The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-10-28 00:00:00

interest it

Inial matters

accuracy the history, fortunes, and pr.(
all those vast and distant regions subject to the cr_
this realm. -Of India, that magnificent empire which in
yas to Cape
west of the

of th

this present
Comoree, and trom the mountain.
Indus to the -frontiers of Birmah, and which contain,
above one hundred and fifty millions of inhabitants, the
general British public know hut little, save that it is a
place to which i
tunes, armies t,

'ear extends from the H 5

send Governors

ht and gain laurelf,

.etrieve their for-

(the sons and c

and young men

,tmexions of certain influential merchant
me rich, and to perpetuate the existing

current of affairs. Much of this ignorance is no doubt
attributable to disinclination on the part of the English
people to study matters in which they do not feel them-
selves immediately interested, or which do not perempto-
rily force themselves on their attention ; but much of it
is also ascribable to the difficulty of obtaining information
in a convenient form, and of ascertaining facts without
wading through ponderous volumes, and collecting and
arranging disjointed events scattered through a mass of
books, dispatches, and documents, some of which are not
attainable except by express permission of their guardians.
The history of British India, compiled by the late learned
and accomplished Dr. Cooke Taylor, was the most com-
prehensive, trustworthy, and popularly-written account
of that empire which was accessible to the general public.
But it was defective in many details, and left the reader
in arrear of the great and important transactions and
changes of the last ten years, without the knowledge of
which the actual condition of India could not be under-
stood. The volume now before us is literally a concise,
though comprehensive and sufficiently detailed, history of
India, antient and modern, brought down almost to the
very day on which we write. The text of Dr. Cook(
Taylor has been conscientiously revised and greatly
amended, and the continuation of the history I
composed b

he great

advantages of a long residence in India, an arduous study
of Indian history, laws, customs, and manners, and an
intimate acquaintance with her political, financial, and
social relations. We can hardly refrain in justice from
giving Mr. Mackenna credit for the production of an
entirely original work, so much has he done to improve
the original, and so much has he added in the way of
sound, substantial, and recent information. Besides a
lucid and well-narrated history of the rise, consolidation,
and present state of our Indian empire, the reader will
find in this book a geographical, statistical, and political
resume of the connection of each state with the British
Government, of the products, articles of trade, means of
defence, and special advantages of each presidency. He
will find lists of the Presidents of the Board of Control
from its establishment, of the Chairmen and Deputy-
Chairmen of the Company, of the Governors-General,
of the Governors of each presidency, of the Commanders-
in-Chief of the various armies, of the Bishops. Judges,
&c., all complete to the present date. Mr. Mackenna
has paid particular attention to the financial affairs of
India, and in relation to them this work is peculiarly
valuable. The revenue now derived from this population
of one hundred and fifty millions is only twenty millions
sterling, whereas a revenue was collected 160 years ago,
during the reign of Aurungzebe, of double that amount.
This is a fact that requires to be well inquired into, and
it raises the important question whether or not tile
finances of India have been well managed under the
administration of the Company and the Board of Control,
Mr. Mackenna contends that the finances of India might
be greatly increased, with a corresponding benefit to the
finances of Great Britain. He maintains that by collect-
ing the revenue according to the rules laid down by the
Hindoo regulations, by administering justice aecording to
Ilindoo laws, by speaking to the people in their own lan-
guage, by not disturbing them in their possession of their
private property, and by the gradual introduction of edu-
cation and of good practical improvements, which will act
beneficially on their moral and social condition, India
can be easily secured to Great Britain, and made a rich,
extensive, and flourishing field for our labours of com-
merce and civilisation. Recommending, as we heartily
do, this volume as the completest historical, statistical,
and political epitome of India, antient and modern, we
cannot dismiss it without noticing the excellence and
utility of the appendices, particularly the annals of the
three presidencies of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay,
which are given separately, and which contain informa-
tion drawn from official sources, never before published.
These annals are most instructive and useful. That in-
dispensable requisite in a complete work of this kind, a
well digested and ample index, is not wanting ; an that
the reader may at a glance discover where he will find
whatever information he seeks. To the resident in India,
to the writer on Indian affairs, and to the general public
who desire to learn the actual state of our great empire in
the East, this volume is a faithful handbook and an intel-
ligent instructor.

