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inadvertently blind . Mr . Homfct possesses a subtle and justly discriminating- mind , whieh has enabled . hixn . mtbe present instence , to enter with clearness and perspicuity into the details ot the political crisis which agitated the period about which he writes . Ut course the author possesses the advantage of the superior enlightenment of the present day , to assist him in diving- with greater depth and judgment into the sources of the universal calamity , violence , and discontent which stain the annals of that age of comparative ignorance and intolerance . Mr . Howifct has not been slow in availing himself of this advantage ; and the result is a novel which , for the soundness of its principles , and its treatment of the great national abuses which at the time almost paralysed the nation , and aroused the gigantic spirit of reform , that caused such uneasiness islature t be
to the members of both Houses of the English Leg —mus admitted into the foremost ranks of our political romances . It there is a fault to be found with tliis work , it is its evident tendency to tediousness and dryness . There is , in fact , so much space ^ consumed in the discussion of the principal topics of reform , and the different interests enlisted for and against it , that the novelist has completely lost sight of the thread of his story , and the necessity of concentrating the attention of the reader aronnd the principal personages connected with it . Indeed , it was not till towards the end of the second volume that we became conscious or any particular interest in the development of the several characters and incidents ; then , however ; we confess to have been fully rewarded for our perseverance in wading patiently through the heavier portions ; and from this point our sympathies were not allowed to flag
during a single chapter . , , « - ,, The hero of this book is Philip Stanton , son of Hugh Meynell Stanton , a man of true Christian fortitude , who sacrifices his worldly prosperity to the integrity of his principles , and dies , poor and neglected , at the commencement of the first volume . Philip commences his career as private tutor in the family of Sir Huldicote Peters , with whose daughter ; Paulina , he has the misfortune to become enamoured , which circumstance ultimately leads to his , expulsion ; from the Hall . He then rushes headlong into the spirit of the times , becomes a zealous reformer , arid is hailed by ¦ ¦ . the suffering masses as their great deliverer , tfce true '' man of the people . " In this character -lie soon has to acknowledge the bitter truth of . the instability of popular favour ; from the idol of the public he speedily becomes their execration . For the reasons of this change , together with the particulars of his imprisonment , release , and ultimate triumph over all his enemies , the reader will do well to consult the novel : itself . -
In compilings a novel , embracing" all the principal . historical personages that figured in the troublons reign of Charles I ., the author aiSohtib y Souse has drawn upon himself a comparison by which he must necessarily suffer . In our opinion ( and we believe in that of most people also ) , onl y one novelist has succeeded in placing before the public a true portraiture of ore of the greatest men that ever adorned the annals of English history . For ourselves , we confess tkafe our earliest impressions of Oliver Cromwell , his capacious intellect , his genius and his foibles , have been , next to the important biography by Mr . Thomas Carlyle , received through the medium pf that prince of novelists , the inimitable Scott . In the present day , any romancist following in the track of that eminent writer , and
reproducing under different colouring those historical impersonations foi * which he is so justly celebrated , must be content to submit himself to an ordeal in the shape of public criticism , from which it is next to an impossibility that he should escape unscathed . Mr . Melville has boldly challenged this ordeal ; and though . we cannot compliment him by placing his production up / on a level with any one of his great , predecessors , yet it possesses sufficient individual merit to entitle it to the respect of all who peruse it . The lattier portion of Holmby House is decidedly the best ; the interest becomes more sustained , the language more free and elevating , and the termination fully justifies us in excusing the author for a little tediousness at the commencement .
Ch'egmoro is a simple but interesting story , carrying with it a pure and healthy moral . The author has , doubtless , intended it as a warning- to parents on either side , who , marrying- into a rank of life above then * own sphere in society , are induced to relinquish the management and education of thciv offspring , in consideration df future advantages liberally held out to them , into the hands of their aristocratic relatives , who , thereupon , consider it an act of duty to rear them up in utter detestation of the more plebeian circle to which their immediate progenitors belong-. In this state ^ of affairs , should events yet hidden in futurity compel tho return of the offspring 1 under the guardianship of its natural protectors ( a contingency which the author has fully I'oalized in the present story ) , the result can only be misery to all parties involved . This book is well written throughout , and we can heartily recommend all who peruse its pages to con by heart the lesson therein prepared .
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ENGLISH ENTEItrBISJE IN INDIA * LOltD ELGIN , in tho able ' address he lately delivered to tho students of tho University of Glasgow , dwelt with much force ijpontlie opening 1 offered to tho educated . intelligence of the British Empire , in those' distant dependencies whore w 8 are not so much settlors as masters . Ho tola his audience that , great as ore the opportunities afforded by the colonies proper , a much larger field is
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presented by we are , presen , y the rulers of so many millions of a semi-barbarous indigenous population—a field botli of personal profit and public utility-for the Englishman who turns his steps to these parts of the national dominion , has not only the opportunity of acquiring independence for himself , but , whilst obtaining that , may greatly improve lite condition of the people amongst whom he settles , and consolidate the power of his sovereign . Lord Elgin has here touched a question which is every day assuming a greater importance . On the one hand the struggle for educated employment at home . becomes harder every day ; the excess of those seeking it raises the standard of qualifications required , and reduces " the remuneration offered ; on Hip . other , the ereat chance for the permanency of our rule- — -at all ^ * ^^ ^^ ^* ^*
events , for its continuing to be at all profitable—m the Eastern Hemisphere , is now recognised to consist in a . larger mnux of English capital and intelligence . Of course that influx will not be an unmixed good ; some men will take advantage of their strength and superiority to oppress the native population by which they are surrounded ; but under any circumstances , there will be but fewsnch taskmasters , and the greater the number of Englishmen in the settlement the less will be that oppression . Grant even that but few of them have an adequate appreciation of the duty they owe to the poor creatures and to their own country , the innate humanity . of the Englishman , and his desire to see those at all dependent upon him happy and eoinfortable , will lead the majority to follow the course which the dictates of a sound policy would recommend .
