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^jp^paapa^i^MMi^—waMMiiiiaB^Bfcii « —im FINE ARTS.
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aiflmiss the prisoners at once ?¦ ' Lethighcastearrogancej heathenism , and hatred to the Gospel iurnish the xcply . If ihey do believe in them , let them show that the Soodras with their version of the Queen ' s proclamation Dn their lips , and the Dewan ' s proclamation in their hands , are actuated by no other motive than self-defence and the maintenance of the public peace . Let them furnish some solution of the difficulty which must force Itself on the minds that so many cat ^ echiats ^ and others liave in one week become the enemies of society and the . perpetrators 6 iso many crimes . Let them point to one overt act against the public peace ¦ which has heenproved against them , one Soodra ' s house which they have burnt , one Soodra ' s tope which they have denuded of its fruit , or one bazaar which they have plundered . The real offence against the laws of the country which the Soodras can . prove against the Shanars , and which ± hey have assumed the . power to punish , is the wearing of"the zipper cloth hy the women , " and the wearing of either the cloth or jacket by the men .
Allow me liere to observe that the ancient , laws of Travancore prescribe for each caste its peculiar style of dress , of jewels , of sandals , of umbrellas , of houses , -employment , and of duties to the state- The style of dress prescribed to the Shanar and all other inferior classes of people , is a coarse cloth tied round , bat no higher than the waist , and to hang no lower . than the knee , and to be worn alike by men and women . If the men desire a headdress , it must be a cadjan leaf bound round like a fillet and tied behind . These laws , though still observed io a very visible extent by all classes , yet for many years past have been allowed to be disregarded to some extent by Jarge bodies of the" lower orders , " and may for any pretext that suits the Government be revived at any time , as tie law on dress is at present . .
¦ ¦ ¦ m . t . 9 . The missionaries have not at any time encouraged the Shanar women to wear the upper cloth . The Teason for this is that the women require no encouragement , modesty and the love of decency being a sufficient inducement . There are those who maintain that there is ho necessity for Shanar women to wear the upper cloth as they are allowed by Government to wear a jacket . But this allowance is no argument against the necessity *> f the upper , cloth , as the jacket ia hot a convenient -garment , and cannot be made by the majority of them , as -they have neither scissors nor needles . At best it makes them look like gawky girls , and is regarded as a badge of degradation . It suits them well , however , out of doors , as a full dress when covered with the upper cloth . Their love of decency , aiid their not having been interfered ¦ with for many years , accounts for the practice
of the Christian women covering their persons . The same feeling and the same noninterference account for it also among- the heathen Shanar women , to ¦ which must be added the custom of wearing it unmolested by hundreds of the latter , for six months in the year , in the province , of Tinnevelli . Though the liberty of wearing a jacket was conceded by the Government years ago to the Christian women , the present tyranny of high ¦ caste prejudice will not allow them even this . It is torn ¦ off their persons , and they are told that they must have nothing above the waist . You will see that this is also the intention of the Government , for no exemption is made in the Dewan ' s proclamation in favour of Christians , and no allusions to former proclamations in refer-« nceto their wearing the jacket ; the complaint isegainst Shanar . women who cover their bosoms . It is too bad that Christian women who can afford to dress with
decorum , who wish to do so , and who have been for years in the habit of doing * so , should now be compelled to return to a state of barbarism , and that merely to gratify the caste vanity of those who hate the Gospel with all its civilizing effects . Hundreds of these women are educated , and scores of them obtain their livelihood by making " pillow lace , " which has become celebrated in India , is worn by Indies of the highest rank , and procured a Bronze Meaal from the Great Exhibition of 1861 , and a subso-. quent one from the Madras Exhibition . I commend these women to the kind consideration and Christian sympathy of ladies in England , who rejoice at their mental ; moral , and social elevation , and would plead on their behalf with those ladies that they would advocate their cause , and aid in procuring for them from hiirh quarters fullliberty to dress in such a manner as bents the modesty' and decorum enjoined and promoted hy the Gospel which they have em priced , 10 At the commencement of the present disturbance the Rov . Messrs . Russell . Abba , and Bavlis , waited on the resident to request his interference * fox Its immediate suppression , and for the protection of Christian , people agnlnat the wrongs inflicted on thorn . The inter--view , however , ns might have been " expected , has produced no good resul ts . They wore told that " the Shanar women woro violating a law of the country in wearing Hie upper clcith , that they have only themselves to blame » nd must bear the consequence . " To whom then are the poor people to look for succour , and how long and to what extent shall their oppressors be allowed to triumph over them ? There Is no one in Travancore to reach but
the hand to help them . All that the missionaries can qo is to write on their behalf . This they have done , but to no good effect . Tl « o resident Bends copies of their Jotters to tue Dewan and there the matter rests as fiw as Ae is fSoncerned , Their letters , except ih rare Instances , do t -not , ; meet with the common civility of acknowledgement , the present ptate of affairs the first thing required opabsototQ prohibition , for a while , of all nroseoiftionp * * ua the appointment by the Macros Government of an European magistrate to examine Into the whole affair . j 5 * Si ¦«»* > »»<\ to prevent the recurrence In future of ' fcJffiifaWfti ? 0 ^ ^ & Englishmen bo appointed as * ea 4 a of . polka throughout the cpuntry , to » d the Appeal , ^^^ PWrtdedoYerV an E ^^
