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executive arm in tke $ tftte 8 » the expeditioii in question will yet sail for the fcdvet&d siiores of tite £ earlof tho Aritttles . " As to its " ^ access , that appears problematical ^ he ' writer dOticludes \> y advisiiig the Spanish Government to Close wif ^ the American offer to purchase , if repeated : — k Whilst contemplating the gloomy , or at least uncertain prospects of tb& Spanish treasury , I am forcibly reminded of Cuba and of American proposals for its purchase . I have not heard a Btatement of , the exact amount the States are disposed to give ; bttt I hare been assured , on no mean authority ^ tfetaifc it would suffice -to pay , off the ¦ whole of the debt , home and foreign , and that a handsome surplus -would still remain
for roads and railways . Besides these advantages , Cuba , once sold , Spain might safely reduce her fleet and army for she would t&en have no reason to apprehend war with the United States , as she at present has none to anticipate aggression or interference on the part of any European power . Relieved of her heaviest burthens , and blessed with an honest government ^ if indeed it fee possible that , such endure in a country upon ¦ which tie curse of misgoverritttetft seems to rest ) , Spain might sobn ' and easily forget the loss of that cherished colony , whose retention , under present circumstances , is more a question of pride than of profit , and to whose loss without Compensation , she must , I fear , by the force of events , be prepared sooner onlgier to subnoit . "
Tntlie course of the article , a graphic picture is given of the departure (" almost escape ) of Queen CntiifeTiNA frbni' Madrid : -7-, " t'he determination was come to on . the evetting of the 27 th August . Oh the 26 th , at seven in tie inorriiiig tne ministers were at the palace , to witness the ( £ ueenj notlier ' s departure . * rhe adieus vfere brief . Christina "betrayed no emotion at parting from her daughter , who , ori her part , dropped a few decorous teais , but was . not very greatly afflicted . There has never been mueli affection between the two queens , although the elder of them , by her astuteness and superior strength of character , ' has exercised great influence over the younger . The Queen-mother then took leave of the ministers , whom she must heartily detest ; recommended her daughter to the care and "tfatchful guardianship of Espartero , and entered a large travelling-vehicle , accompanied by her husband , who looked grievously dejected , and attended by an ecclesiastic of high , rank , and by several persons of her household . Her children ' s departure had preceded hers . Some were in Portugal , others were in l ? rance . Escorted by two squadrons of cavalry , under the coirimand of the well-Cknown General Garrigd , she reached by short stages , and withoiit molestation ,- the frontier of the former country . "
The present number of Blqclaoood is not a little enlivened by an editorial letter to My dear Eusebius , upon the congenial subjects Civilisation—The Census . Spirited , paradoxical , and epigramatic , it is of course a conxppsition to defy analysis . The Dublin University Magazine , always pleasant , has an agreeable biographical article entitled Biographical Sketches find Anecdotes , with little points about Marshal Tubemje , IVIenag ^ , Inez » e Castro , Lotk de Vega , Madetvioiselij !! be Maupi ^ and the two Michael Angelos . Not much connexion ; but that is a charm in those literary ramblings . The Slave Trade , from an Arheficdn Point of 'View , is a disappointment ; considering the gravity of the subject , it is meagrely treated ; There ia little need to reproduce those American arguments which attribute the continuation of slavery to free-trade , in order to convince English readers of their ab ^ surdity ; but we have need of an enlightened exposition of the Complication upon this point , in which every State in the Union is now entangled .
