The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-18 00:00:00

It was Sir Colin himself, who, wide awake in a minute,
gazed at me with some wonder. I apologised and told him
my story; he laughed, and said, Well, take a fresh de-
parture from this point now, and you must come upon your
tent down that street.' I did so, and next distinguished
myself by walking in upon Mansfield, who was sitting up
reading. After disturbing all the camp I got to my own
tent at last. The position of it had been changed, owing to
the arrival of Col. Percy Herbert and others at head-quar-
ters. We were near the famous ruins of Kunouj to-day, the
great Hindoo city and seat of empire. An old man who
sold rosewater and preserved tamarinds, and who told us he
had been guide to Lord Lake, promised to come in the even-
ing and conduct us to the place, but he did not keep his
word, and so I missed seeing those very wonderful remains,
which are, however, only appreciable by one who is better
yersed in Hindoo antiquities than most of us are. Only
one or two officers went; and they came back, declaring it
was a do—a sham, nothing but old bricks and rubbish.' "
The difficulties attendingour Indian rule struck the
author most forcibly. 'While moralising over the
ruins of Cawnpore he asks, How shall we prevent
the recurrence of such a catastrophe ? and proceeds
as follows ;
" I am deeply impressed by the difficulty of ruling India,
as it is now governed by force, exercised by a few who are
obliged to employ natives as the instruments of coercion.
That force is the base of our rule I have no doubt; for I
see nothing else but force employed in our relations with
the governed. The efforts to improve the condition of the
people are made by bodies or individuals who have no con-
neclion with the Government. The action of the Govern-
ment in matters of improvement is only excited by consi-
derations of revenue. Does it, as the great instructor of
the people, the exponent of our superior morality and civi-
ligation—Les it observe treaties, show itself moderate, and
just, and regardless of gain ? Are not our courts of law
condemned by ourselves ? Are they not admitted to be a
curse and a blight upon the country? In effect, the grave,
unhappy doubt which settles on my mind is, whether India is
the better for our rule, so far as regards the social condition of
the great mass of the people. 'We have put down widow-
burning, we have sought to check ; but I have
travelled hundreds of miles through a country peopled with
beggars and covered with wigwam villages."
He enters very little into the details of the earlier
part of the revolt. So much has been said on the
subject, that not having been an eye-witness it
would have been futile for him to have enlarged
upon it. With regard to the unchecked advance
of the mutineers from Meerut to Delhi he expresses
a feeling of indignation which was very generally
felt in this country:—
" Although I heard many circumstances adduced in ex-
tenuation of the cardinal errors and fatal incapacities which
pre-eminently marked the conduct of the authorities in
command of the Meerut division, at a period when errors
and incapacity were by no means unfrequently conspicuous,
I own that on the very spot itself, under the able guidance
of the intelligent young dicer who went round the whole
of the scene of the disaster, I was unable to comprehend
how it was that the mutineers were permitted to march off
after the commission of murder and arson quietly to Delhi,
to inaugurate the reign of terror and bloodshed all over
India, whilst a regiment of English dragoons, a famous
battalion of English infantry, with an ample suppDrt of
field-artillery, were within a few hundred yards of them.
Every one talks of the incapacity of the aged veteran, on
whpm the whole affair produced the effect of a hideous
nightmare ; but is it not strange that among all the officers
there was not a man with courage and coolness enough to
take on himself the responsibility of action, and to order the
pursuit of the mutineers ? What was Sir Archdale Wil-
son, of Delhi, doing ? Where were the officers in com-
mand of the various regiments ? To plead the novelty of
the situation, tho suddenness of the outbreak, ignorance of
the extent of the movement, apprehension for the safety of
the women and children, is simply to say, We were in a
position to which, being very ordinary mon, we were un-
equal'—it is a plea ad misericordiam. The miserable de-
monstration of a march through the bazaar after the rebels
had gone off, and the:feeble inaninity of discharging a few
round-shot in the dark night 'in the direction of voices
which were heard among the trees,' stamp the capacity of
the authorities at once. It seems to me that it might have
been possible td avert the outbreak at Delhi by vigorous ac-
tion at Meerut. What form the discontent and religious
excitement which prevailed in the army might have sub-
se iuently assumed, it is not easy to say ; but, at all events,
enough would have transpired at Meerut and elsewhere to
arouse the Government to action, to demand investigation,
and to place the European community in India on the
alert, so that they might concert measures for defence in
case of an outbreak. It may be said that the mutiny would
have come, sooner or later, and that may be quite true ; but
after the outbreak at Meerut it surely would not have come
like a thief in the night. Many people will assert that it
was desirable it should come, as nothing short of such a
tremendous catastrophe could have produced a ohange of
system and awakened us to a sense of our danger ; but no
one will affirm, I think, that the slaughter of our poor
countrymen and women should have taken place in order
to produce that effect. Above all, no one can maintain
that the state of ill-feeling and mistrust which exists be-
tween native and European now, and which is a most de-
plorable result of the mutinies, their crimes, and their
punishments, is not most mischievous, as its existence ag-
gravates those evils in the Indian system which in some
measure caused the revolt."
The conduct of the European officials, whether
civil or military, has evidently been most evil in
its effects on the people. Besides unauthenticated
stories, Mr. Russell gives many instances which
occurred under his observation, which sufficiently
show the evils of unchecked power even in a civi-
lised race :

