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    desirable consummation would most speedily be effected by leaving here and there an independent state , to serve as a contrast to the well-ordered territories of Great Britain . His political intercourse with the Mahratta leaders was consequently marked by liberality and forbearance . He respected their weakness , and was willing to conciliate where there was no longer anything to fear . His great teacher was the Marquis Wellesley , in whose glorious school he graduated with high honours . Until the late Governor-General no . such ruler has ever appeared in India . His contemporaries / were often unjust to hira > for those were times when party feeling blinded the judgment , nnd even the Court of Directors frowned upon his system , because his policy "was imperial rather than commercial . In those days the Court was far more anxious about the sales of their Sugar and indigo than the extension of their dominions or the welfare of their subjects . They were strictly a trading corporation , and viewed all questions through a medium of ' profit and loss . * The half-year ' s dividend was of more value in . their

    eyes than the happiness of some millions of unbelievers twenty years afterwards . Holding these narrow views of their relations with India , it is not surprising that they slhould have regarded Lord Wellesley ' s proceedings with terror and disapprobation . His Lordship remembered that lie was the representative of a great nation , and not the mere agent of a commercial body . He gazed , therefore , earnestly into the future , at the same time that he endeavoured to impart a movement to his viceregal sphere which should bring it into a concentric circle with the mighty orbit of the mother country . To attain this object he needed the co-operation of fellow-workers of energy and intelligence , who should at times venture to throw off the shackles of routine and act on their own responsibility . Sir John Malcolm he . had made ready to his hand , the very man of all others the best calculated to carry out his views . From the very first they understood each other , and a friendship arose between them , based on mutual respect , -which , with one brief interval , never flagged till death intervened .

    protection , from the prevalent gales in the gulf under either ita south-east or north JTl side , and they can shift their berth ia the hardest gales without danger » Wt ^ But although Malcolm was not destined to enter Persia atVe head nf «* invading army , it was not long before he again revisitedit in peaceful e * 3 > Tn restore the prestige of the Indian Government so needlessly compro mised bv the direct interference of the Crown . He was accompanied on this occaS Y ? a numerous suite of zealous and enterprising youn officers , to whose tiw ' and energy we are cluefly indebted f or whatever knowledge avc possess f ! fS ! countries lying between the Euphrates an < l the mountains of AfF « han £ » , ! This time everything went pleasantly . Futteh All Shah welcomed Sd ' colm with the warmth and cordiality of an old friend . The Court w delighted with his presents , and the peasantry admired his bold K ^ vi !

    gallant horsemanship , anil cheerful affability . Still , it is acknowleuWv that this mission was less productive of political than of literary an ! scientific fruits . These , however , were of a very high order of excellence Nor , as Mr . Kaye justly remarks , was the information thus obtained con ' cerning countries previously almost unknown in Europe the only result --A literary tone and c"haracter was imparted to the Indian services generallv h these eminent examples- Many were afterwards encouraged by the success of suef performances to endeavour to imitate them . Literary research was no longer re garded as incompatible with active life ; and man who before thought only of serving the Government , began to think whether , like Malcolm and Elphinstone they mitrht not at the same time promote the interests of literature , science , and the world

    There is no man better entitled to speak well of the literary labours of the Indian services than Mr . Kaye himself , for no man has contributed more to their illustration . His History of the AfFghan War , his Lives of Lord Metcalfe and Mr . St . George Tucker , were at once accorded an honourable place . in evei-y gentleman ' s library throughout the land . But we question if they are not made to yield the palm to the'latest effort of his pen . If it has not fallen to bis own lot to sustain the well-earned honours of the Bengal Artillery in the field , he has certainly added to the literary reputation of that distinguished arm of the service . " Pulchrum

    est bene facere reipublicoe , etiam bene dicere baud absurdum est . Vel pace , vel bello clarura fieri licet . Et cjui fecere , et qui facta aliorum scriptese , multi Iaudantur . " Tlie-public-will probably agree ' with us in thinkin " that Mr . Kaye has chosen the better part , if these are to be the fruits of nil peaceful labours . And should he now , perchance , be looking around him for another subject , we would suggest a history of the various European adventurers who have , at different times , disciplined thebattulions of native princes . It would , at least , be a work full of character and stirrinjr adventure .

