. Douglas Kinnaird. Through them Mr. Hume
was brought into connexion with the class of poli-

ticians who have since been designated as the

', philosophical" or " educated radicals." In 1818
he was invited to stand for the Montrose district of
burghs, and the impression which he made upon a
part of the influential politicians of the district as-

gambled to meet him at the seat of Mr. Maple (after-
wards Lord Panmure) was a foreshadowing of
his parliamentary career. During dinner some
one spoke eulogistically of Sir Francis Bur-
dett. " Sir Francis, " observed Mr. Hume,
"speaks big, but what has he done ?" This speech
rather startled his auditors, but Mr. Hume was not
long in showing them what he meant by doing.
No sooner had he got into the Howie of Commons
than he commenced his crusade against financial
abuses. He commenced it almost single-handed; and
for a long time he could number only six supporters
in the House of Commons :—Ricardo, Moore, Cree-
vey, and three others. But he was neither to be
dismayed nor put down. Nature had not made him
an orator, and the glib speakers of the House,
and turners of sparkling paragraphs in the papers,
attempted to laugh him into silence. Authority
attempted to scowl him down. All in vain ; he stuck
to his point ; his minorities increased, and
at last they became majorities. Mr. Hume
has taught the House of Commons to
exercise in reality its functions as auditor of the
national accounts. This is the great triumph of his
long and well•spent life. In his advocacy of religious
toleration, of parliamentary reform, of universal and
nusectarian education, he had many colleagues—
some of more dazzling and soaring genius; but as a
Financial Reformer, he stands alone and un-
rivalled.

Mr. Hume continued to sit for the Montrose
burghs from 1818 to 1830. In the last-mentioned
year he was elected for the county of Middlesex,
which he represented—with the exception of one
session, during which he eat for jLilkenny—till
1842. From 1842 till his death he represented his
native district of Montrose.
Joseph Hume has passed away from among us at
an anxious crisis of the national destinies. In the
course of nature we could not hope long to retain
him, and his health had for some time been giving
way. Still it would have been an encouragement,
in the struggle which is impending, could we have
turned our eyes to the generous and gallant veteran
and caught emulation from the glance. He has left
no liberal of equal stamina in the surviving genera-
tion. His lotig, independent, and disinterested
career; his untiring advocacy of the extension and
improvement of the education of the people ; his
unflinching exposure of, and opposition to, official'
abuses and extravagance of every kind ; his pains-
taking exertions for the preservation of the rights of
the people, as well as his unceasing efforts for their
moral and intellectual improvement and amusement,
are too well known and too generally appreciated
to render either precise description or comment
necessary.

Mr. flume's private worth, his unswerving in-
tegrity, unselfishness, gentleness, and consideration
for others, endeared him to a large circle of friends.
—Daily News.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DR. CHUCKER.
BUTTY.

--~• -

Dr. Chuckerbutty was born near Dacca, in Ben,
gal, in January, 1827. His parents were poor, but
Brahmins of the highest caste (Cottbus). Before he
was six years old he became an orphan, and wsileft
in a very destitute condition ; nevertheless, and in
the face of many difficulties, he found time to learn
Persian and Sanecrit, besides the Bongalee vernse
cyder, which, with the other village children, he was
taught at the native school.

lie was thirteen years of age before he was ewers
of the existence even of the English language, oe
had ever seen a European face, when the casual visit
of an official gentleman in the neighbourhood
excited his attention. He watched the business pro-
ceedings of the latter with great interest, and was
so impressed with what he saw, and with the im-
portance and value of this new tongue, that he
instantly resolved to acquire it at all hazard.
He took up the few clothes he possessed in
a bundle, and with a little parched rice
for his provision he walked three days' journey (80
miles), to Comillah,'a government station, where he
had heard that an English school existed. He had
no introductions and no friends there, and no money;
but he concluded a bargain with the schoolmuter
that he should be taught English in return for his
services as a cook, in which capacity his Brahmin
caste rendered him peculiarly valuable, according to
Hindoo custom in such matters. In a fortnight,
however, he fell sick, and was obliged to return home
for some months but as ,00n 88 he was well enough
he came back to his school and hie cooking, and ma
month obtained the first prise in his class.
About this time his eldest brother and uncle died,
and he was urged to go home once more to hie
family, and take charge of their affairs. But hie
progress at school had been so satisfactory that tbe
magistrate of the district and the council who
superintended the seminary for the government, sad
had also taken great interest in him from the fink
offered him a stipend to remain there. He acceptsd
this offer very gladly, and continued to pursue bis
education for three years with unremitting labour
and proportionate success. At the expiration of
that time, the late Mr. Alexander, of the Bengal civil
service, proposed to pay the expenses of an
boy in the school who would go to Calcutta and
study at the Medical College, established there a few
years previously.
Chuckerbutty was the only pupil willing to accept
this advantage, and he immediately set off for the
Presidency—a distance of thirteen days journey for
native travellers. This was in March, 1843; but on
. .

examination by the college authorities he wu not
considered sufficiently qualified to be admitted
into the list of students, frcm whom a very high
standard of English education was required. At the
'recommendation of some friends Chuckerbutty,
nothing daunted by this disappointment, was pieced
under Dr. Duff at the general assembly's school, and
there made so much progress in the ensuing nine
months as to be perfectly successful on his second
attempt to enter the Medical College, where he was
admitted in January, 1844, and where he at once
became distinguished for his zeal and industry.

