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750 The Saturday Analyst and Leader. [Au...
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MR. QLIPHANT'S POLITICAL TRAVELS. npHE a...
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* Patriots and I'UiOuttti'r* t m: JntUtx...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Till: Indian Jncbhlllon.* Rp ' Iilo Horr...
but fatalism , and desirous of nothing 1 but rapine and political chaos , and for such a state of affairs an active and jiotent remedy was needed /' We Lave no disposition now to repeat the dreadful talc , but , as in this book there are some striking passages of original description , we shall depart from our general rule , and venture to bring one or two before the eye of our readers . Mr . Lowe has not , for instance , forgotten to describe the beauties and peculiarities of the scenery though , which the troops had to inarch . This he does with skill and knowledge . Take the following description of morning : —
" We entered the foot of the ghaut , about 3 a . m ., when the fire " flies flitted about in thousands , and the stars above shone brilliantly As we ascended moi'ning broke over our heads * while it seemed night in the depths below us . Gradually nature seemed to awake from her sleep , and then all was emerald and velvety ^ and subdued in the distance like the softest misty pencillings of Turner ' s happiest pieces . The giant trees of the forest were clustered together in the valleys and on the hill ' s side like tufts of embossed velvety lightening and darkening with every gleam of coining day ; here and there trees of varied blossom formed stalwart supports for fantastic creepers revelling in ¦ wild profusion ; while on the decayed trunks of others , gorgeous parasites had made their homes ; yonder a tiny cataract poured its crystal drops , to bound from rock to rock to the peaceful valley embowered well for the traveller
below ; here was an thirsty * shaded by mango trees drooping with goldeii fruit , near which the birds sang as sweetly as though , they lived on honey-dew and breathed an air untainted by earth . The very grass seemed to live in luxury , and smile as Aurora passed over , and as cloud after cloud dissolved , and the bright sunbeams stole over -the hill ' s tops ,, the arborescent grasses and distant trees seemed burnished with silver and gold , as they waved in the wind . As the sun warmed the valleys below , every object seemed to exist in sweetest harmony—so peaceful , pure , and happy ; But -what pen can pourtray nature ? Hero all was beauty , majesty , and peace . No cottage , no herd , rio happy children , no woodman ' s distant-sounding axe , no village sp ire , no church bell to call to the altar of the Creator of all ! no , nothing but silent grandeur ^—the everlasting hills mutely pointing heavenward . "
The reader has seen that the author had to apologize for ou military doings amidst these sublime scenes , on the score of " necessity- —the tyrant ' s plea . The excuse , however , detracts not from the terrors that he describes . Vengeance , which he calls justicej is . either inhuman or preter-human . The heart of the benevolent naturally repudiates such ghastly" exhibitions . Life in India , as it then was , presented to the mind of the observer an image of one " standing on the verge of a volcanic crater , the sides . of which were fast crunibling away from his feet , while the boiling lava was ready to erupt arid consume hint . " Under such circumstances feaivrather . than conscience , would guide his actions . It was the morning of the 27 th September . ' Service at church ' vraa just over . A * salute from , the heavy g-uris of the fort was fired .