Stone the First at the Great Glass House; to be com-
pleted in Six Stones. London : W. E. Painter.

We have one serious objection to urge against these
stones : they have come too late. They may be heavy
and sharp, and well cast, as this first one is, but they
ought to have been flung long ago if they were intended
to demolish the great conservatory of gimcracks in Hyde
Park. That fragile edifice has withstood the awful weight
of leaden puffery and brazen adulation which has poured
upon it without intermission for six dreary months ; and
now that it is in process of dissolution in a natural way,
and that the term of its existence is at a close, it is hardly
worth while to waste strength and ammunition in smashing
the glass and making holes in the skeleton framework.
It was pompously erected as a temple for the inauguration
of Free Trade : it was appropriately supported by inces-
sant falsehoods, and audacious quackery; and it has, like
the idol that was worshipped in it, turned out a mockery,
a delusion, and a snare. Had there been a bold spirit in
the London press, it would have been knocked down long
ere this, or never have been erected at all. However, the
gentleman who has got six stones to fling at it thinks that
they are better late than never, and so he has let fly the
frst with a vigorous arm and a good aim. Let us hear
what he has to say upon international shows of the kind
in general :

" Plodding, pains-taking, unimaginative, industrious Eng-
land, has little to do with these pomps and vanities' of trade
—at least, it had not when trade was wholesome and compe-
tition legitimate, and, above all, just. We used to be a nation
of fair dealers, thinking that oti nen must live as well as
ourselves, moving pace by pace"lh them—at all events,
attending to them and looking back their way even when we
were fairly and honourably distancing them. Now it is a
neck.and-neck struggle: if we attend to our neighbours it is
only to watch; full of suspicion, our hand is against every
man, as every man's hand is against ours. We more than run
a race now-a-days: we kick. We indulge in every possible and
impossible manoeuvre to outwit, to circumvent, to cut away
the ground from under our neighbour's feet—aye, though we
take his own spade to do it !
dc:ln small st•ges, in petty principalities—nay, in large king-
ns, where tile elements of industry are diftused, scattered,
broken, fervid perhaps, but lying apart, languishing or only
irregularly vivacious,these summed-up shows, these assem-
blages of the articles of production, the contest and the com-
parison which spring from
a them, may be beneficial : indeed,
are doubtless so. It bearspaternal aspect, this inviting of a
general rivalry in the useful arts—of
Ba.congregating for the pur-
poses of mutual improvement. England, if we congre-
gate, we do not improve: every mani'as intense self-occupation
prevents it. Our sympathies for each other are all on the
hard side, and the moment we see that di balance is likely to
otaoubr pockets,
prove a2ainst us, we shut up our hearts as we
'Tis true that an Englishman cannot afford
sympa-
thetic: time is money, and an Englishman can, or thtinkstiahe can, give you but very little of it if you assail him with any-
thing that solicits in any other wise than as affecting his
interest, or as compromising his amusement; because he
looks, to some extent, to his amusement as his interest.
by at
trum-
pet, English
nation It was a mistake of the whole character ofth the
aE
nation to imagine that they could be assembled, as
pet, to a general competition. Industry in this country is
diffused all over the land, ramifies through innumerable chan-
nels, looks not abroad for assistance, begs of no Government,
requires no patent, no encouragement—at least, not of the
Government order. To talk of the mighty energies of the
British millions as to be fostered by courtly patronage, and
impelled into livelier activity by continental showings-off by
the aide of it I The very power of the English nation resides
in this exclusive spirit, in this self-occupation, in this self.