The Express.
London, England, 1853-07-05 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

0. p: • Ed,nburgh n,coeic. By Fit %am
'mot U niece is Oae V,...0 ne. Lenamant.
NV.th all It faults, the Edinhurit lter:r e must
always be looked upon as one of the most important
teatnres of the literature of the nineteenth century.
We may have got beyond its teaching now ; we may
be able to point out other periodicals which are more
on a level with the advanced state of public opinion;
we may min our faith on the exertions of other men
than those who guided—and, it must be confessed,
tyrannised over—public opinion, in the palmy days
of the Edinburgh : but we cannot deny that the
brilliant phalanx of men who directed the infant
steps of the 110 ie,r, and who, with a few
exceptions, remained its faithful adherents during
the whole of the time that it was •
power in the country, were better fitted than any
others to wield the power which the success of the
publication placed in their hands. They were
honest, learned, active, and enthusiastic ; and, if
they never got beyond whiggism, they at the same
time represented whiggism in its most attractive
form. It must not be forgotten that the Edir.burgA
during the time when it exercised a plenitude of
power, advocated with more or less energy almost
every measure which found favour in the eyes of re-
formers. Amongst the most celebrated of those
whose names will go down to posterity u the sup-
porters of the Reriew is that of Francis Jeffrey. To
no one so much as to him is owing the great success
of the publication. Not only were his literary ser-
vices at least equal in amount and value
to those of any other contributor, but to his admini-
strative talents. and his sound judgment was it
owing that the Renew so seldom made a false step. ,
The present volume of his contributions contains
not all but a majority of the most valuable essays of
the author. He himself states that he has reprinted
less than a third of his compositions. What ho has re-
printed will be most instructive to the stu-
dent of the history of the literature and po-
lities of the century. There is scarcely any
hterney phenomenon that is not noticed. There
is scarcely any great oscillation or change in
public opinion, which is not made the subject of com-
ment. And the criticisms are in every came vigo-
rous. Still better, they are honest, and generally
kindly. You may in many instances dissent par-
belly or totally from the principles which form the
bun, of the writer's reasonings, but you feel certain
that you are not beiug played with. You know that
you are reading something more than mere dialectic
freeing. There are some of Lord Brougham's essays
which are more profound and more daring; there are
some of Sydney Smith's, which are characterised by a
more exquisite play (einem, a more delicate humour,
• a more brilliant wit ; but there arc none by any other
contributor, which betray a more accurate compre-
hension of the subject under dummies, more pains-
taking endeavours to arrive at an honest judgment,
more careful balancing of contending arguments.
Jeffrey writes until he is full of his subject.
He is never incomplete. He always says the best
that he can say, on any particular point. He never
errs by forgetfulness or laziness. The work he per-
forms is sure to be done as well as the faculties he
enable him to do it. He consequently bad
dale to of.
These essays will maintain their place in English
literature by their intrinsic worth, but even were they
less valuable on this ground, they must be ever
cherished by literary men as records of one who did
much in his day to elevate the character of the lite•
nary profession.

Pine Forests and Hoematark Clearings; or Travel, Life
and Adventure in the British North American Provinces
By Lisut -Colonel Sultan, C.IIII. Bentley.
Pine forests are the prevailing feature of the British
North American continent, stretching along the
shores of the Atlantic and timbering the bays and
rivers which disembogue themselves into the Gulf of
St. Lawrence. Hacmatack is the Indian name for
the larch, the tree next in frequency to the pine. The
great cities and cultivated lands of British America
are in locations formerly covered with the hacma-
tack. The author refers to these locations as " Hoc-
Intact clearings." So much in explanation of the
rather quaint title of the book, which treats of moat
mitten connected with every department of life in
the Canada+.