    It was , no doubt , primarily owing to Lord Wellesley ' fr iendship that Malcolm became unpopular in Leadenhall-street . But this -will scarcely account for the disappointments he experienced in after life , when his own services entitled him . to the highest rewards in the power of the Court to bestow . His biographer fails to throw any veiy clear light upon this point , or , rather , he purposely leaves it in obscurity . It would be absurd to look for perfection in- any man . Not even Sir John Malcolm , with his many excellericesj must fee regarded as a perfect character . He had so long enjoyed the exercise of almost irresponsible power that his manners and demeanour

    must , in the common course of things , have acquired a degree of stateliness , Iioweyer unconscious , that would hardly prove a good recommendation in tlie City . He was also addicted to the use of the pen , and was incessantly producing voluminous memoirs and pamphlets . Many of these possessed unquestionable merit , and will ever be considered as manuals of instruction for future ' politicals . ' But in much writing , as in much speaking , there is certain to be mischief ; and Malcolm expressed himself with the warmth natural to his impulsive disposition . No man , under such circumstances , can avoid sometimes giving offence , and the sore rankles and festers long . nfter the hand that sped the dart has been again extended and grasped in token of forsiveness .

    To the English public Sir John Malcolm has been best known as whilom ambassador to the Court of Teheran . On the first occasion he was sent by Lord Wellesley to avert the threatened invasion of India by Shah Zeman , by creating a diversion on the western frontier of his A ghan dominions . The clanger , however , was magnified by its distance , and the subsequent , deposition of that prbjee relieved the Governor-General from all anxiety on that head . There was also another object proposed in this embassy . At that time the bugbear of Indian statesmen was the dread of a descent upon the shores of India by a French army . The well-known ambition of Bonaparte , and the brilliant early achievements of the French in Egypt , furlushed reasonable grounds for such apprehension . Capt . 'iin Malcolm was , therefore , specially charged to alienate the Shah-i-Shah from an alliance

    with such a restless and wicked race , and to conciliate his good-will in favour of ourselves . The mission succeeded in every point , and the Persians long remembered the ungrudging largesses of the magnificent Elchee . But nltliough the treaty concluded by Malcolm was highly approved of by the Governor-General , it does not appear that any steps were taken to give it effect . The Gallophobia gradually died away , and the Persians were left to struggle as best they might against the encroachments of Russia . Abandoned by its allies , the Court of Teheran had no alternative but to throw itself into the arms of the Emperor ^ Napoleon . Its overtures were graciously received , and in clue course of time a splendid French embassy entered Persia , the advanced guard—as Lord Minto believed—of a French army . Both the home and the Indian Governments now once more directed their

    attention to Central Asia , and , bv an extraordinary absence of concert in their action , each appointed an envoy to the king of kings . The favoured of the Crown was Sir Harford Jones , formerly commerci al agent at , Bngdad ; while Malcolm , with the local rank of brigadier-general , again represented the viceroyaltv of India . It is unnecessary to relate how the brigadier , though first in the field , -was for that very reason constrained to return " bootlesB back , nnd weather-beaten home ; " while his rival , hnppy in the opportunity of his arrival , overthrew the French influence and established that of Great Britain . Writhing under his disappointment , Malcolm persuaded Lord Minto to fit out an expedition against the Persian Gulf , which would have actually taken place bad not the unwelcome tidings arrived of Sir Harford ' s success ' . Its first operation would have been the occupation of Karrack , of which Malcolm writes in the following words , in the journal of lus proceedings kept for his wife ' s particular benefit : — " H . M . Ship ' J ) ori ; near Karrach 8 th July . 1808 .