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LATEST INDIAN INTELLIGENCE . It is stated , in the Calcutta Phcenix of June 3 , that the conduct of the dissatisfied . European soldiers has been excellent , and at most stations they were foremost in doing honour to her Majesty ' s birthday . They now " quietly await the result of an appeal to parliament . On the 24 th of May the Governor-General held his first levee as Viceroy of India . The Bishop of Calcutta , with the archdeacon and the clergy of the metropolis , read an address to the Queen , congratulating her Majesty on the pacification of the country , and expressing ** the views of the clergy upon the
relation oi the government of this country to its subjects in . a religious point of view . The bishop then congratulated Lord Canning on the honours with which his labours had been recently rewarded , and hoped that he might long live to enjoy them , The governor-general , in reply , stated that the address should be duly forwarded . to the Secretary of State for India , ana thanking the clergy for the congratulations addressed to himself and his government , concluded with an expression of gratitude for t ] b . e " steady introduction of peace over the whole of the vast einpire . " In the evening thero was a ball at Government House .
The Fkoenix says Lord Canning intends to leave Calcutta in September next for a tour in the northwest provinces . The Englishman is informed that tho Governor-General in Council has refused to allow missionaries to visit native jails at stated hours , unless sent for by any native , To act otherwise would bo "to turn tho machinery of justice and civil government to religious purposes , " and cause it to be said that we have " under the pretence of administering justice , made it a method of conversion . " The Englishman estimates the Patna opium crop this season at 18 , 000 chests .
The Calcutta volunteer guards , have been disbanded , aiid tho Governor-General , on the 1 st inst ., addressed a complimentary letter to the Consul-General of the United States at Calcutta , conveying tho thanks of Government for the assistance rendered by the American resident * . The diebandment was not looked upon with satisfaction by the European inhabitants .
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The 'Second report on the National Portrait Gallery has been issued . It appears that within the last year some important , changes ,-dictated by experience , have been imported into the rules by which the trustees are governed . These now stand as follow : —1 . The trustees , in either making purchases or receiving presents , will look to the celebrity of the person represented rather than to the merit of the artist . They will attempt to estimate that celebrity without any b ias to any political or religious party . . Nor will they consider great faults and errors , even though admitted on all sides , as . any sufficient ground for excluding any portrait which may be . valuable as
illustrating the civil , ecclesiastical , or literary history of the country . 2 . No portrait of any person still living , except only of the . reigning Sovereign , and of his or her Consort , shall be admitted . 3 . No portrait of any person deceased less than ten years shall be admitted , unless all the trustees in the kingdom , and not incapacitated by illness , shall either at a meeting , or by letter , signify their approbation . 4 . No portrait shall be admitted by donation , unless three-fourths , at least , of the trustees present at a meeting shall approve it . 5 : No modern copy o an original portrait shall be admitted . 6 . . The " number of three shall bo a quorum at any meeting of the trustees .
In the first report the trustees gave the list of thirteen donations as offered and accepted . Up to the present time that list may be continued as follows : — . 14 . General Wolfe , 1723—175 C >; James Stuart , surnamed " Athenian Stuart , " 1713—1788 ; William Petty , Earl of Slielburne > afterwards Marquis o Lahsdowne , 1737—1805 ; Admiral Boscaven , 1 . 7 . 1 . 1— . 171-6 ; the Right Hon . Sir James Macintosh , 1765—1832 ( painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence , presented by li . J . Macintosh , Esq ., June , 1858 ); Robert Burns , 1759—1796 ; John Kemble , 1757—1823 ; Mrs . Siddons , 1755—1832 ; John Keats , 1795 —1821 : President Forbes of Culloden , 16 S 5—1747 ;
Dr . Edward Jenner , 1749— , 18 . 23 ; Dr . Nathaniel Hopke , died 1764 ; Sir Charles Bell , 1774—1842 . But besides these donations , each of a single portrait , the trustees desire specially to mention another , in which many portraits are comprised . Her Majesty ' Government have offered to the collection , and the trustees have with thanks accepted , the great picture of-the House of Commons at the opening of the first reformed Parliament , in January , 1833 , as painted by Sir George Haytcr , and as recently secured to the nation by a vote of the House of Commons . This picture , which , exclusive of the frame , measures seventeen feet by ten , contains
nearly four hundred portraits , including , with the strangers represented at the bar , all the principal statesmen of the time , and cannot fail , vlien exhibited in a good situation , to attract great public interest . The trustees have only to regret that the very limited space of their temporary anil far from convenient apartments has precluded the immediate reception of this valuable picture , which , therefore , although in due form accepted , remains lor the present , at their own request , in the charge of hpr Majesty ' s Government . The purchases made up to May , 1858 , were stated in the last report of trustees as amounting to twenty-two . They have now increased to forty-four .