Colonel Sleigh has bad every opportunity of
making himself thoroughly acquainted with the
scenes which he describes. He was born on the
shores of the St. Lawrence. He resided at different
periods, for a lengthened time, in the British American
provinces. He has acted in the several capacities,
while in the country, of a field officer of the militia,
a lieutenant commanding a regiment, and a justice
of the peace. The information he has been enabled
to impart is, therefore, varied and extensive, although
we cannot say that it is calculated to quiet the minds
of those who have been accustomed to consider the
state of our North American provinces a matter
for anxious consideration. Whether or not the sys-
tem under which these important possessions are
governed is calculated to afford such political advan-
tages to the colonies as they have a right to expect
may perhaps be inferred from the following extract :
Neva Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island,
and Canada, have each a Lieutenant-Governor, an
&lenitive Council, • Legislative Council, and a House
of Assembly. Each colony is independent of the
ethers, and passes what laws it deems best for itself,
without soy consideration for the interests of its neigh-
bours, whom it in fact considers as aliens. This spirit
eyes extendi to • jealousy se keenly felt, that in many
articles a prohibitory duty is levied by one province upon
the imports of another. Viewing the maritime provinces of
British North America, they as nearly as possible assimilate
to rival states, with views and in t to foreign to each
other. The benefit which a republic confers by granting
high offices to members of any one state of the Union, who
may be placed as presidents or senaton to govern the whole,
or vote upon questions affecting any individual state, or the
states as a confederacy, is unobtainable by • colonist.
Hence, the denizens of °se province are in perfect igno-
MCA respecting the affairs of another. This absence
of reciprocal information cannot be better ezemplified
than by referring to the late dispute with the United States
npm the fishery question One province—an Wand in the
Gulf of St Lawrence— represented through the governor
to the home authorities the vast benefits which would arise
trots throwing open the fisheries to the Americans, and
that, unless this were done speedily by treaty, the islanders
would be the more inclined to join the United States, and
that on this question mainly depended the loyalty of the
edentate. At the same period a large and influential
meeting was held in Halifax, which was attended by
very eloquent men of all classes and shades of politics,
at which it was unanimously resolved, that to throw open
ofe fisheries to the would be a groes violation
said faith on partth of the mother country, and would
tend more than anything else to lessen those feelings of
Welty which bad hitherto so warmly beat in the breasts
et the Nova Scotian.. Hen we see two neighbouring
'donne, almost within sight of each other, threatening to
lissome rebels, if Great Britain assent., or refuses to assent,
teepee the fisheries to the citizens of the United States.
The political system at present in operation in those colonies
mast be radically wrong, when such • difference of views
end irteresta exists between neighbouring provinces, both
maritime in their situation, and upon which the operation
of the fishery question must be identical.
In addition to this we may observe, that when a
railway between Halifax and Nova Scotia is dis-
cussed, Nova Scotia proposes new !guarantees, New
Brunswick differs from the Halifaxians, and Canada
dissents from the propositions of both. The offices, civil
and military, of the colonies are generally filled either
by persons sent from England, or by friends of the
party in power, and the colonists fe sl that they are
delivered over to the tender mercies of a bureaucracy.
Speaking of Prince Edward Island, the author
remarks:
This government has invariably been he by younger'
ai a stepping-stone to more lucrative and distinguished
appointments. An aged person filling it is an evidence of
lb being accepted as • dormer resort. But the qualifica-
tions of • governor ef a province are wit always discoverable
is as sz.M.P. and a broken-down merchant, although,
.ssth to say, they have sometimes been gratuitously in-
fested in their behalf. A cruel injustice is ionicted upon
the colonies in a too often indiscriminate selection of men for
• sash high offices. Better would it be, and cheaper for the
grown, if, instead of sending imbecile dotage to govern •
oniony at 1,5001. a year, out of which 1,00(M. a year might
be saved far the live years' service (and with the 5,000/. so
saved, an annuity purchased for an aged pail of 2001. a year),
--bitten, we repeat, to place a decayed member thuz situ-
ated es the pension list, at 2001 a year, with " rewainder'•
to his wife, than jeopardise a British province, by sending
eat men, whom a cruel necessity compels to approve of
every measure, however crude and suicidal its nature,
which may be brought forward be an ignorant council, and
who dare not encounter. by a refusal to obey the insolent
Wiest* of the maj,,rsty, a chance of deprivation of office,
in emoluments, and its petty colonial power.
