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Leader (1850-1860), 31st December 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1414

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    • 11BIA, AND INDIAN PROGRESS. ¦ -—^»- .
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      Untitled Article

      LATEST INDIAX INTELLIGENCE . The intelligence frorn Calcutta is to the 22 nd November , but there is not much news . Rebelhunting had commenced in Bundelcund , and there "were hopes of hemming in all the rebels in that quarter . On the Oude frontier the police had ha'd a skirmish or two , and , according to all accounts , the rebels in Nepaul were determined to fight . The Friend of India says : — " Lord Canning continues his official progress . He entered Cawnpore on the 2 nd inst ., and on the following day held a durbar for the reception of the Maharajah of Rewab , the chiefs and jagheerdars of

      Bundelcund , and the chiefs and principal residents of the districts of Benares and Allahabad . This durbar is almost as remarkable in the history of our policy as that of . Lueknow was for the perpetuation of the talookdaree system in Oude . As a reward for the services rendered by the Maharajahs of Hewah arid Chirkaree , and the Jagheerdars of Xogassee and Gourihar , during the rebellion , they were promised that ' the Government would , in the event of failure to any one of them of direct heirs , recognise the privilege of adoption according to the ancient custom of their respective families . '"

      The durbar at Cawnpore is thus described b y the correspondent of the Calcutta Englishman : — - ' * The effect of the great variety of costumes and the brilliant colours rajnged round the tent was very striking . The swell Rajah of the day was he of Rewah . He had a chair on the right hand of the "Viceroy , and he fully came up in appearance to one ' s idea of a native Rajah . He is a big burly man , of tall stature , ¦ with a heavy , grossly sensual face * and yellow conir plexion . His hands , fat and shapeless , were covered ¦ with dazzling rings . He wore a light , yellow tunic , with a ; black and white scarf , that looked at a distance like a boa constrictor ' s skin . On his head was a handsome toAvering cap , composed entirely of gold

      and diamonds , which evidently made an inclination of the head difficult . The number of colours in each man s dress was wonderful . There was one extraordinary old person , - whose general appearance excited even the risible faculties of the Viceroy himself when being introduced ; he wore a pair of large green velvet loose trousers , made either stiff with buckram , or stuffed out with cotton , so as to give bis legs the appearance of being two big green pillows * and a very short tunic , which was composed of yellow , red , blue and green , and he had a turban of some . glaring colour , with the most comical old face possible , a . great projecting , thick , white moustache , making him strongly resemble a dressed up monkey , and in his right hand was a huge broad-bladed sword , encased in a yellow sheath , of the scimitar shape . This very

      queerlooking old chap too was decidedly of a talkative turn , or else had taken an extra quantity of bhang , or something else that made him demonstrative . He looked sufficiently of a guy when he came to receive his khelat , but when that , consisting of a long shawl , was wrapped round his neck in such away aaan old gentleman would put on a wrapper in a cold night , and with his huge yellow scabbarded sword , at least a foot broad at the hilt , up-raised , for he was evidently very proud of his Weapon , the old man , as he made his obeisance to the Queen ' s representative in this guise , was too much even for his Lordship ' s . gravity . Very shortly after two o ' clock the words ' * Attention / ' Shoulder arms , ' and then ' Present arms / announeed that the Viceroy was passing through the entrance tent , and presently , preceded by his Chief Secretaries of State and Aides-de-Camp , he entered , the sound of guns outside announcing it .

      " Then came the presentation of khelats . The principal Rajahs had chains fastened on their necks , But only to one , the Rewah Rajah , was this done by Lord Canning personally . To give him his chain , his Lordship rose and passed it round his neck . The others had their collars of honour put on by the ( secretaries , Lord Canning merely touching each chain when presented to him for that purpose * The Rewah Jtajah , the Benares Rajah , and the Chikaree Rajah were each addressed by Lord Canning , in BngHsh , on their khelats being given them j but to the Chikaree Rajah a great honour was paid , for , f after saying a few words to him , Lord Canning , faing , to < the GoxnmandeMn-Ohlef , who , on being dra « £ ea , < immediately Btood up , the whole of the M $ P&fQ # lc € irs present standing also , said , * Lord ? i ? " ?»* wwh to wing to your notice the conduct of wu Drove man , who allowed marked devotion to the

