The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-20 00:00:00

THE MTN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 20, 1869.

nation advanced in knowledge, in morals, in religion,
in government, in the arts, in social life ? Is there
any Indian nation at all ? There is none. With
all our military power, with all our mechanical
appliances, with all our moral efforts, we have
not succeeded in welding together the numerous
races that inhabit the country between Cape
Comorin and the Khyber Pass. We have not suc-
ceeded in making them love our rule, or in doing
more than offer us submission so long as we enforce
it. They still keep to their old religions, and Chris-
tianity has made almost no progress among them ;
they would even renew their old rites, such as
Suttee and immolation to Juggernaut, did we not

forbid them. They acknowledge that our government
is better than their own was—that it is more
equitable ; but they say that they prefer their own,
and would restore it if we gave them the opportu-
nity. At this very time a conspiracy is on foot
to bring about a new mutiny ; and Sir JOHN LAW-
RENCE leaves India conscious that this is the result
of his five years of just and conscientious govern-
ment ; conscious that were it not for our extended
railways and telegraphs, were it not that the charge
of our artillery has been taken out of the
hands of native soldiers, we should be exposed to a
renewal of the scenes of 1857. It is not a
satisfactory reflection that such efforts should have
such a reception. But let the departing VICEROY
take comfort in the thought that he could not be
expected to remedy in five years the evil effects of
the policy of ninety. It will take a good many
LAWRENCES to undo the mischief wrought by only
one such governor as DALHOUSIE ; and there were
many like him.

THE QUARTERLIES.

Though I do not find much variety in the London Quar-

telly, it is, nevertheless, a number of great merit. Its
eight articles are almost entirely devoted to theology and
kindred subjects, or criticisms on the collective works of
imaginative writers, but some of them will repay atten-
tion. The paper on William Blake is a meritorious
attempt to increase the popularity and appreciation of a
little known but remarkable genius. This sketch of the
idealist, poet, and artist is very well done, but a perfect
illustration of the mind of Blake requires what the review
could not furnish—a few facsimiles of his drawings.
Acquaintance with them out of London is, I believe, very
rare. " The Plymouth Brethren and the Christian Minis-
try " is an uncompromising, indeed fierce, attack upon

the former on behalf of the latter. The leading
doctrine of the Brethren—that the privilege of Ministers
is now common to the whole body of believers, and that
all the Christian offices of the New Testament times have

passed away, as well as the inspired Apostles, is made the
subject of controversy. There can be little doubt that
the reviewer is successful in his detailed refutation fr,m
Scripture of this prominent article of the Plymouth creed.
But his opening tirade against the policy of this sect is
far too vehement, especially as the Brethren are neither
numerous nor important, whilst their common right of
ministry doctrine is accepted in a mild form by other
denominations of much greater strength, and whose
policy is not markedly " aggressive and sectarian," and
whom it would be unfair to charge with " propagating
their doctrines in a disingenuous manner." This is not
tl:e age for hard words to make impression. The attack
upon the Plymouth Brethren is followed by an onslaught,
not less vehement, but more feeble, upon the Positivists. ,
Here, too, the writer weakens his case by overshooting
the mark. Nothing could be more legitimate than to
institute a comparison between morality with God and that