The argument he deduces from his ex sex of the
mischief of want of union and dependence on the
Gauntry. is that a constitution should be granted
which should endeavour to unite the whole interests
of the provinces. He expects by this means that a
"nationality" will be secured for the colonies, that
the colonists having their genuine ambition gratified.
Will be as eager for the development of the resources

of their nation " as the inhabitants of the United
States. To those who want information on the state
of public opinion, in ail the dependencies, many of
the author's statements will be as amusing as in-
structive.
As a book of travels the work possesses
great interest. The au!hor misses nothing of
interest in his way, and tells his own adven-
tures with considerable humour and force. The
description of his crossing Northumberland Straits,
and the perils undergone in the "icy passage," is
admirably done, and is calculated to make " gentle.
men of England who live at home at ease" thank
the fates that they live in a country of railroads and
bridges. We can recommend Colonel Sleigh as an
admirable guide through the provinces, and one
whose opinions as to the political evils of the colo-
nies and their remedies are entitled to great respect,
although we should not be prepared to endorse the
whole of them.

Tkf Admsnisiration of the East India Company. By
J. W. K.tvr. Bentley.
The world—ever prone to error—had hitherto
imagined that monopolies—especially such mono-
polies as cripple the circulation or enjoyment of the
necessaries of life—are injurious to wealth, enter-
prise, and morality ; and that of such are the land,
salt, and opium monopolies of India. It is an error from
which Mr. Kaye himself has not always been free.
In his Calcutta Review, no longer back than the
autumn of 1851, he enforced the topic with much
shrewd wit, and showed conclusively—from the com-
pany's own records—of what financial mischief the
great Indian grievance of monopolies had been the
fruitful parent.
The figures and the facts were conclusive, as
the argument was specious. The " Cawnpeme
Statistical Tables " furnished the one ; the
writer's own experience the other. And yet the
labour was somewhat supererogatory. It needed
little argument, few facts, and fewer figures, to
prove that a rack-rent of 70, or even 30, per cent. d
a " net " produce, estimated on the basis of a aim-
latton, which allotted to the wretched Indian ryet
the magnificent weekly sum of sixpence-halfpenny
to find himself. his wife, and family in food, clothing,
and shelter, and to defray the expense of tillage be-
side, was a rack-rent with a vengeance. It was
as tittle necessary to go into a long demonstration, to
prove that, in a country where land—thanks to
our sordid legislation—is the only available branch
of commerce left to its people—the system of forcing
the most fertile districts of Bengal out of the
market and into the opium market—of
the reluctant ryot to submit to the unnatural
tion—of prohibiting the grower from seeking woe
his own market for the drug—and of coercing him to
sell it to his landlord, the company, at one-fifth of its
market value, so as to enable the company to sell M
again to the Chinese at a handsome profit (although,
by the wa), in flagrant violation of their Charter
Ast of 1833, by which all buying and selling
an for evermore interdicted to the mid ism-
cony)—that none of these things, to say tho los*
uld redound very much to the good of the spied-
twist or the merchant. The same might ham beta
surmised of the company's salt monopoly, and the',
rigid systems of customs and excise by which it is
supported. In a country where, from the nature of
the climate and the character of the diet, salt is much
Imore of a necessary of life than in any other part of
the known world, and where the extreme misery of
the people and the scanty remuneration of labour,
(less than • penny a day, according to the company's
own estimate the "Cawnpore Statistical Tables,'
already quoted, or twopence a day, if we take this
maximum to which they are enabled by the nuke-
quent charity of individuals occasionally to reach)—
where the soil teems with salt, and where,but for the
fiscal regulations aforesaid, every man, woman, and
child might have it for the asking—thom vege-
tations are somewhat harsh, which do so salaam
the price of the article to the consumer, that it costs
him nine weeks' labour, if valued according to the
unofficial estimate,—or eighteen weeks' labour if
valued according to the " C..awnpore Tables"—to
in for himself (not to speak of his family) his
of salt for the year.