Startled attention questioned , the *• wherefore ¦* " It was m " honour of the capture of Delhi . " This famous stronghold was again in pur keeping 1 . It had fallen by assault some thirteen days before . This news was known in the native bazaar , two or three days prior to the official announcement , when twenty-one guns -. ¦ poured forth their loud voices on the still air of a bright sabbath morn , proclaiming the glorious achievement of General Wilson ' s army . I ""Hesitate not to say , tliat every sOurfelt ^ ratciul ^ army had endured and effected . A burden seemed at once to be lifted from the heavily oppressed hearts of the . British , and now they could breathe more freely , and again exult , as of old , in their . ¦ prowess . " . . .... ' , . ¦' . - ¦ .. ¦ " ' ' ¦ , ; . . ¦ . ' ... ' ,. ' , ¦ ¦'¦ . '¦ ; .. . ' . ' .. • .. . . This incident serves to fix the date of the transactions . The
author proceeds in his vehement and graphic manner to present the most interesting details within his knowledge of the stirring scene . Casualties and crimes , groups of animals and . . ' men , panoramas of beauty and grandeur , and excited life , dreadful talcs of buriiing 1 villages , consumed amid a din of voices , volleys of musketry rattling , and screams and howlings of dogs—these form the substanco of his glittering pages . Gayer and merrier incidents are sometimes found , but these , by contrast . only serve to enhance the gloom of the narrative . There is also many a picture of battles , and of the field after battle , and some horrors by which the campaign was disfigured , to which we may not oven allude . One feature , however , the author notes as worthy of attention , that " during these troublous times , the peasant and agriculturist continued their ordinary labour as though , nothing in the world was afoot of gronter moment than the seed they wero sowing , or the crop they "wore reaping . "
" One of the most marvellous things is tho way in whioh women and children spring up with an army . A force may march out for tho field with only , perhaps , a slight sprinkling of native women with them , such as xnilkwomen or horsokeepora' wives ; but , ere long , more and moi'o women and children appear ; and , by and by , on either flank of the force , there is a brigade of women riding tattoos astride , and chattering 1 like parrots all the timo . Tho uiilUwomen are wonderful beings , they not only march with the force , carryingjmUkjipQnJ ; lick \]^ to supply tho men asi they go , but after camp is pitched , their voices are heard everywhere crying 1 out duodh f <> r the wholo day 3 o » f . f . One woman generall y attaches herself to a particular corps , and thus each corps is supplied with millc . Although tho wonion undergo considerable fatiguo , thoy scorn to thrive on tho occupation . " Tho
Dogs also increase in numboivs on tho m ^ rch . mutineers , for some timo , would not luiliovo that Delhi had fallen , and they still cvWjtinuod an insano resistance . They wcro dnyu of tribulation ami uncertainty . Accidents wcro perpetually occurring . ( Suns would frequently explode . " In one moment thoao men , who wcro marching 1 chccriullv along in tho pious nut hour ol' sunrise , 1 UH of life , and
hope , and vigour , were blown into . atoins , and their existence scattered upon the winds , like breath . " Our author complains , too , of the ridiculous uniform imposed on the troops . "We cannot / ' he says , "be surprised at the excessive mortality-of British troops in India , when we reflect that they have had to combat the fearful effects of a tropical climate , from year to year , trussed up in uniforms-only suited to England or ihe polar regions . " Headers who are pleased with narratives of camp life , and incidents of danger and death , will find in this book ample materials to awaken wonder , excite imagination , or fill the heart with terror and wild sympathy . Of the writer ' s power to animate his descriptions with an ardent spirit of realization , there can be no doubt . He is too a conscientious though partial moralist ; an exclusive patriot , mindful of no cause but his country ' s .
750 The Saturday Analyst And Leader. [Au...
750 The Saturday Analyst and Leader . [ Aug . 25 , I 860
Mr. Qliphant's Political Travels. Nphe A...
MR . QLIPHANT'S POLITICAL TRAVELS . npHE author of "Patriots and Filibusters" commences his work § bv remarking- " that one of the most important and interesting episodes of the Russian war , though it attracted comparatively little attention at the time , was the destruction , by * British ships , of the Russian forts upon the Circassian shore of the Black Sea . " Those statesmen who had made it their business to keep an eye upon the policy and progress of Russia in the East , " saw in this event an available pretext for checking the designs of the formidable and aggressive power with which we were then at war ; while to the traveller an opportunity was thus afforded , which might never again occur , of exploring scenes 'hitherto ¦ nnvisited by any European . " Mr . Olipkant considers the treaty of peace by which and that bit
we concluded the great Crimean war as premature , y we have thrown away all the political advantages which might have been derived from , a further display of hostilities . These hostilities , he says , moreover , " so far from definitely and finally settling the much-vexed Eastern question , out of which they sprang , have only stirred the turbid waters of that very noxious pool , and laid the foundations : for those fresh complications which are destined bafore long- to trouble the peace- ¦ ¦ of ¦ Europe ' . " He does not , however , consider it at ' presentexpedient to expatiate largely upon tlie state of Eastern . ' politics , and he therefore _ proposes to entertain the reader with a short aceouritof that " littleknown ; Caucasian chain , which has so long- presented an msurjnoutttable barrier to Russian aggression upon Persia and Turkey , and a very inconvenient political obstacle . " .. .