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traces of superior intellect about : Hiii . From a ' lfojr he ttfas thoughtful andstudious : and he was always making the most of his brams—working hard and remembering , and applying , ^}! . ... He never ; , however , was abrplaiit'pr a striking man . There are » p gigiis of original yyzdtir in lift ; ininttWs \ $ id despatches , and speeches ; bis letters are calm ana pleasant , ijiQt ^ cleys ? , l ^ ofc ¦ witty , not profound ; and throughout all the productions of bj ^ . ^ eH tHeie ^ sT the fatal evidence of conscientious mediocrity—cumbersome -prolixity . . Mr .. Kaye , the Biographer , selected by Lord Metcalfe ' s family , and-who . Hasdealt with the Life as with a brief , is charmed -with the succinctness , of ^ he-Indian minutes , and admires Lor'd Me'tialie because he always went straight to the point . Mx . Kaye is not . the best judge in such a matter , or surely h& would nave produced a better bopk than this . It iis a" dull , tltongfr a paSostaking and complete book ; and the dullness is inexcusable , s § &rig . that the it consti
career ot Metcalfe is not only individually interesting , but tnax ^ ¦ tutes a considerable chapter in imperial history . i The grand positions attained by Charles Metcalfe do not necessarily irnfily that he impressed his intellect upon his contemporaries and " authorities ;" i though as our successive Ministers were perpetually saying ; in . Parliafmeiilt tnat i Metcalfe was a hero , the nation , believing that as a * i abstract assertion , ought , to lave supplied worshippers . The jusc , gentle , unas ' sunitag man , mtna passion for doing bis duty and sacrificing himself , was precisely Hie sdrtf of ! man " authorities" are partialto- ^ his . laborious . habits and experienced £ acf | guaranteeing- that he would be tolerably -equal to trying em ergencies . Andthere never was a more remarkable instance - Pf success , by . routine promotion . Metealfe was oiie of Fortune ' s pets . He was born irito agreat civil ' service career . Son of an Indian Director" , who ytas alfeo aitt . M . P ., and ia the gobdittdiaii times when patronage wasi ^ aHjfo rilig SjyouugiMetcalfe had his path cut out / or him ; and " the ' girr hi left behind ; pa" nkvMg'C'SG- we itlfel ? —it is not stated ) iilted him , he lost all inducemeiits to v&if bi * id sla ' cKea
Indian prosperity by runs home and European degigejAiehtSi Hfe :, apf ei £ rs tCK haAreburiedhis broken heart in work , care k ^ worked in . Everybody loved him , and everybody helped him 6 n t ; and , gallant , good , and discreet , he was pushed on rather than got on , during ' the best years of his life . His several Residences were successes— : he nsA iip ^ neniies , hot even in the ^^ Calcutta Gouncii , . which controlled tim--his Ar&nfeks q ^ uyUed native dishonesty , and his good dinners ^ and parties ^ ^ charmed Indiaii societ y His becoming Governor- ( Greneral was mere luck—he merely , got ; tnje $ bsitibjtti as senior member of Council , in the interval betw-een the death' of ^ one Gorvernor-General in India and the appointment and arrival of another dttt' front ^ England . It was mere luck that the ^ ress questibh catoie ; t ; t > b"d' decided by . hirn , he getting the enduring fanie , durihg that ljri ' elf inteiyal ' . No matterwho had been in that office , the thing would have to have been d 6 iie . Jflx-Kaye , following precedent , exal ts the act as wise , and taices qll t ) ip credit for Metcalfe , because Metcalfe had-been for years advocating , the liberty of the Indian Press .
We do not' see that the measure is entitled tp such extravag £ tnt' encomiums .. In India , the question as to' a free pr ' ess was not a qu ^ stitin of freedom or slavery—it could only be a qiiesi ^ on of police ; The ! best thing that can be said for the measure is , that it has done rib tiarija ' j diid nds sfepjped sb ^ uabbllhga between newspaper speculators and df&eial's with temper ! " ms " a ^ pe ? Li'i n * after their libels . This inconsistency remains rioticeablS—trhat a || ee p ' ' s , is granted in a country which H made up of serfs ( natives ) . and rt services "civil , military , and uncoyenanted , who are serfs too . WitH regard t ^ Mefccalfe ' s second great act in his Indian history , his exposure of the frauds by the English bankers on the Nizam ' s revenues , there is this tp bfe said ; that he was tardy in the exposure long 1 after ho had become familiarised with the facts , and that it was his . own over-considerateftess and delicacy which exposed him tct the miscohceptions ' resultirig ; in England in a parliamentary attack
on him . But he did expose a bad systetti' of British plunder of native princes ; and there is no doubt that his conduct' established st precedent that , enabled other Residents to insist on coinnioh horfesty , —s ' 5 initiating a' ' wr system , not yet , alas , invariable , but progressivel y niore' putfe . He behaved like , an honest , just man ; and the character was a rioVeltry jrl'Indiii—tlptwithstanding the incessant encouragement given by tho lridiah' atltlioritiea to Cimsti&n missionaries among tho available natives . It is , liowever , not for the purpose of dwelling on his Indian or on his Jamaica careers that we , this week , refer to this clumsy book . Our object is to » call attention , at the moment of a ministerial embarrassment in Canada , to > the difficulties Lord liletcalfe had to deal with when sent out there ten
LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF LORD METCALFJE . Life and Correspondence of Lord Metcalfe . By John William Kaye . Bentley . P armament ART institutions mischievously limit a nation ' s Pantheon . Parliament engrosses ptiblic attention , and Parliamentary men become the only real public men . Lord Metcalfe came honie . after being Governor-General of India , and yet he found himself so insignificant' a personage in the court try he had so splendidly served , that he hung about tho offices of Parliamentary agents in search of a comfortable " seat , "—unaware , in his Indian ignorance , th at , _ like Clivo , like Mackintosh , —like most men who get eminence outside Parliament , —he was very uncertain of House of Commons' position . When ho came home a second time , after having governed Jamaica into peace and prosperity , he was not even " called upon ; " he found himself neglected and unnoticed , so that at last be thought it an honour to be invited to dine at Windsor Castle , where , " accidentally , " he met Sir Robert Peel- ibr the first time—Sir Robert Peel being the minister whose reign he was illustrating by a great colonial success . Whfcn he came home a third
time , after his Canadian exploits , lie had become a- peer , but except in Indian and colonial society , he was still a nobody—he was not one of the public men the public attended to . This Lord Metcalfo , who liad thus governed , and with absolute success ., and by peace , not war , the three greatest dependencies of the British Crown , and who figured in these UlUS " trious stations , in our own time , d y ing but a fevv years before Sir Robert Peel , is a man of whom England still knows very little indeed . And , as ho is one of a great class of public servants * tho moral of his career may thus be pointed out , somewhat to tho detriment of Parliamentary institutions as a machinery for the encouragement of greatness in a nation . A contemporary , concluding a thoughtful and graceful notice of Mr . Kayo's BioffTaphy , recommends it to tho attention of all those who serve the Crown * - lint if it teaches anything , it must teach thorn this , that England ) as iHrtglislimon understand it , means merely their own island . Theyliavo no conception of the genuine groatnoss of a great proconsul .