A few months after this event he became so die.
gusted with the thraldom of Brahminism and its
religions hypocrisy that one evening, in a large
assemblage of his fellow countrymen, he publicly tore
off and cast away the sacred thread worn as the
peculiar insignia of the Brahmin caste, and renounced
Hindooism for ever, without, however, at that time,
assuming any other religious creed. This bold act
was then unparalleled in the annals of native history
—though it has subsequently been imitated by one or
two others—and greatly exasperated the native bigots,
isad his own family especially.
In the autumn of 1844 it was announced to the
native students of the college that an opportunity
would shortly be afforded to some of them to proceed
to England, to:pursue their professional educations
at the medical institutions of that country, with a
view to test fairly the comparative merits of English
and native youths as students; and volunteers were
requested to come forward on the occasion, though
it was much doubted whether any would be found
willing at that time to encounter the difficulties and
dangers with which such an expedition was fraught
to the Hindoo native imagination, involving,
amongst other penalties, loss of caste and of patri-
mony, and social advantages. For some days
Chuckerbutty was the only pupil who appeared
willing to accept this dangerous office (though others
afterwards followed his example), bat he did so
at once, and, without a moment's hesitation,
declared that he, at any rate, would go to
Europe, whether any one else chose to do so or
not. Many obstacles were thrown in his way
by his friends and family to deter him. It
was even attempted to retain him by force in India,
and indeed to drag him away from Calcutta alto-
gether. He baffled these schemes, and resisted all
entreaties, courageously embarking for England, with
three other enterprising fellow-students, on the Bth
March, 1845, under the charge of Dr. Goodeve, and
reaching this country a few weeks afterward' in
triumph, to begin a new career of distinction.
His subsequent progress has been more publicly
known. He was entered as a student of University
College in April, 1845, and in the first year carried
off the gold medal for comparative anatomy and
zoology, besides many certificates of honour in various
classes; and throughout the whole time of his re-
maining at the institution he was pre-eminently dis-
tinguished as well for his ability and acquirements
as for the high tone of his moral conduct and general
character.
He passed the first examination for M.B. at the
London University in 1847, and the second in 1849;
immediately afterwards taking the degree of doctor
of medicine. In 1848 he became a member of the
Royal College of Surgeons.
During his residence in Europe he acquired a very
sufficient knowledge of the Latin and Greek, and of
the French and German languages; and, with much
advantage to his education, he paid several visits to
the continent, residing for a time in the more im-
portant capital cities there, wherein he made se-
quaintance with some of their leading scientific men.
In the autumn of 1847, Dr. Chuckerbutty formally
embraced Christianity, and was baptised.
In March, 1850, he returned to India. Soon after
his arrival in Calcutta he was appointed ono of the
assistant physicians of the College Hospital, and in
that capacity he began a course of lectures on phy-
sical diagnosis, together with daily clinical instruc-
tion to the students, who highly appreciated his
teaching, as did also the Bengal Council of Educa-
tion. In 1852 he was placed in charge of the out-
door dispensary of the college, and in April, 1854,
he was appointed to officiate as professor of mated'
medica and clinical medicine. During his residence
in Calcutta he had also been gradually acquiring a
certain amount of private practice, and he published
several very interesting papers on professional sub-
jects. He had long sought in vain to obtain an
appointment in the covenanted service of the East
India Company as an assistant surgeon, but had
always been refused on the ground of being a native
of India, none of whom had been permitted to enjoy
this much-desired privilege in any department. I.la
soon, however, as he learnt that the new India Bill
had thrown open to unrestricted competition these
appointments as regarded the political and civil ser-
vices—with his wonted enterprise and courage—he
gave up all the advantages he enjoyed in Calcutta,
making great pecuniary sacrifice; and, contrary to
the advice and warning of nearly all his friends in
India, both European and native, he once more em-
barked for Europe, there again to meet the reward of
his courage and determinations, and the eminent
success which has attended his undertskiogs.—Datly
News.

INDUSTRIAL HOME FOR OUTCAST BOTS.—Last
evening a public meeting on behalf of this itagitution was
held at Exeter-ball, under the presidency of the Earl of
Shaftesbury. The meeting hayloft been opened with prayer,
his I. rdship said he would not detain them with many pre-
liminary observations, for he wu sure they needed no
stimulant from him on behalf of the institution; bat
ht
must say that he thought this country had been very rem's
with respect to institutions of a similar charaver, which, if
more numerous, would, he believed, go vi ry far to limit the
operations both of gaoler and hangman. The report
stated that 49 boys were at present in the institutioili
while several others were obtaining honest livelihoods in
Canada and other places, and that the institution was
involved in a debt of 3001. The meeting wee addressed by
the Rev. Mr. Auriol, Mr. Hill, Q.C. (recorder of Binning.
ham), J. Payne, Esq., and others, after which the proceed-
iggs Unabated.

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