      British

      yet been requested to volunteer . The 67 th and 3 rd Buffs were despatched some time since to protect the Europeans in Hongkong and Shanghai , and the 27 th , 53 rd , 60 th , 76 th , and 99 th , with the 1 st and 2 nd Bengal Europeans , have been warned for service in China . It is quite possible , however , that the names of some of these regiments may be changed before the expedition actually sails , as orders from home frequently interrupt all plans . Two batteries of Artillery are also to be dispatched , and , I believe , all the Royal Engineers available . There is talk , also , of sending a regiment from Bombay , probably the 3 rd Europeans , as the men of the Jagers who have refilled the ranks of that corps will be none the

      worse for service . No appointments have yet been made in the Staff , but the departments have received orders to provide everything necessary for 10 , 000 men . The great difficulty will be the means of carriage . The steamers cannot ascend the Peiho further than Tientsin , and from thence to Pekin there is 100 miles to be traversed by land . The road , though excellent , is bordered by deep fields , filled in June with black sticky mud , impassible for anything except perhaps elephants . Along this road we must convey some 15 miles of baggage , and draught cattle will therefore be of the first importance . They are . obtainable to some extent in China ; but I believe efforts will be made to send a large proportion of the whole direct from Calcutta . "

      Untitled Article

      FOREIGN INCIDENTS . The Cook and his Mistress . —A scene worthy of the days of the old French culinary chivalry , when Vatel fell upon his sword rather than accept dishonour , and Razat retired to the Cannes rather than meet his master ' s gaze after "having burnt the salmi , was enacted before the tribunal the other day , when Chevet , the worst gastronome par excellence of Paris , appeared to defend himself against the accusation brought by Madame Azam , of the Hotel des Trois EmpereurSj of bad cookery , which had driven the customers from the table d'hote , and reduced her hotel to the proportions of a mere lodging house . It appears that Chevet , with far-seeing and prudent eye , beholds the moment approaching when ho wijl be driven out by reason of the demolition of the house he occupies , to seek refuge for his pots and pans elsewhere , and had accepted the offer made him by Madame Azam to aupply the table dhote of the hotel at a reduced tariff , on condition of being allowed to establish his battery in the casement story of the hotel . Madame Azam having found a purchaser for the hotel , at an exorbitant price , has the effrontery to accuse the great artist , Chevet , of not having given satisfaction to her clients , and of having driven them to fresh fields , and pastures now , in consequence of his repeated failures ; and , would you believe it ? adds insult to injury by claiming 10 , 000 f . damages in addition to his immediate evacuation of the premises . The court rejects the application for damages , but ordains the immediate departure of the artist . The soone waa good—tears , indignation , pathetic appeals to the stomachs belonging to crowned heads—nothing was wanting to render it worthy of any stage .

      jDnEApFux Inundation in CYrntJs . —A letter from Nicosia , in the island of Cyprus , gives an account of a terrible inundation which recently took place there ;— "On 10 Nov ., the weather became cloudy , the wind blow with great violence , and the thunder and lightning were most violent . At noon the rain began to fall in torrents , and in a . short time after the river overflowed its banks . The inhabitants not having time to shut the gates , the water rushed in with fearful impetuosity , and inundated the town . The bazaar soon had six feet of

      water in it , and to odd to the misfortune * the gate at the end of the town , opposite to where the water rushed in , became closed , and there being thus no outlet far the torrent , nearly every house was soon filled . Towards evening tho gate gave way , and the water began to gradually subside . "No fewer than forty-seven houses and 150 shops were undermined and fell $ and four men , eleven women , ' and a child perished beneath the ruins . Considerable injury waa done to the merchandise in the bazaar . Upwards of 100 mules also perished , and tho total loss cannot be estimated at leas than'two million piastres . "