After a few reflections upon the inordinate- ' - ambition- of Russia , which has already subjugated nearly the whole of the Eastern Caucasus , aiidwh ' ich must ultimately lead either to the extermination or conquest of the lew- trioeSAvhich" still . . retain , their independence , the author proceeds to enlighten us upon the political position of Abkhasia , a Russian irontior province , situated between Alingrelia and the yet uuconquered Caucasian tribes . The population of this country is partly Mahomedan , partly Christian ; its capital town is Souchaum-Jvaleh , in which , latter place a _ large Russian forco has been for many years permanently stationed . The Czar had hoped , with the powerful co-operation of Prince Michael , eventually to subdue the whole of those wild
mountaincers , who had hitherto so successfully resisted all endeavours "" to ; wrosVtrwnrita ^ — freedom . This anticipation , howoveiy does not . seeni to have been realised up to the commencement of the late war . " Notwithstanding the . exertions of Prince Ulichael in favour of Russia , the "roatbr portion of his subjects could not be induced to relinquish that independence which he ( perhaps compelled by the force of circumstances ) had already forfeited . Secure in their mountain strongholds , they bade defiance to the Imperial ' . troop , who dared hot penetrate beyond a lew miles into the interior . Wishing to penetrate further into the interior than had hitherto been attempted by any Europeans , o \\ v travellers experienced innumerable obstacles from the distrustful character of the natives , who incapable of comprehending the pure motives which actuate
a party-of gentlemen making an exploratory tour through their wild mountain , passes , . suspect them of harbouring secret and ulterior designs against their poiu-e and independence . They , howhotvever , notwithstanding the dilncultics thus thrown in the way of their expedition ' , make considerable progress ;—and further on we ¦ have . the following interesting account of tho Circassian . language : — " Circassian il self is tho most hnprnoticnblo . dialcot tlmt we unforwhich
tunate travellers attempted . to aciiuirc . It consista of sounds boui" a fjrcatoi * resemblance to u BiiccjCBaion of suoezoa and cougha than to words . It is not a written -hinguugcj ; there is , consequently , na alphabet , gnunmur , or nu'cliaiiicnl ausistanco to tho , tyro , « ho has to trust entirely to ear ; and tlien—however correct that ; organ nmy boit requires long pmctioo belbi-o it ditches tho peculiur intonation . I attempted to lunko a vocnbularv i but no allocution of our own luttcrn could form tho faintest approximation to tho-words they wore intended tp express . . . . Thuro are Ruiil to bo thirty dinbrent langungoe in
tho . JCaMoasu . i !/'_ ; ^_ ^ ^_^ _ Tho author then { ., 'ivo ?; . uf . a poinov . 'hut iudicrous dusc'riptitni of a Civi'asriinn haroin , tho propnotor of which he tmy » - ' "\ vii » ^ Wj ' Hpifitud cnoug-h to turn out for hi * iusnoi-tiun . " Tho following ih part of the tux-omit ho ^ ivoa of it : — " At iirnt they kupt'xit a reapucti ' ul disUuifo , iiiu'l tittered innuouHC'ly anion ^ thoinHclVcH , ami . got dehind one another with ti tfivut ufU'ctiilion of coyni'ss . >> lion , however , , lhpy saw that presunts wero to bo obtainod liy neuvor lulvnnct'H tlu ' v crept forward , nundiujr the littlo children on ««
* Patriots And I'Uiouttti'r* T M: Jntutx...
* Patriots and I'UiOuttti'r * t m : JntUtxt * «/ /' vlitical and ilrphnttory Trm'sl . « y Lmnviu-o OlljUumt . W . lUncliwoiul ami Solid .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 25, 1860, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25081860/page/6/
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