صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

his management of the deposition of Vizir Ali of Oude; though Mr. Mill strongly expresses his conviction of the Governorgeneral's sincerity and his desire to do justice.' In 1798, commenced the career of war, victory, and territorial acquisition, which distinguished the administration of Lord Mornington, afterwards Marquis Wellesley. The determination still further to diminish, or to destroy, the crippled power of Tippoo Sultan, was so soon taken up and acted upon, as to awaken the suspicion that it was less the result of fresh occurrences than of previous arrangement. The first step towards active hostilities, was, the disarming of a large body of natives, disciplined and commanded by French officers in the service of the Nizam. The next measure was, to move directly upon Seringapatam, a force of strength sufficient to render opposition hopeless. Tippoo, in the mean time, after striking a blow at the Bombay division of the British forces, which compelled it to concentrate and to recede for a season, returned to meet the grand army under General Harris, from whom he sustained a severe repulse in an action near Malvilly. His subsequent plans for harrassing his opponents having failed, the Sultan called together his officers; We have arrived,' said he, at our last stage: what 'is your determination?' To die with you,' was the unanimous reply; and it was resolved to give battle with desperate determination on victory or death.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Every person present,' says Col. Wilks, was deeply affected by the solemn air and visible distress of their sovereign; and one of the chiefs, with a heart too full for ordinary self-command, on taking leave, prostrated himself at the Sultaun's feet and embraced them, the ceremony usual among Hindoos and Mahommedans, on taking leave for a long absence. The Sultaun dissolved into tears, the whole assembly caught the infection, all followed the example and reiterated the voice of the first chief, and the ceremonial and declarations of the day indicated a reciprocal adieu for the last time in this world.'

The plan, however, was frustrated by the unexpected movements of General Harris, who took up his ground without opposition. The batteries were opened, a breach effected, and on the 4th of May, 1799, Seringapatam was carried by assault. Tippoo, whatever opinion may be formed of his previous conduct, died like a gallant soldier in the defence of his last possession. Though often wavering and erroneous in his judgement, he was, at least, not deficient in courage; but his spirit seems to have been broken down by the calamities of his later days. Little as we are disposed to sympathize with such a man, it is impossible not to be deeply affected with the last scenes of his life, as delineated in the interesting pages of Col. Wilks. It is, however, a fault in the Colonel, that he betrays on all oc

casions, a disposition to exhibit the Sultan in the worst light; and we have no doubt that Mr. Mill has taken a much fairer view of bis character, wben he describes him as mentally active, acute, and ingenious, and, for an Eastern prince, full of knowledge. Admitting the Sultan's deficiency in judgement, and his erroneous perception of the value of objects, whether considered as means or as ends, and allowing that the original and educational defects of bis mind, bad increased with his years and his misfortunes, it is clear that he was indefatigable in business, that his country was Aourishing and well-cultivated, and that his domestic rule was beneficial. His imputed harshness and cruelty to bis servants, is, in part at least, disproved by the exemplary fidelity with which they adhered to his desperate fortunes. General Baird and the officers who led the assault, notwithstanding some provocations to a rigorous severity, treated the family of Tippoo with the utmost tenderness. We are here again tempted from our resolution not to multiply our extracts, by the following admirable and well expressed sentiments.

• The mind dwells with peculiar delight upon these instances in which the sweet sympathies which one human being has with another, and which are of infinite importance in private life, prevail over the destructive passions, alternately the cause, and consequence, of war. The pleasure, at the same time, which we feel in conceiving the emotions produced in such a scene, lead the bulk of mankind to overvalue greatly the virtues which they imply. When you have glutted upon your victim the passions of ambition and revenge; when you have reduced him from greatness and power, to the weakness and dependance which mark the insect on which you tread; a few tears, and the restraint of the foot from the final stamp, are not a very arduous virtue. The grand misfortune is to be made an insect. When that is done, it is a slight if any addition to your misfortunes to be crushed at once. The virtue to which exalted praise would be due, and to which human nature is gradually ascending, would be to restrain in time the selfish desires which hurry us on to the havoc we are vain of contemplating with a sort of pity after we have made it. Let not the mercy, however, be slighted, which is shewn even to the victim we have made. It is so much gained for hunian nature. It is a gain which, however late, the progress and diffusion of philosophy at last have produced; they will in time produce other and greater results. Vol. III. pp. 441, 442.

Philosophy! why not religion ? Mr. Mill conducts himself with perfect fairness and propriety: be never stoops to speak disrespectfully of Christianity, and we have no right to infer that he feels any hostility towards it, but this is not exactly the first instance in which he has laid himself open to the suspicion of a preference for tbat slippery and evanescent thing called philosophy.' Be it so; his opinions are his own, and further in

' trusion would be inconsistent with delicacy and right feeling;

:

[ocr errors]

but he will pardon us for saying that the talis cum sis is most strongly impressed on our wishes and on our hopes.

Under the active government of Marquis Wellesley, the business of aggrandizement and deposition proceeded with great alacrity and success. The Nabobs of Surat and Arcot, the Rajah of Tanjore, and the Nabob of Furruckabad, were compelled to resign the civil and military government of their dominions into the hands of the Company. The Vizir of Oude was shorn of more than half his territories. And all these glaring applications of the law of the strongest, were gravely defended by the Governor-general, on the principles of policy and equity, in state-papers of formidable length. His next measures entangled him in all the intricacies of Mahratta politics, and involved his masters in all the expenses of a war on an extensive scale. With a view to acquire an ascendancy in the councils of the Peshwa, and ultimately the control of the Mahratta States, Lord Wellesley, after much negotiation and intrigue, succeeded in concluding the treaty of Bassein with the nominal bead of the Mahratta power. By this treaty, the Peshwa placed bimself under the protection of the British troops, and was by them re-established in his capital, after he had been compelled to quit it by the hostility of Scindia, a powerful Mahratta chief.