" On my way back from this visit, I had occasion to go to
the railway office to give instructions for forwarding my
baggage—which had not yet arrived from Lucknow—if I
were obliged to start ere it reached Cawnpore • and I am
obliged to confess the fears which are expressed—that the
sense of new-sprung power, operating on vulgar, half-
educated men, aided by the servility of those around them,
may produce results most prejudicial to our influence among
the natives—are not destitute of foundation, if I may take
the manners of the person whom I found at the chief en-
gineer's house, as a fair specimen of the behaviour of his
class towards gentlemen. As I was returning to the hotel,
I saw another exemplification of the mischiefs which are to
be dreaded from a large infusion of Europeans into'lndia,
in positions where they are really irresponsible, unless to
their own good feelings. The Company foresaw the dan-
ger, which, however, arose very much from the system of
legal administration and police which they founded, or were
forced to accept. If Europeans aro not restrained by edu-
cation and humanity from giving vent to their angry pas-
sions, there is little chance of their being punished for any-
thing short of murder—and of murder it has been often•
times difficult to procure the conviction of Europeans at
the hands of their countrymen. This is what happened.
There were a number of coolies sitting idly under the
shadow of a wall ; suddenly there came upon them, with a
bound and a roar, a great British lion—his eyes flashing
fire, a tawny mane of long locks floating from under his pith
helmet, and a huge stick in his fist—a veritable Thor in his
anger. He rushed among the coolies, and they went down
like grass, maimed and bleeding. I shouted out of the
gharry, Good heavens, stop ! Why, you'll kill those
men l' (One of them was holdinr, up his arm, as if it were
broken.) A furious howl, ' What the -- business have
you to interfere ? It's no affair of yours.' Oh, yes, sir,
but it is. lam not going to be accessory to murder. See
how you have maimed that man You know they dared
nit raise a finger against you.' ' Well ; but these lazy
scoundrels are engaged to do our work, and they sneak off
whenever they can, and how can I look after them 1' "

We commend this work to all who wish for a
fair and authentic picture of India as she appears
to an unprejudiced observer, as it enables the reader
to judge for himself of the state of our vast posses-
sions and the difficulties of our rule. Above all, it
sets forth the paramount importance, even in a
narrow and worldly sense, of fair and equitable
government ; of justice administered as between
man and man, not as between master and slave ; of
the firm rule of a well-ordered state, not the pas-
sionate and uncertain vengeance of an incensed
despot; of the encouragement of civilisation and
the diffusion of our faith, not by the denunciations
of Exeter-hall authorities, or the increase of well-
meaning but often mistaken missionaries, but by
the influence of practice Instead of precept—by
showing that the dominant race are Christian men,
owning Christian responsibilities, and that, there-
fore, cruelty, intolerance, and injustice are to them
forbidden things.

Shooting and Fishing in _Lower _Brittany. A
Complete and Practical Guide to Sportsmen.
By John Kemp, Esq. Longman.
The author states that his objz.ct in presenting
this volume to the public is twofold; firstly, that
the sportsman abroad may not meet with the same
difficulty that he did of finding himself in a wild
and strange country, 'without any guide to assist
him, and, secondly, that his example may induce
others to follow his example, so that many fine
shooting and fishing localities ;broad may be
known to the intending sportsman, and that when
arrived there he may have a plain straightforward
book to direct him in his researches for game. It
is certainly hard that, when the tourist has a com-
plete hand-book to every town on the continent, the
unfortunate sportsman resorts to his own ingenuity.
This the author has taken the first step to remedy,
and if those who follow his example can produce as.
instructive and amusing a volume as the one before
us, their productions will be both instructive to
sportsmen and amusing to the general reader.
The district strictly treated of is Lower Brittany,
of which there is a good-sized map given, but the
author does not confine himself strictly to that
locality •, his sketches of character are good, and
some of his adventures at the small inns he stopped
at are amusing; he, however, informs the traveller
where to find good accommodation. The following
extract is a sample of his misfortunes :
" Madame Huet, who was supposed to manage the affairs
of the Inn, (for her husband was hen-pecked, and only
allowed to occupy himself with la commerce, viz., buy-
ing up butter for the Landivisiau market)) was aetable
dragon. She was intoxicated from morning till night, and
she bullied her husband, her daughter, and, I m
guests. Fancy, the old termagant actually eat down say,ownw herith
me to dinner (Breton soup and hard corn be
her fingers, grinned at me, asked absurd g
uesti ate with
ons, and
rambled in her conversation on every conceivableridiculous topic. I
tried to get rid of her by smoking,—simply
she smoked too. I walked on the
Place, she winked and—
leered at me from the doorway. This was all very dread-
ful, but I had still much room for pity for her unfortunate
daughter, who always lived in the midst of it, and who
confided to me her intention of entering a convent as soon
as the necessary funds could be raised. The latter's inte-
rest I easily procured in the matter of breakfast on the
morrow. Coffee and milk she could manage, but she hinted
that I must superintend the operation of egg-boiling. And
so to bed with aching head; and the room seemed tob me to
be the best part of the establishment. Still, even thither
was 1 followed by the dragon, who would not leave the
room till I was actually between the sheets. I might have
been thankful that she did not, in Iceland fashion, give zee
a parting kiss, which would have been the worst of all.
"Early, so early, for fear of the dragon, I came down.
stairs, and superintended the fabrication of breakfast. What
a simple thing that egg was, and which I had selected, as
being the only thing the dear creatures could not put their