But it seems that wewere all wrong, and Mr.Kwy•
is particular ; and we are invited to concur in his
recantation. We are assured that Indian rack-rents,
such as we have described them, are so little a
burden to the tenant, that Bengal, where they are
highest—where they are permanent—and where
the sixpence halfpenny a week system is sanctioned
and established,—the contentment, comfort, and
iwealth of the peasantry are very great.
Then, as to the opium trade. If it were not a
ieteopoly of the honourable company, consider
what perils to commerce ! Mr. Kaye has " a
friend " at the India House, who gives strange
information on that head. " There is no-
thing," quoth the said "friend" (p. 686), "like
• comparison between a system as carried on
vernment, and a system as carried on by individuals,
Socha comparison I find at hand, between the MEW
facture of opium by government, and that of indigo
by individuals." It is true that the manufacture d
opium is a sperialittf, utterly dependent upon the
caprice of a foreign monarch, the Chinese Emperor
(who, it appears, has put an end to it, since " the
friend" penned his observations), whilst that of in-
digo is maintained by the wants and interests of the
whole commercial world. For within the brief spate
of the forty years, which have elapsed since the trade
began, the Indian commodity has not only put
an end to the pleference once accorded to the
indigo of America, but has actually driven out that
rival, and extinguished all chance of competition
from every quarter. It is true also that this is done,
" without burdening the calendar or filling the
pas ",p. 687). But then " the ryot is not con-
ionted—a fact afflictive to the Company! "There
is on the part of the capitalist a free recourse to the
influence of position ;" a, fact which greatly stirs the
Company's generous bile ! "In addition to this,
there are disputes between cultivator and capitalist,
or between two capitalists, and litigation :" foots
which make the gentle Company to shuddej!
We wonder that the India House do not press thisati-
imitable argument further. It might be shown how
eompletely every step hitherto taken, in the direction
in which it is audaciously proposed still tomarch, has
turned out a failure. All the world knows that not
an ounce of tea is to be had, since the Company gave
up the China tea trade, or at least only at a mast
exorbitant price; and even then without profit to
do shopkeeper who sells it. There is no trade
at all with India, nor has been since 1813, when that
branch of the Company's monopoly was lopped away.
There are no European merchants in India, nor have
boss ever since the present Charter Act was passed;
—and the reason is that the Company's government
were deprived by that act of their old power of pro-
hibition and forcible deportation. Many other in-
stances will occur to our readers, all pointing irresis-
tibly in the same direction with the present argument
of the India House!
But that venerable personage outdoes herself
when she comes to treat of salt. If other monopolies
cannot be surrendered with due regard to " protection
for Oriental industry," the maintenance of the salt
monopoly is the triumph at once of free trade and
Protection. It is not so much from the fear of losing
"about a million of revenue," as because "the free
import of Liverpool and Manchester salt by sea"
would be prevented, and the condition of " the pea-
santry of the salt producing localities " changed, that
the resistance of the East India Company to the pro-
prosal of abandonment is attributed (p. 675)! A
self-devotion the more extraordinary, since " the free
import of salt by sea " has hitherto been resisted by
the same Company as the worst enemy to their
power in India; and the more noble, since, so far as
the " Liverpool and Manchester" shippers are con-
cerned, the abandonment of the salt monopoly, far
from being dreaded, is declared and felt to be the
sole condition on which the trade can exist.
We very much fear that the Company are out of their
element in this instance. They have taken a bold
flight—we wish that it may not prove to them an
Icarian one. Mr. Kaye is at home upon the money-
question. Let him keep to that. Nc elder ultra
crepidam. At all events, he had better not meddle
with Free Trade, it he wants a more specious argu-
ment for the monopoly than the Company's profit.
Free Trade and East India Company are terms not
-qv convertible.

EMPLOYERS AND WORKMEN.— The dispute be-
tween the Southampton journeymen painters, plumbers,
sad gin:len and their masters still exists in consequence of
four of the principal employen declining to accede to the
dssaaad of the men, which is that their wages shall be in-
creased sizpence a day. It is expected that the men will
OW.