      Untitled Article

      "We are compelled by stress of pantomimes to suspend our wonted heading , " The Drama . " To suppose that "' King , Rene ' s Daughter , " the opera of " Victorifce , " " The Evil Genius , " or the ' pleasing drama of " Home Truths , " presented respectively By "the managers of the T . E . ' s Drury Lane , Covent Garden , Haymarket , and Princess ' s , received their usual share of attention from either of those potentates , or from the omnium gatherum audiences assembled in the houses named during the week , would be to uu-Christmas Christmas . The critic is , at all events , far too ingenuous to pretend that he is in any position to announce more than the fact , that they appeared on the bills , and , the common report that they have been " done " after the ordinary Christmasweek fashion . The pantomime , not the play , is , for tire time , the thing , and to the pantomimes , therefore , let us devote our necessarily brief report . The Drury Lane Pantomime— to which Blanch ard , Jacile princeps of pure pantomime writers , has contributed an " opening" in his most jbyotis manner ; to which Tully has brought original and borrowed strains of the most winning and appropriate character ; and for which- Beverley has brought to bear an unparalleled amount of theatrical engineering and pictorial skill—as called " Jack and the Bean ; Stalk . " The author who , let us say , once or all , is as incapable of seriously mutilating an Anglo-classic nursery tale As he is of incorporating any kind of vulgarity with it , has adhered

      with loving reverence to the familiar legend , which , in the first instance , is chosen to be the subject of a pantomime , by a kind of congress of meteorological wizards , whose doubts and differences are typical of . the sore straits to which the victim Wit is reduced by the load of responsibility conveyed in the manager ' s demand for a new and original opening . The business once settled , and " Jack and the Beanstalk " fairly chosen as the corpus to be experimented on , we arc lead easily and wittUy through the tale , until Jack ( whom Mr . Templeton , a young and promising actor ,

      resonates throughout with much comic force ) is enabled , by the assistance of tho fairies , to slay first the son of the giant , and then the giant himself Such a monstrum fiorrcnduvi as this giant it has never before been the lot of playgoers to see . It hath not entered into the philosophy of property inakors or managers to conceive or to achieve his const ruction . Our dramatist , wise , however , in his generation , has refrained from adding the needlessly horrible to the vast ; and we are saved tho actual decapitation which might have added—if it had not frightened them into fits—one , more barbarous lesson to those

      commonly taught to the infant spectators ot pantomime . The imminent catastrophe interrupted by the pixie party , who claim-the body of their ancient foe , and remove ' the scene to a fairy grotto of tho most boautiful device . In this superb scene vre might fairly say Mr . Beverly has eclipsed all' Ins former efforts ; but room must bo left tho artist to outdo himsolf . In the " Floral home of tho good fairies " he has , wo think , done this feat , and with its splendid marvels his name and fnmo will be associated to tho end of our playgoiqg days , unless , indeedwhich at present seems hardly coneoiyabio ,

      , an undimmod fancy and equal rosouroes should enable him next year to substitute another impression for that which at prosont dominates us . Tho pantomime pure , or harlequinade , which succeeds tho excitement of tno transformation scene might fall flat had not the indefatigable Smith resolved , as it would scorn no dw , that his troupe should bo as coraploto and as ennnonp in their way as his author and his engineer-artist . There is a double set of clowns , pantaloons , harlequins , and columbines . There are " oxquisltos , oi

      sprites , flende , and supplementary characters an sorts , including , we need hardly say , a volunteer corps ; This body , called the "Houeohold Brlgftflo ana Marine Parade Volunteers , " is composed oi female domestics , tfho , armed with dustpans , mope , broomsticks , < M » holoutB , and other domiciliary mtotoriel of war , and gallantly headed by Flexiuore , the clown , do utterly rout an invading army m French cooks . The trloke and transformations incidental to the harlequinade arc of the usual order . Tho author alma hla . gentle dart , of coureo , at tno

      11bia, And Indian Progress. ¦ -—^»- .

      11 BIA , AND INDIAN PROGRESS . ¦ - —^» - .

      Untitled Article

      THE PANTOMIMES . ¦ ~— " ? - —

      Untitled Article

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 31, 1859, page 1414, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2327/page/10/