In such an influx of English settlei-s , to whom it promises competence , if not immense fortunes , lies the great hope of India . Hitherto the country has been comparatively sealed to all save the members of the two services , who , scattered here and there over immense tracts , have been completely unknown to the great mass of the population . The poor cultivators lia , \ re known the collector or judge , whose residence is perhaps fifty miles from their village , only by the native officials , who , under cover of the power given them by him , have made their appearance only to plunder and oppress . No man , however earnest and able , can do much by himself for the social elevation or even protection of a million of human beings ; and as it is impossible for the Government to . multiply its officialsi- ^ - and , however multiplied , their very position disables them from aid to the le
learning the real wants arid giving-the requisite peopthe only prospect of .. rescuing the latter from the oppression of their richer fellow-countrymenvligs m the " controlling influence of independent British settlers . At present the condition of the Hindoo cultivator is a most deplorable one ! He is the victim of the accumulated exactions of all his more powerful countrymen . He is fleeced by the zemindar , and again by his agents and servants ; then by the money-lender , from whom he has to obtain the means of cultivating his land and subsisting-until his crop is gathered ; then by the police agents , and in fact by every person who has the slightest Opportunity of aiding or injuring : him . The Hindoo is undoubtedly , as our Irish and French libellers proclaim , oppressed ; but the oppressors are his own countrymen , and his
chance of relief lies in the increase of his white masters . How far this is the case is evidenced by . the results in that small part of India in which Englishmen have settled . We do not of course speak of the little European communities which nestle together at the capitals of the presidencies : barristers and merchants can do little as individuals amongst the masses who compose the population of Calcutta , Bombay , or Madras , and are too busily engaged even to think of trying- it . But in those portions of Bengal in which the much abused indigo planters havo located themselves , the people have bqen materially benefited . Some may have abused . their strength , but the majority have not forgotten to aid the poor peasant whilst seeking their own profit . It is but . a short time , itinust bo remembered , since India was opened even to them , and their efforts
are still hindered and difficulties thrown in their way b y the Orovernment . The obstaoles still opposing tho acquisition of land , or rendering it a very hazardous investment , interfere much with the fixity of the planter ' s operations , and make him look rather to a great immediate profit than to a permanent income . But the general g-ood influence of tho planter in the present day is attested as well by the evidence of independent witnesses , such as the author of the book before us , as by the reports of the Government officers . He protects the ryot against the exactions ho > vould otherwise bo subjected to from the zemindar or his agents ; frees him , to some extent , from the grasp of the Jmoncy-lender , and is even a protection against that most dreaded body , the native police . In many cases the villagers have found in the planters a refuge from starvation , and some or the more liberal minded have , at great expense ,, foundori and maintained schools and hospitals . . The ryot indeed in robbed in his dealings with
the planter , but that the latter qrtnnofc help . Ho is obliged to employ as his managers and assistants natives , and every one of thorn will have his clustoree , just as West-end servants will have their perquisites from tradesmen . It is no use forbidding the agents to receive or the peasants to pay it . Tliey know that if they do not pay they will sooner or later suffer , as ft is quite oufc pf tho power of pno man to see tlmt they do not . Bo his knowledge of the Jtmg-unge ever so good , what can ho do P-r-the solitary European _ « pon an indigo plantation embracing 1 within its area a population of one hundred thoiisnna , or own 'twice or thrice that number . Tlje indigo planter does what one man can do , whose chief aim , of course , is his own profit . Ho must wait until ho cim obtain a supply of European assistants bofore he can hope to suppress tho injuatico perpetrated in his name , We have taken the indig-o plantor ns an illustration of what has been done for the improvement of the people by settlers who belong
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L those possessions in which at tmerel 23 e ; We Leader andSaturday 4 nalysL ^ -a ^ h 10 , TSbU . » * ¦ ' . . ' ' ' . ¦¦ ml * ' __ ¦ ~_ a- «*» « 4 _ '« m _ k ^ « v b ^ 4 f * d V W W ^^ w ^ •• w *^ v « >^ mi > ^ t * ^^^^ f c A 4 * ^ 1 1 mf 9 w
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*¦ ' Mural X 4 fo in JBonaal , UluBfcnvtirYQ of Anglo-Indian Suburban Life . letters from nn Artist in India , to liis Sistors in England . Illustrated with one hundred and sixty-six Engravings . 1 vol . London : W . Thackor and Co , , , ¦ ; ¦ ''¦
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 10, 1860, page 236, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2337/page/16/
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