form of morality without God which is called Positivism ;
and nothing more certain than to decide such a contro-
versy against Comte. But why enter into the question
of whether virtue can exist without God? The writer
stops in the midst of his charge upon Comte, and turns
aside to break a lance with the Rev. R. W. Dale, who
believes that, "apart from the recognition of God, how-
ever, virtues lose their purest grace and their perfect
beauty, but they are virtues still." Without deciding
between this writer and the reviewer, I may observe that
the subject is a very large and thankless one, and involv-
ing not remotely the great question of the heathen, and,
further, that it has but a general connection with Posi-
tivism. But the reviewer goes farther : demands to know
how the Positivists claim to be a philosphical sect at all,
and after a few pages assumes that they are not a philoso-
phical sect. Surely Positivism may claim to be a
philosophy, and surely it is unworthy of a defender
of the Christian religion to deny the followers of Comte
' the poor satisfaction of regarding themselves as a
philosophical sect. After the Plymouth Brethren and
Positivism, an article on social and religious progress
in India is a refreshing change. Indian affairs are
assuming greater importance in the eyes of people at home
than they were wont to do, but we are still far from being
able to claim the credit of giving our vast possession the
consideration which they require. It is satisfactory, how-
ever, to find from this, as from other sources, that British
rule progresses steadily, though slowly. Those who have
not read Miss Carpenter's work will find some valuable
information in this article. It shell's, for instance, that
the influence of British rule has been felt in nothing
so much as in improving the position of the weaker
sex in India. The abolition of the suttee was
the first of a series of reforms which is now bearing sub-
stantial fruit. Women in India are not now regarded in
the light of chattels ; they have acquired many of the
better habits of European life; and education, though still
far behind, is not at all stationary. The subject is exceed-
ingly interesting. I must not, however, omit to warn the
reader of Miss Carpenter's work that some of her informa-
tion applies to only a portion of India, and that some of
her deductions are upon insufficient evidence. She has
committed the common fault of English travellers in look-
ing at a question " through her eye-glass," and then
writing about it ; nevertheless, I see nothing in this
paper to which objection may be taken. The
article on Swinburne is good a fair estimate
of the genius of the writer, and a fair expose of his
great fault. The criticism on George Macdonald is less
appreciative and liberal. It is true that the author of
" Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood" addresses himself
chiefly to an audience of young ladies ; but is the securing
the attention of such an audience an achievement to be
despised? As the religious teacher even of one class,
Mr. Macdonald does not labour in vain. An article on
" The Mythical and Heretical Gospels," and another on
" Tertullian, the African Divine," make up a very good

issue.

The December number of the North British is marked
by accustomed ability, and by a wider range of subjects
than is usual with this Review. There is less of the theo.
logical and didactic element, which has sometimes unduly
preponderated in its pages, and more that will find its,
way to the tastes and sympathies of readers south of the
Tweed. Lady Minto's animated and graphic memoirs
of her grandfather, the Right Hon. Hugh Elliot,
occupy the first place, and the critic very happily sum-
marises the substance of the work, giving at the same
time ample evidence of its brilliant and vivacious style by
frequent quotations. Mr. Elliot was for some years
British Representative at Berlin, where the redoubtable
Frederick then ruled with unflagging will, though with
failing strength. By an act which was undoubtedly highly
indiscreet the Ambassador contrived to embroil himself
with the King, and an external reconciliation did not prevent
Frederick from seizing every opportunity for aggravating
and insulting the envoy. This was playing with edged
tools, for the most pointed shafts of the King were turned
aside by the ready wit of the assailed. Some amusing
instances of this war of words are given. On one occasion
"an ill-conditioned fellow" was sent to the London
Embassy merely.to spite the English Cabinet. " What do
they say of - in London ?" asked Frederick, tauntingly.
" Digne re',presentant de votre Majestd," replied Mr. Elliot,
bowing to the ground. Again, when questioned by Frede-
rick as to the antecedents of Hyder Ali, who had been
ravaging the British territories in the Carnatic, Mr.
Elliot curtly described him as "an old despot who had
greatly pillaged his neighbours." The defeat of Ryder
Ali by the British arms, and the official expression of
gratitude to Providence, drew from the spiteful King the
remark that he did not know before that England counted
Providence among her allies. "The only one, sire, that
she does not pay," was the cutting and well-merited retort.
Two poets, one English and the other French, are dis-
cussed in separate essays. The life of Alfred de Musset
forms but a melancholy and unsatisfactory page in
the history of genius, exhibiting as it does one of those
painful and striking instances in which the capacities and
aspirations of the intellect are utterly at variance with the
achievements of the life. The copious extracts given from
his poems will enable the reader, if they are new to him,
to form a tolerably accurate idea of their character and
tendency. The poet undoubtedly escaped many of the
drawbacks which cramp ordinary French verse, but the
spirit and morality of his principal poems is
only too French in its morbid sentiment. Very
different is the nature of the other writer, whose literary
career is discussed in a succeeding essay. Robert Brown-
ing belongs to an entirely opposite school, and his poems,
if too obscure to influence the multitude, have at least no
evil tendency. The author of the article upon him is an
enthusiastic admirer, notwithstanding he tempers his
admiration with occasional censure. But the enthusiasm
which a writer so involved and so unmelodious can