It will bo seen from the preceding statements that the portraits now in charge of the trustees , whether by gift or purchase , and ranged on the walls of the temporary apartments assigned to them at 29 , Great George-street , Westminster , ore now seventy in number . But from the very inadequate accommodation which those apartraonts afford , it has been found impossible in tho arrangements of the pictures to attempt any kind of classification or chronological order . .... Under all tho circumstances ennumeratcd , the trustees flatter themselves that the Administration and the' Parliament may deem their progress satisfactory , and may lo disposed to continue their liberal support to this undertaking by tho yearly
grant pf 2 , 000 ? . That literature and the fine arts do not always go hand in hand , may bo proved now by tlie pedestal of Lord Olive ' s statue in Whitehall . On tho side towards tho street' there are three inoriptions : — 1 . By Baron Marochetti , soulpsit . 3 . To bo erected by subscription . 3 . Erected by order of a committee of subscribers . We can only imagine that these legends were inscribed at different times ; and such is , we believe , the case , with a view to satisfy public curiosity . Mr . Macliflo ' s splendid cartoon , forty-three feet by twelve , for a picture of Wellington and Blucher at La Belle Alliance , Is now on show , to the members of tlie peer ' s house and other favoured individuals , in tshe Royal Gallery at tho Now Palace , Westminster , where it occupies the panel destined fax the future fresco . The figures are , wo understand , nearly of life-size , and comprise , besides tho two
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receive Complaints for all and against all ; 'not excluding Government officials JVeither nature not fortune , Mr . Editor , has designed me for a politician , so I cannot pretend even to suggest a remedy for the political and social disorganisation of the country ; yet I cannot help thinking that the infusion of Enropean blood into the body politic would produce a more healthy and vigorous action . As for the social aspect of the question , what is required , and What must be obtained , is full liberty to the Christian population with regard to dress and all matters connected with their advancing civilisation , or in other words , the same liberty in these respects as the Christians enjoy in the neighbouring territory of Tinnevelli . Surely the Queen ' s proclamation guarantees so much to them , if rightly interpreted in the light of English law and English liberty . But who is there here to protect their rights , and to see see to it that they are not robbed of them by a combination of high caste prejudice and mob violence ?
11 . The missionaries in Travancore have more than enough to do to maintain their equanimity , and verily their '' patience hath her perfect work . " We are often jaied in body and mind whilst contending with _ the oppression , injustice and cruelty committed by officials , who purchase office and " makehay while the sun shines . " We have hitherto borne the whple in silence , hoping and hoping on that matters vould improve , but our hopes in this respect are disappointed , and our patience nearly exhausted . The state of things is becoming more hope-Itfss year by year . The resident himself acknowledges that the country is in a worse condition now than it was years ago , when he first entered - on his appointment . We are aware that it is the general lot of cdmplainers to get into bad odour . This has deterred us in some measure from makinjr our complaints to he heard bv the public at large . At the same
time we are more and more convinced that our policy of keeping silent has effected no good . Therefore we say , let those who will blame us , if from this time forth we " ery aloud and spare not " . Were it not for the success which God has' been pleased to grant us , I for one would have left Travancore years ago > and sought some other field of labour less cumbered with thorns and ftriars and less infested with reptiles- To leave now , however , is morally impossible . To do so would be , humanly speaking , to expose the Christian population to certain destruction . They would have no more chance of safety than a flock of unprotected sheep in sight of a hungry pack of wolves . But let them , under the shield of British prot « ction , be defended from oppression , and civil and religious rights granted them , and with the blessing from above , they will progress in civilization and grow in grace aad in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour , Jesus Christ . " Yours truly , Santhapooram , near Nagercoil , Eben . Lewis . May 7 th , 1859 .
^Jp^Paapa^I^Mmi^—Wammiiiiab^Bfcii « —Im Fine Arts.
^ jp ^ paapa ^ i ^ MMi^—waMMiiiiaB ^ Bfcii « —im FINE ARTS .
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i . u * . i » g —* - S 38 TELE LEADES . [ No . ' 186 . July 16 , 1859-
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Leader (1850-1860), July 16, 1859, page 838, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2303/page/10/
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