Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-06-23
REoEsr PUBLICATIONS.

"Ilfe of Lord Lawrence" BY r. Bos-
worth Smith, NJ A. Two volumes. New
York: Charles Scribner's Sons. This is the
book Of the year. TIE record Of the large
career Of an honest, fearless. energetic. strong
villed, strong-brairei and sttong-hear;ed
man, who by sheer industry ard talent
worked his way into sphere Of action COM
1nensurAte with biz ability, and won the
highest rewards his country had in her gift
To N any people, on first taking no tbs BOOB,
the name Of Lord lawrence viii swskeH no
special interest, and the added tile, d" Ths
Savior Of the PuBjab," provoke to hippant
indifference whether ths Pusj b was saved OK
not bus apart from any historic interest
attaching 70 the career Of the Eoslish in L.
dia, the sympathetic. intelligent narrative OF
the life Of competent man Of action smids.
the peculiar surroundings Of Indis awakeus
curiosity, which deepeus to absorption as the
book progresses. all his early surroundings
were heroic. and his inclination toward
India like an hereditary bias, his
fathgr'- thirst for adventure having led him
t. 60 f IN his seventeenth year, without a
commission, a. q volunteer 70 India. though
he psIf1rmed many serve during bic fight
ing wears, he was not adequately rewarded,
indeed, 10. rewarded st sii by the Govern
ulent, and his after life was embittered by his
poverty ard urdezervsd oiscurity yet when
the hour camefor his sons to begin their liver
each one went straight to I0dis. The mother
was descendant Of John Knox, the Scotch
ref0rmer. SO there vent stern stuff to the
making Of john Lawrence. Weread hos he
wished to be q soldier; but the only appoint
menl TO be- got flr him vas ons 10 civil life,
which the influence Of beloved elder sister
decides hin % accept, az Il we we're present
at a council Of the Fates. We watch hin
loahag, tail and bony, and reserved, through
the East India College at HaileYburg, where,
it appears, young Engishmen were educated
IN 1877 for civil appointments 10 India, in
low, 10 history, il chemistry, po.isi-
cal economy and Oriental languages. A
public school has been founded at this
Same Haieybury, and tablet with
his name has bsen placed above Lawrence's
door, and one OF the dormitories named
after him. Is il appalling 10 learn that 1t
took voyage Of hvs months 20 reach In
dia, but encouraging TO weak. everyday hi
man beings to read that our hero was 81
depressed and homesick on first reaching
Calcutta that hs came very near returning
70 England at once. LawreGcs's first sp-
pliHtmeut, that Of As5i5tan. Judge aud Col
lector Of the city Of Delhi, Mr.. Smith
make3 the occasion for Q short sketch o.
Dslhi that wonderful site on which city after
city has been built since the fifteenth century
before Christ, till the debris OF the many
ruins cover forty-hye square miles. After
four years apprenticeship in the city of
Delhi Lawrence was made Coilector-Maeis.
trats Of the northern division Of the Dslni
district, and then the real interest f bis H.
dian life begins bis curious complicated
duties as q collector Of tie land tax; his isola-
ton among his dark subjects, until he half
forgot his language his passionate love Of
horses, which led hun on one occasion to pay
down all the money he had iu the world for
an ArabiGn Chauds, whose ssgaeity saved
his masters life one night by reCognizi &
through the darkness an open underground
tank, toward which his rider Was urging bin.
Here, too, is mentioned the name by which
the natives knew lawrence, Jan Larens,
which they also gave 20 the knotted stick he
carried. believing 10 TO be his familiar demon.