command is likely to be extremely limited in its circle, and
if Robert Browning has to complain of neglect, he must
blame those defects in his own style and manner which
prevent him from either appealing to the popular sympa-
thies or catching the popular ear. The writer of the article
before us cannot be taken as a guide. His own style shews
very plainly that he belongs to the school of Carlyle and
Browning and other really gifted men who, having truths
to teach the world, labour to make them, it would seem,
as hard of comprehension as possible. Thus, speaking of
Wordsworth's "two simplicities" of style, as shewn
in his blank verse and in his lyrics, the critic writes
as follows :—" The one, in its simplification, may
seem to have thinned itself to a lisp, or discharged
itself of burthen almost into a blank ; and in the other, the
lashing of the tail that should by gradual spires intervolve
all into the due consummation of sense ecstatically rapt to
the giddy brink of nonsense, may have been too glaringly
manifest." A writer who could pen such a sentence
must certainly not be accepted as a representative
of the tastes or the requirements of ordinary English
readers. It is worthy of George Gilfillan. A very
interesting and able history of the progress of
Indian railways takes us from the heights of fancy to the
practical business of life. The vast importance of an
extended railway system to a country previously without
any regular or certain means of communication in parts is
strongly insisted upon, and the effect already produced by
the lines in full service is highly encouraging. Sometimes
the task of construction is one of enormous difficulty, as
in the case of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway,
carried across the Ghaut range in the neighbourhood
of Bombay—a line of precipices averaging in that
part 2,000 feet in height. The rivers are often as
formidable to the engineer as the mountains. The bridge
across the Sone consists of twenty-eight spans, each com-
posed of iron girders 150 feet long, and the whole length
is nearly a mile. Very picturesque is the motley group
assembled at an Indian railway station, and very charac-
teristic the flowery language in which the native passenger
appeals to the hard-hearted guard to be allowed to take
his luggage with him in the carriage, and so avoid the
heavy luggage dues. "Oh, protector of the poor,
what words are those I hear ? Behold this most
insignificant of parcels. It is absolutely less than nothing."
What would one of our English railway guards say if
addressed in such a fashion? The importance of Indian
railways as auxiliaries to the Government must not be
overlooked among their other advantages. They are well
summed up in the concluding sentence of this article. "In
1857 Delhi was distant by at least a month's march from
Calcutta. To-day an army of men, in every way ready to
take the field, may be moved from one of these places to
the other in forty-eight hours—thanks to Indian railways."
A German novel, "The Amazon," supplies the material
for an entertaining paper, and due honour is paid to John
Bright as an orator in an essay on his speeches in connec-
'Eon with the late elections.
The Quarterly Journal of Science contains an article on
"National Institutions for Practical Scientific Research,"
and discusses a very important question brought specially
under the consideration of the British Association at its
last meeting by Colonel Strange and Dr. Mann. Colonel
Strange as Government Inspector of Scientific Instruments
for the India Department, and Dr. Mann as Superinten-
dent of Education and Special Commissioner of the
Government of Natal, are well qualified to form an
opinion as to the need for increased State action
in developing and assisting our knowledge of practical
science. So strongly and so successfully did Colonel
Strange plead his cause before the Norwich tribunal, that
a committee, comprising many eminent names,
was appointed to consider whether there existed
in the United Kingdom sufficient provision for
the vigorous prosecution of physical research. Colonel
Strange, at least, is in no doubt on this point, and in the
paper before us the arguments in favour of State interven-
tion are ably and lucidly set forth. Out of the general
conviction of the need for such intervention have arisen
State observatories for astronomical research. It is not
possible for even the most ardent imagination to conceive
that the results arrived at in special departments by their
means could have bzen secured in any other way ; if, for
instance, the tables of the moon had been exclusively
contributed by a few private observers, and each following
his own independent method, instead of the work being
carried on under the direction of the Astronomer Royal.
"To the State is due all that has been done for preserving
in uncontaminated integrity the national standards of
length, weight, and capacity. What private or simply co-
operative agency could have Eecured the result which has
been already attained at Bloomsbury and South Ken-
sington? The influence for good of the School of Mines
in Jermyn-street is now widely recognised and accepted,
and that certainly is an establishment which could not have
been organised and supported otherwise than by the
State. The Kew Observatory, although not a State insti-
tution, is a very noteworthy instance on the same side of
the argument." It is further observed that the duty of
encouraging and prosecuting scientific research belongs of
right to the older nations of the civilised world. The
young communities, who have to people vast tracts, to
subdue the wilderness, and to cultivate the desert, have
their work marked out for them in another direction. Yet
one of our own colonies has recently set us a notable
example. Great Britain has at the present moment
not a single first-class telescope at work adapted
fer the required investigations now demanded from
the astronomer; while, thanks to the public spirit of
the Melbourne Government, an instrument of this class
has just been completed, at a larg public outlay, for the
colony of Victoria. In an articae on the great solar
eclipse of August 18, it is notred that the phenomenon
stands alone in the annals of astronomy. The time of its
duration, nearly seven minutes a t the maximum, exceeded
that of all recorded eclipses, and wore than thirty genera.
tions of astronomers will come and go before an equal
length of totality be witnessed. We shall the more appre-
ciate this fact when we remember that the great eclipse of
1860, when the physical constitution of the red protuber-
ances was ascertained, lasted only 3 minutes, so that it is
not surprising the eclipse of 1868 should have excited
unprecedented interest in the scientific world. In a careful
review of the scientific progress achieved during the year
just concluded, the spectroscope plays an important part.
Some of the most interesting discoveries of modern
astronomical science have been effected through
its aid. The November meteors, which excited
so much attention the year before last, have been
decided by our observers to belong to belts of meteors
which move with planetary regularity within the limits of
the solar system. They are visible during a space of about
five hours, so that, as the earth traverses the meteor
stratum in space at the rate of 18,000 miles an hour, this
gives us an expanse of 90,000 miles more or less densely
filled with these mysterious bodies. Two other considera-
tions press upon the mind of the observer : first, the
thickness with which the central line of the meteoric
belt is studded with these luminous bodies, since within an
hour they have been counted by hundreds; and, secondly,
the evidence of the continuity of the meteor zone afforded
by the annual recurrence of the meteoric showers, though
the part traversed by the earth varies by millions of miles
from year to year.

