The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-16 00:00:00

ra ble quantity is shipped annually to Holland (a portion of it
probably in transit to Belgium and Germany) ; Australia
is an increasing consumer ; the United States take a yearly
supply ; Singhalese coffee has been sent to South America ;
Calcutta and Madras received it from Colombo, and even
the Arabian and Persian races have, in recent years, been
transferring their taste from the berry of Mocha, to that of
Malabar and Ceylon.
An agreeable variety is presented iu the reccollec-
tions of the travels in the Northern Forests to the
time passed in the South ; and this division, if not
perhaps containing such striking sketches as some
of the others, possesses, nevertheless, undoubted
merits of its own, particularly in the details of the
Veddahs, who are the aborigines of Ceylon, who
have withdrawn into the wilds to avoid their in-
vaders, and they present a living instance of the
state of the islanders as described in the Maha-
wanso. The civil service of Ceylon has been orga-
nised on the model of that of India, but it
is not successful, as is here remarked :—" Like
the miniature oaks which the Chinese can
raise in a flower-pot, the dwarfed plant
had every characteristic of the great tree except
its strength and solidity." The civil servants
present but few specimens of great ability, and
this was owing in some measure to the perni-
cious system of " promotion by mere seniority."
The Earl of Derby, in 1845, "impressed with the
necessity for a remedy, directed merit instead of
seniority to be the basis for promotion." It is
said that there is no reason to doubt the ulti-
mate success of this experiment; and the recent
revision of salaries has also ameliorated the pro-
spects of the servants of the civil service. In
concluding an excellent resume of Modern His-
tory, the author makes the following observations
on the English policy in Ceylon :
When the English landed in Ceylon in 1796, there was
not in the whole island a single practicitble road, and troops,
on their toilsome marches between the fortresses on the
coast, dragged their cannon through deep sands along the
shore. Before Sir Edward Barnes resigned his govern-
ment, every town of importance was approached by a car-
riage road ; and the long desired highway from sea to sea,
to connect Colombo and Trincomalia, was commenced.
Civil organisation has since been matured with equal suc-
cess, domestic slavery has been abolished, religious dis-
qualifications removed, compulsory labour abandoned, a
charter of justice promulgated, a legislative council esta -
blished, trading monopolies extinguished, commerce encour-
aged in its utmost freedom, and the mountain forests felled
to make way for plantations of coffee, whose exuberant pro-
duce is already more than sufficient for the consumption of
the British empire.
By the Singhalese of the maritime provinces, long familiar
with the energy and enterprise of Europeans, these results
are regarded with satisfaction. But the Kandyans, brought
into more recent contact with civilisation, look on with un-
easy surprise at the effect it is producing. The silence of
their mountain solitudes has been broken by the din of in-
dustry, and the seclusion of their villages invaded by bands
of hired labourers from the Indian coast. Their ancient
habits have been interrupted and their prejudices startled ;
and a generation may pass away before the people become
familiar or their headmen reconciled to the change. But
the blessings of peaceful order, the mild influence of educa-
tion, and the gradual influx of wealth, will not fail to pro-
duce their accustomed results ; and the mountaineers of
Ceylon will, at no distant day, share with the lowlanders in
the consciousness of repose and prosperity under the pro-
tection of the British Crown.
For comprehensiveness in design and completeness
in execution this work may challenge competition
with any of the erudite and elaborate volumes on
foreign countries that have appeared for a long
time; and its numerous details, interesting anec-
dotes, and instructive passages, will not fail to be
appreciated by those who have perused the dry
accounts of tedious and unsatisfactory writers on
their sojourns abroad. Nothing can be more satis-
factory to the mind of the traveller to remote
regions, than to return laden with the treasures of
knowledge wherewith to enrich the stores of his
country's literature. In the compilation of these
brilliant volumes, Sir Emerson Tennent has pro-
bably engraved an enduring record of his resi-
dence in Ceylon, as there is no doubt, from its
intrinsic excellence, and favourable reception, that
it will become a standard work of research and re-
ference in the libraries of literati.

The Life of Field-Marshal, Arthur Duke of
ellington. By Charles Duke Yonge, author of
" A History of England," &c. 2 vols. Chap-
man and Hall.
To write a life of the Duke of Wellington is no
easy task. To do so requires a thorough know-
ledge of the military and political history of the last
century, an acquaintance not only with the outlines
of campaigns or the forms of treaties, but with the
political and social difficulties of the twenty years
that followed Waterloo, and a familiarity with the
qualifications and successes of rival statesmen as
well as of opposing generals. One who was emi-
nent in the field and in the Cabinet, who, to use
the words of oar author, " was before the eyes of
the world for a longer period than has yet been
granted to any other public man," is no light sub-
ject for a superficial memoir or epitomised bio-
graphy. The various lives of the Duke of Wel-
lington which have recently been brought before
the public have all been more or less voluminous,
and certainly the present work forms no exception
to the rule. Yet the two imposing volumes,
though copious in their information, cannot be
said to be diffuse. The career of Wellington,
from his command at Mysore, to his death at
Walmer Castle, involves so wide a circle of interests
and events of such magnitude and importance, that
a fair treatment of it must be a full one. Mr.