Lswrsucs's recorded opinion en- the
terrible flmines Of Iadis-the FIRST one
he witnessed was when ne was %
yssrs old-is that such cslauiities could only
b. ayerted for the future by improved means
Of communication by the construction Of
tanks. canals, roads and bridges. for there is
rarely O unive sil famine, and regions OF
Abundance should he placed in circumstances
to allie yiate the suffering. Pictures OF Indian
lie are numerous in this part Of the book :;
the q rings 20 Situla, the goddess who pre-
gidss over smallpox, the Bcourge Of Indis !;
the determining cf the boundaries Of villages,
source Of crime and transmitted fsud
among the natives; and here again we see
" Jan Larens." with the iudomitsD.e energy
that makes ore thrill TO reed. conquer dis
Jungle fever b. sheer force Of will and drink
his burglA! aud do his work. When be
took mis- three years leave in England the
tender side of bis manly, well-oalauoed ms.
tu-e was shown in his visiE to his old nurses
grave, his naturalization Of the Lawrenoe
fund, by which the SONS supported rheir
mother. who was left with only an iusub-
stautial legacy Of fame by her unfortunate
husband, aud John l. ,wrence's happy
marriage with Miss Hamilton, Of Donegal,
Fan honest Irish lssa ner family an off
shoot Of the ducll Hamiltons Of Scotland.
The hrsb Afghan war in 1888 was what took
Lawrence back to India, and there is q salts
factory, explicit history Of the English policy
in the East, the rapid advance Of Russia
toward the Auglc-Iudisu border. and Eng
lands dealings with Al yhanistau, which Mr.
Smith reprehends in no measured terms. He
says the English have always acted In this
regard 81 if they had been made mad by the
goddess Of Bane IN Greek tragedy, and many
are the shots throughout ths book at Lord
I.yttun's recent vicaroyalty After this war
came the two Sikh wars, the Sikhs being
the inhabitants of the Punjab, which singu.
lar name for the most uorthWesterly province
OF British IndiA means the land of the five
streams The final submission Of the Sikh
army IL told in the words Of Edwin Arnold
how they advanced to the file of the English
and threw down their arms, aud the touohir g
partiugz of the chiefs with their horses. It
Was with the crown property and Jewels OF the
Puni 80 that ths famous kOh moor came into
the possession Of the British, and Mr.. Smith
gives a new anec6ose about the six weeks so.
journ Of the famous jewel in John Law
reuce's coat pocket, its existence utterly for
gotten by him in the press OF business. A
proof Of LawEences intense individuality
comes out in the history Of bis association
with his brother. Henry Lawrence, in tire
board which wss formed TO rule the PuDjsh
ai.e 81 Is was annexed to the British posses
si1ns Mr. Smith gives up q chapter, which
be calls John and Henry Lawrence TO the
differences OF these two. Il was one Of those
distressing cases where both are right, but
there Is not room in any one board or in any
ono province Tor the two wills. No wonder
II bert Montgomery. the third member Of
board, called himself . buffer between tive
hieh pressure eugiues, or that both con
stsntly appealed to Lord Dalh0usie for
separate work as soon as vacancy
could be found. Their brotherly sf
fecti0n, however. remained uuim-
paired; they appear from first to last
as thoroughly generous men. The last
chapter Of the FIRST volume, called "1he
Brewing Of the Storm, refers TO the great
Sepoy mutiuy Of 1857. Mr. Smith seeks nc
deeper Gauss for the disstfection Of the Sc
p0ys than the one we ali leaned OF school
the introduction OF the Eutsld riha amorg
the native troops, sud the lubricated cartridge,
OF which the grease was supposed to be The
fat Of the COW or the pig, one q sacred, the
other forbidden sninsl according to the
Hindoo and AlohAmmedan religions. Tue
history q the mutinv Is complete in sll it;
details. We feel sli tue horror of the uptis,
iBg. the natives oUtnumberiug the Europeans
three 70 one. Then John Lawreuce's greatest
ability. self-sscrifics and courage appear. 6.
he sent men and supplies. from q province
from which they could hardly be spared, in
au uninterrupted stresm down 10 Delhi, which
the palace OF Ihs great Mogul made the hear
ef the Inutiny. lawreuse's comprehension