ifeliora naturally turns to the two most pressing social
I problems of the day—our increasing pauperism, and our
prison discipline ; and, equally naturally and very justly,
this representative of temperance views finds in the uni-
versal passion for alcoholic liquors the secret of our ever-
' growing army of paupers. The more the matter is
inquired into, says the writer, the more apparent becomes
the connection between our drinking habits and the
development of pauperism. "It is not pauper colo-
nies, public works, arts, or working men's clubs that
we most want. Even as mere palliatives these would
prove useless. Nothing less than a change in our drinking
habits and the greater restriction of the drink traffic will
meet the emergency." It is always interesting to have the
views of an earnest and practical social reformer upon a
subject of such increasing importance. There can be no
doubt that intemperance is the greatest influence in pro-
ducing the pauperism from which England suffers so
much, though there can be no doubt that the
want of work is another real cause of distress.
The article on prison discipline gives a very cheering
account of the good which may be effected by an en-
lightened and reformatory system as opposed to a merely
primitive method. The former
plan has been tried with
signal success by Mr. Edwards, governor of Devonport
Gaol, who has not only effected a saving of £250
a year in the charges of the prison, but has produced
a sensible effect on the number of re-committals.
Mr. Edwards founc's his system upon three principles :
first, that nothing shall be done for the prisoners that they
can do for themselves ; that all labour shall be remunera-
tive ; and that from every prisoner capable and willing a
certain amount of work shall be exacted. The work done
by the prisoners comprises an unusual variety. All the
clothes required for prison use are made, washed, and
mended in the establishment. The garden produces all
the vegetables required for the use of the prison absolutely
free of cost. Besides this, the prisoners do whatever car-
pentering, masans' work, and painting may be wanted,
while their other employments consist of oakum-picking,
sack-making, and mat and brush-making. The mat-making
is the most profitable of these, though the governor never
finds any difficulty in disposing of his wares. Care is
taken that the prisoners shall never want remunerative
employment, and the shot-drill and crank are never used.
The governor's experience has shewn him that renumerati ve
labour is at once more punitive and more reformatory than
ordinary prison discipline; and so fully are the local
authorities convinced of the superior excellence of his
system, that they make it a rule at Devonport not to
sentence criminals to hard labour, since by recent legisla-
tion the first three months of the term must be spent at
unproductive work. Mr. Edwards's plan for inducing his
prisoners to work well is very original and effective. His
ride is that every prisoner capable of work shall earn
the cost of his or her food. On their entry into the prison
he tells them what they have to do, and the consequences
of failure. If they do fail, they are not confined in the
dark cells, which are never used at Devonport, but they
are punished, nevertheless. An adequate proportion of
the daily allowance of food is cut off, the full amount of
work being at the same time exacted. Mr. Edwards acts
upon the scriptural precept, " He that will not work,
neither shall lie eat," and he records with
satisfaction that he has never known it to fail.
A paper on " Almanacks, Old and New," is
appropriate to the season. It gives some curious
and entertaining particulars respecting the early
almanack makers, who were many of them more success-
ful in their ventures than they deserved to be. In alma-
nacks, as in other branches of periodical literature, there -
is, fortunately, a marked improvement at the present
day.