These transactions led to an alliance between Scindia and the Rajah of Berar, against the encroachments of the English, and finally to open war.

The first warlike measures of the Governor-general were directed against a large force in the service of Scindia, disciplined and commanded by French officers. The dispersion of this army was effected by Lord Lake in the battles of Allygbur and Delhi; and the action of Laswaree completed the dissolution of Scindia's power in the North of Hindostan. In the South, General Wellesley, the present Duke of Wellington, had been equally successful. The hard-fought battle of Assaye, and the victory of Aryaum, broke the united strength of the Rajah and Scindia, and enabled the Marquis to dictate his own terms. War with Holkar, another Mahratta chief, followed hard on this. He struggled desperately, and in some respects skilfully, against the overwbelming force of his antagonists; but was ultimately reduced to helpless extremity. The Governor-general had made his own arrangements : he exacted large cessions of territory from the conquered princes, and by a system of defensive alliances with the Rajahs on the Jumna, covered the frontiers of the Company's Gadgetic dominions. The Directors, however, and the Ministry, bad taken the alarm. The Governor-general had overlooked in the magnificence of his views, the equally magnificent expense at which alone they could be realised. The accumulation of debt became oppressive, while the acquisition of territory was regard

ed as a very dubious benefit. Lord Cornwallis accepted the appointment of Governor-general for the second time; and though bending under years and infirmities,' departed for India in the hope of remedying much of what he considered as injurious policy. In 1805, he reached Calcutta, and immediately entered upon what appears to us a most impolitic series of transactions.

We certainly regard the policy of Marquis Wellesley as in every point of view indefensible, as little less than ruinous to the Company's concerns. But the steps having been once taken, the territorial arrangements actually made, and the alliances formed, it was of most mischievous consequence to retract and to reject, as Cornwallis thought it wise to do, without stipulation or security. To Scindia, his Lordship resigned every point in dispute; to Holkar, he restored the whole of his dominions; and, certainly in violation of pledged faith, he resolved to give up the connexion with the minor princes on the Jumna, thus abandoning them to the rapacity of the Mahrattas. Before, however, these arrangements could be completed, the health of Lord Cornwallis gave way, and on the 5th of October, 1805, he expired. Sir George Barlow, the senior member of council, succeeded him, and completed his plans.

We have thought that this rapid analysis of the mass of information contained in the works before us, would be upon the whole the most satisfactory method of conveying to our readers, a just idea of their value and interest; but our adherence to this plan has compelled us to abstain from deviating into general discussions, and we have now no space left for further remark. Highly as we rate the excellent production of Colonel Wilks, it is, however, due to Mr. Mill, to express our sense of the peculiar obligations under which he has laid the public by his more comprehensive and masterly work. The immense labour which he must have bestowed upon the compilation, and digest, and collation of the huge pile of his materials, has been well bestowed. Although we have not always been convinced by his reasonings, yet, his statements are uniformly entitled to the me rit of great caution and unimpeachable accuracy. This, in an historian, is perhaps the highest praise, because it implies much more than the veracity of a witness. In forming correct general views of the events be undertakes to narrate, in discriminating the weight of evidence, and in summing up the results of complicated and perhaps conflicting details, the historian is required to exhibit the accuracy of a judge. A competent writer of history, must have no ordinary share of acuteness of faculty; he must have been trained to habits of slow and patient thinking; he must be at least metaphysician enough to avoid a premature generalizing of details, the constant tendency of common minds,

and one of the most fertile sources of inaccuracy; and be must unite to the spirit of philosophie inquiry, no inconsiderable share of the philosophic temper. These requisites, Mr. Mill appears characteristically to possess; and it is particularly fortunate that his attention has been directed to a branch of our History, which it called for the eminent discharge of such abilities to rescue from the almost chaotic state in which he found it. He has taken ground on which he is safe from all literary competitors; and the work by which he has supplied so important a desideratum, of whatever correction it may prove to be on some points susceptible, will assuredly never be superseded.

The volumes are in every respect well got up. Two excellent maps are prefixed, and there is a good index. It has occurred to us, however, that a chronological index framed on the excellent plan of Sismondi, in his History of the Italian Republics, would form a valuable addition, and would tend materially to simplify the somewhat involved series of Indian history.

Art. III. An Analysis of the Fifth Book of Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, being a particular Defence of the Church of England. Designed principally for the Use of Candidates for Holy Orders. By the Rev. B. Kennicott, A. B. Perpetual Curate of Monkwearmouth, and late of Oriel College, Oxford. 8vo. pp. 139. London. 1819.

THERE have been published at different periods, several

abridgements or analyses of Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity. The most recent, and we believe the most complete, is the "Analysis" of the Eight Books, by the Rev. J. Collinson, Rector of Gateshead, Durham, published in 1810; the design of which was, to give a more popular and familiar form' to the principles contained in the original. The present publication is little more than an analytical index of that part of Hooker's work which the Author has selected as constituting an entire and distinct treatise in defence of the ritual and ecclesiastical order of the Episcopal Church of England. To persons who have read, and are in the habit of consulting, the original, the use of such a summary for the purpose of reference, is obvious; and, viewed in this light, no objection will lie against the meagreness of the outline. But, to the student who wishes to make himself master of its contents, Mr. Kennicott's Analysis should be recommended as a model for imitation, rather than as a work for use. The time and labour required for drawing up such an abstract, would be well compensated. We question whether there ever was produced an abridgement of a standard work, which yielded perfect satisfaction to persons conversant with the text of the original. A reader is sure to find slurred over, some of the points which seemed to him to deserve a dis

« السابقةمتابعة »