    , The more X contemplate this island , the more I am satisfied it might bo made one of the moot prosperous settlements in Asia , situated within a few houra' sail of Bushiro , Bunder Begh , Buasorah , Gramo , Bulierin , and Catiff . It would , if under a juat and powerful Government , be the common resort of the merchants of Turkey , Arabia , and Persia , and though too small ( only twelve equaro miles ) to support a number of inhabitants , it would , when it became on emporium , of commerce , become ft granary alao and want would be unknown . Tho chief recommendationa of this island aro ita fine climate aai excellent water . It has no harbour : but a veasel has

    Untitled Article

    CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM EATER . Confessions of tin English OpimnEater . By Thomas De Quincey . Now . first-carefully ; revised by the author and greatly enlarged . Edinburgh : James Hogg Let us , before noticing this new edition of a very singular work , admit the error into winch two weeks ago we fell in ascribing to De Quincey the opening paper of BlackwooiVs Magazine > iov ¦ this month . We learn that it . fs an imitation , not an authentic bit of Dii Quincey . We confess the mistake , und can only say than such an imitation would deceive us again . This new edition of the Opium Hater is almost twice as large as the former editions ,-. which , the author tells us , vvere never revised by him . " The main narrative , " he says , " should naturally have moved through a succession of secondary incidents ; and with leisure for recalling these , it might

    have "been greatly inspirited . These are now recalled , and all who are familiar with De Quincey ' s invincible tendency towards digression , how on the slightest pretence he rambles away into unprovoked discursiveness , digression within digression and notes on both ^ will at once understand that the now edition of the " Confessions" is miiinly enlarged by wanderings from the narrative . These arc so admirable , for the most part , that tlie Dc Quincey admirer will wish they lisid been longer and more numerous ; but he must also admit that they eonsidontbly afluct tlie interest of the narrative . To those who have never read the " Confessions , " we should recommend an initiation through the original edition ; having thus mastered the main points in a confused and fragmentary , narrative , they may then with luxurious laiifruor follow the narrative in this new-edition .

    That opium does not injuriously affect the intellect , whatever else it may do , is conspicuously displayed in this strange work , especially in the additions . Here is a man who must be seventy , or upwavds , and who for half a century has been in the habit of taking large doses of opium , writing with a splendour and accuracy , -with a prodigality and subtlety , surpassing even the style of his earlier years , and giving no evidence of intellectual fa ilure , since the radical defect , the cause which has from the fivst prevented his marvellous talents exercising an equivalent iniluence on the minds of his generation , is that impossibility of controlling thu current of his thoughts into any forecut channel , which makes his writing all dir / n'sxioii ) and thn defect is as visible in his earlier us in his later writings . Tlint opium , besides being an anodyne superior to all yet discovered , is also n preventive of consumption , by stimulating and keeping tip unintermittingly the insensible perspiration , is also taught in this work ; but on that point we are less clear . Tlie idea is worthy of medical inquiry ,-at ft" }

    rate . The litei'ary critic will be pleasantly occupied in scrutinizing the excellences , the witcheries we may say , of De Quincey's style , and : it the same time he will notice the wonderful pomp of diction with which he invests even the most trivial details . As a specimen of mighty exaggeration , ol grandiloquent eloquence , hear liim upon

    TOOTlIiVCllK . Two things blunt the general seme of horror , wliich would else connect itself wtli toothache—viz ., first , its enormous diffusion ; hardly a household in Europe being clear of it , each in turn Laving somo one chamber intermitting !;/ echoing the groans extorted b y this cruel torture . There—viz ., in its ubiquity—lies one cause of ita slight valuation . A second cauao is found in ita immunity from danger . This latter ground ot undervaluation is noticed in a saying ascribed ( but ou wlmt authority I know not ; to Sir Philip Sidney—viz ., that supposing toothnclio liable in ever ho small a P P " " tion of ita caaea to a fatal issue , it would l > e generally ranked aa tho most dreadful maladies ; whereas tho certainty tliat it will in no extremity lead to death , and the knowledge that in the vert / midst of its storms sudden changes may be Iookedfor } bringing long

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    1210 THE LEADER . [ No . 352 , Sattjbo > ay 1 - ' - ' ' _ ^ : = . _ * ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 20, 1856, page 1216, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2172/page/16/