Yonge, already favourably known to the public by
works of labour and historical research, is evidently
a warm admirer of the lamented Duke. His tone
is generally calm and moderate, but we must
admit he is less to be trusted in the political than
in the military portion of his work. The first
volume is, of course, entirely occupied with the
details of campaigns, retreats, and sieges. The
allusions to the private history of the Duke are few
and far between, and indeed would be unneces-
sary. After a few brief particulars of his educa-
tion and early life, we find him enrolled as a
member of that profession of which he was subse-
quently so distinguished an ornament. The author,
as an encouragement to perseverance, takes occa-
sion to cite Wellesley's application to Lord Camden
for a situation in the Revenue Office, as he was
disgusted with the military profession from his
brief experience of it under the Duke of York in
Holland. Fortunately the request could not be
granted, and two years later saw the future con-
queror of Assaye, on his way to the East Indies.
In remarking on his conduct at Vellore, Mr. Yonge
observes that, even at this early period, we find
the same qualities evincing themselves which dis-
tinguished his subsequent career, " we find the same
minute attention to every detail which could contri-
bute to success ; the same diligence to acquire all
possible information ; the same careful adaptation of
the means to the end; and the same surefooted judg-
ment which never aimed at an end too great to be
attained by the means employed." After a clear
and succinct narrative of his brief and brilliant
career in India, Mr. Yonge proceeds to the more
important part of his narrative. He describes the
movements of the Peninsular war with ability and
equity, losing no opportunity for commending
his hero, though, at the same time, he accords a fair
share of praise to others. Of Sir John Moore he
speaks with deserved respect ; and many others
who subsequently earned distinction under the
command of Wellington himself are warmly com-
mended. Tho two general officers who superseded
the far more able Wellesley at the commencement
of the Peninsular war are less favourably
spoken of. In allusion to Sir Harry Burrard's refu-
sal to adopt 'Wellesley's snotgestion to seize Lisbon
after the battle of Vimeira, he compares it to a
similar refusal on the part of Hotham to follow
Nelson's project of pursuit. Hotham's reply to his
more energetic junior was, " We must be contented ;
we have done very well." "Now," said Nelson, in
telling the story, " if we had taken ten sail, and
allowed the eleventh to escape when it had been
possible to hare got at her, I never could have
called it well done."
" Hothaln and Burrard were men of the same stamp, as
were Nelson and Wellesley. The elder officers were men
of unquestioned courage, and well acquainted with their
nervously profession ; but
afraid tuhfe y
reverses, were contentevut with ittuh
thesmall
c u
lsdu
re
lil e e es
ss
be
los
el
strict prudence, and not rebuked by
to comprehend, the audacious decisive' because
genius
of theira
subordinates. The ethers were the founders of a
new
school, as intimately acquainted with therules and
requirements of professional caution, and as alive to their
us
ambition, n t o di
adv?mtage! as their superiors but' g ifted *so NV!th that
wg nt utshNaVt ghl Celln knewero wh e 1;ellse with *'lb np d
that lft m
thinks nothing done while au with Y
aught remains to do; daringand
whichreadylr e
to encounter, not only personal danger, which both equally
disregarded, but even the risk of failure and consequent
fpoerritlhteo
sakethe i r
orfedpouitnagti
tohne,
iwr
liiutcuhionstondeutoyvtoer
thheelidr
country.",
Of his qualifications as a military commander
there can scarcely be a question . The long line of
brilliant successes from Talavera to Toulouse
would have stamped him as a military genius of the
first order, even without the crowning triumph of
Waterloo, with the magic of Napoleon's name and
the resources of his marvellous generalship opposed
to him. His present biographer, however,
goes further than some of his partisans and
claims for him a kindly feeling for the
soldiers under his care, and many benevo-
lent and humane qualities, the possession of
which has been sometimes denied to him. Hisin-
flexible justice and rigid sense of duty none have
been found to dispute, and a more gentle and softer
nature could scarcely have filled the part he
played, with five separate armies of the first mili-
tary nation in the world confronting him, in
different parts of the Peninsula, and the
supplies and support lie received from his own
country wavering and uncertain. The following
portrait of him is taken from the account of a com-
panion in 1813:
" In height he was rather above than under the middle
size, slightly but strongly built, with a very neat figure, a
high forehead, a prominent and sharply-arched nose, and a
blue eye of great brilliancy, which preserved its keenness of