. \\? greatness of MetcaUo was no doubt rather that of character than of intellect . ^ Ho had a sweet nature , affectionate , generous—his mind , was puuosonhicall y calm— -his temper beautifully balanced and ocninble—and tho thorough integrity of his obnraotor had thus an irresistible influence—ho maUeno enemies , and he reconciled to one another men vrlio were enemies . 5 * 0 w « s so placed in life that his business consisted in making friiindBhips : in l : n « ia men got on by avoiding giving oflbneo ; in Jamaica ho had merely to repress excitements and induce logical temporato views ; and in < jann . < ln , ho gamed hi « victories by conciliation of men who woro rebels or oppositionists because they believed a British viceroy must bo n despotic Jw ? ? . ^ •" ¦ . was flrm > straightforward , sanguine : atid ho cot on because m < m xnbtmotivoly trusted him , and , knovviwg his objects , involuritiirily - as it woro , begun to aid Him in carrying them out . But , after all , there -wore no
years ago—when the theory of " responsible Government , ' now consummated by Lord Elgin , first began to be spoken of . Our statesmen are glorying in our success with Canada : and it is indeed wondorful to sec how calmly Canadians can now manage a , ministerial crisis —tho Gcvcrnor-KJoueral being of no account at all in the arrangements . For England ' s success in that great dependency tho main credit is duo t ' o the beginning made by Lord Metcalfe , in proving the possibility of constitutional Government in a colony , and that colony , half French , half Catholic , at tho moment wholly discontented . The success of Motoalfe was tlie mor < $ surprising t |» at ho was an oM Indian—trained in a despotic and brutal systom . It was a success attributable to his being the only rti » n in the colony who kept his tompov- ^ that , again , being a marvel ; for , all tlic tifrne ,, ho was dying , and knew it , of cancer . He bore with the cancer , and stuck to his post , because ho felt it was bis duty , and that ho alone could do the
work . lie was an- heroic gentle , man . Ho reached Kingston , Canada , in 1843 . "His first c&ro on esUi-Mishingf , himself at Kingston , " says naif Mr . Kayo , " was to make hitnaGlf thoroughly acquainted with tho character of tho Government over wliich he was c ° ™ - missioiiod to preside . "—o , sentence that indicates tho commonplace tuouguc of tha whole biography . He ft , nnd in C ««( i < l « a Logl ^ atu ro ombrnolnff , na in Jnmuiia , three ooiiHtitUcnt parts 1—th « Governor , or ra > reaeut . « tivo of tho Crown 3 <• ' »« f-. « Kl »*** -tIvft Oouno i , «< munatcd by tlio Grown 1 and tho Bvproscntntivo A ««« n » Wy , « le « t < "l " / " »« P P ^ uw there was « very important difference , in raopoot « f tl « o nmnncr I u wWdi tlw «^« rnfnent wu » praoticuly admlnlstoroa , 1 etwoon tho Wo « t-I «< ll « n »« l «» d and U . « North-Amorlonn province , for Whorcn « in tho ft . rn > cr tho ^««»» ^^ A ! lT !? V ^ rt « S WMono . nSidthooffloo-holdoniof whom it W « b composed retained tliolr nlucOft durtng e conduct , in tho lhttor thoro * to a wpnrtito-R ^ ccutlvo Cottncn , hoi n ^ ofljew VjJtttolly by tho aufforuiKio of the popular Drancli of tU « LcgJflWtutts , ttioUgll ntrtttlnaUy
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September 80 , 1854 . 3 ^^ L ^ E LEA 927
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 30, 1854, page 927, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2058/page/15/
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