LATEST INTELL MENU.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

BELGIUM.

BRUSSELS, Jan. 19.

The bulletin of the health of the Prince Royal
since the 11th inst. has been published, according
to which his Royal Highness's state has seriously
changed for the worse.

PORTUGAL.

LISBON, Jan. 19.

It is said that the King has received a telegram
from the Duke of Saldanha, in which he declines
the task of forming a new Ministry, on the ground
of the impossibility of organising a Cabinet which
shall satisfy both the King and the people. The
King afterwards summoned the Marquis La de
Bandeira, and charged him to continue with the
present Ministers. It is said that one of his first
acts will be the dissolution of the Chambers.

TURKEY.

CONSTANTINOPLE, Jan. 19.

The newspaper report that Mr. Morris, the
American Minister, had been recalled on account
of some disagreement with the Porte, has been for-
mally denied, and it is stated that the relations be-
tween the Turkish Government and Mr. Morris
continue excellent.

BOMBAY (HEAVY) MAIL.

GIBRALTAR, Jan. 18.

The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer
Massilia, from Alexandria, arrived here to-day at
7 a.m., and leaves at 11 a.m. for Southampton,
where she may be looked for on the 23d instant.
All well.

INDIA, CHINA, AND AUSTRALIAN MAILS.

MESSINA, Jan. 20.
The Syria passed through the Straits of Messina
at 5 o'clock this morning en route for Marseilles.