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1216 THE LEADER, [No. 352, Satpbdat.
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GONFJESSIONS OF AN OPIUM EATER. Confessi...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Life Of Sir John Malcolm. The Ijfe A...
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 any tiling to fear . His great teacher was ilie 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 him , for those were times When party feeling blinded the judgment , and 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 V * prbfit and loss . ' The half-year ' s dividend was of . more value in their
eyes than the happiness of-some * , million ' s . , of . unbelievers twenty years afterwards . Holding these narrow views of their relations with India , it is not surprising that they should have regarded Lord Wellesley ' s proceedings with terror and disapprobation . His Lordship Temembered that he 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 eneVgy 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 v « ry 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 .
It was , no doubt , primaril y owing to Lord Wellesley ' s friendship that Malcolm became unpopular in Leadenliall-street . ; But this will scarcely account for the disappointments te 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 very clear light upon this point , or , rather , he purposely leaves it in Qbscurity . It would be absurd to look for perfection in any man . Not even Sir John Malcolm , with his many excellences , must be 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 , however unconscious , that would hardly prove a good recommendation in the 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 erer be considered as manuals of instruction for future * politicals . ' But in much writing , as in much speaking , there is certain to l > e mischief ; and Malcolm expressed himself with the warmth natural to his impulsive disposition . N " o man , under such circumstances , can avoid sometimes giving offence , and the sore rankles and festers long after the hand that sped the dart has been again extended and grasped in taken of forgiveness . To the English public Sir John Malcolm has been best known as whilom ambassador to the Court of Teheran . On the first occasion lie was sent by Lord Wellesley to avert the threatened invasion of India by Shall Zeman , by creating a diversion oii the western frontier of his Affghan dominions .
The danger , however , was magnified by its distance , and the subsequent deposition of that prince relieved the Governor-General from all anxiety o * n 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 , furnished reasonable grounds for such apprehension . Captain Malcolm was , fherefore , 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 although the treaty concluded by Malcolm was highly approved of by the ( rovernor-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 Teherati had no alternative but to throw itself into the arms of the Emperor Napoleon . Its overtures were graciously received , ' and in due course 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 , by 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 commercial agent aft Bagdad ; while Malcolm , with the local rank of brigadier-general , again represented the viceroyjiltv of India . It is unnecessary to relate how the brigadier , though first in the Held , was for that very reason constrained to return " bootless back , and weather-beaten home ; " while his rival , happy 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 agninst the Persian Gulf , which would have actually taken place had not the unwelcome tidings arrived of Sir Harford ' a success . Its first operation would have been the occupation £ f Karrack , of -which Malcolm writes in the following words , in the journal of rus proceedings kept for his wife ' s particular benefit : — " H . M . Ship i JDvri *] near Karrack 8 th July 1808 ,
, , " ' ? V ® * ^ emplate this island , the more I am satisfied it might bo made oiie or tbe moat prosperous settlements in Asia , situated within a few hours * sail of Hushire , Bunder Begb , Bmaorah , Grane , Bahorin , and Catiff . It would , if under a juat and pow erful Government , \ e > the common resort of the merchants of Turkey , Arabia , and Fetaia , and though too email ( only twelve square mlleB ) to support a number of inhabitants , it -nnmld , when it bocamo an emporium of commerce , become a granary . also , and want would b « unknown . The chief recommendations of this toland aro ita fine climate and excellent water . It has no harbour ; , but a vessel baa
protection from the prevalent gales in the gulf under either its south-east or nnrti , , ' side , and they can shift their berth in the hardest gales without danger . " h " Vr 63 t m But although Malcolm was not destined to enter Persia atVe head nf invading army , it _ was not long before he again revisited it in peaceful sarb £ restore the prestige of the Indian Government so needlessly compromWlT the direct interference of the Crown . He was accompanied on tliis occasion >? a numerous suite of zealous and enterprising young officers , to whose talents and energy we are chiefly indebted for whatever knowledge we possess off ? countries lying between the Euphrates and the mountains of Affirhani' ^ This time everything went pleasantly . Futteh Ali Shah welcomed M *?' colm with the warmth and cordiality of an old friend . The Court w delighted with bis presents , and the peasantry admired his bold bearin ^ gallant horsemiinship , and cheerful affability . Still , it is acknowledsS that this mission was less productive of political than of literary am ? scientific fruits . These , however , were of a very high ord er o 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 character was imparted to the Indian services generally b these eminent examples . Many were afterwards encouraged by the success of sucl performances to endeavour to imitate them . Literary research was no longer regarded as incompatible with active life ; and men who before thought only of serving the Government , began to think whether , like Malcolm and Elphinstone , they might hot at tlie 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 , or no man has contributed more to their illustration . His History of the Affghan War , his Lives of Lord Metcalfc and Mr . St . George Tucker , were at once accorded an honourable place in every gentleman ' s library thi'oughout the land . But
we question if they arc 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 bone faceie reipublicaj , etiam bene dicere baud absurdum est , Vel pace , vel bello clarum fieri licet . Et qui fecere , et qui facta aliorum scrjptese , multi laudantur . " The public will probably agree "with us in thinking that Mr . Kaye has chosen the better part , if these are to be the fruits of his peaceful labours . And should he now , perchance , be looking around him for another subject , we would suggest a history of the various Kuropean adventurers who have , at different times , disciplined the battalions of native princes . It would , at least , be a work full of character and stirring adventure .
1216 The Leader, [No. 352, Satpbdat.
1216 THE LEADER , [ No . 352 , Satpbdat .
Gonfjessions Of An Opium Eater. Confessi...
GONFJESSIONS OF AN OPIUM EATER . Confessions of an , EnglisJi Opium Eater . By Thomas De Qtiincey . Now first carefully revised by the author and greatly enlarged . lidinbuigh : James Hogg Let us , before noticing this new edition of a very singular work , admit the error into which two weeks ago we fell in ascribing to De Quincey the opening paper of BlackicooiVsMagazine ' for this month . We learn that it is an imitation , not an authentic bit of De / Quincey . We confess the mistake , andean only say than such ah imitation would deceive us again . This new edition of the Oj > ium Eater is almost twice as large as the former editions , -which , the author tells us , were ncvor 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 familial * with De Quincey ' s invincible tendency towards digression , how on the slightest pretence ho rambles away into unprovoked discursiveness , digression within digression and notes on both , will at . once understand that the new edition of the " Confessions" is mainly enlarged by wanderings from the . narrative . These arc so admirable , for the most part , that the De Quinccy admirer will wish they had been longer and more numerous ; but he must also admit that they considerably affect the 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 languor follow the narrative in tins new edition .
That opium does not injuriously affect the intellect , whatever « lsc it may do , is conspicuously displayed in this strange work , especially in the additions . Mere is a man who must be seventy , or upwards , 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 oven the style of his earlier years , and giving no evidence of intellectual failure , since the radical defect , the cause which has from the . first prevented his marvellous talent 3 exercising sin equivalent inlluence on the minds of Iris generation , is that impossibility of controlling the current of his thoug hts into any forecut channel , which makes his writing all diyressiun , and ( hts defect is as visible in his earlier as in his later writings . That opium , besides being an anodyne superior to all yet discovered , is also a preventive of consumption , by stimulating and keeping up unintcrmittingly the insensible perspiration , is also . taught in this work ; but on that point we arc less clear . The idea is worthy of medical inquiry ) at any
rate . The literary critic will be pleasantly occupied in ' scrutinizing the excellences , the witcheries wo 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 , of grandiloquent eloquence , hear him upon TOOTHACHE . _ Two things blunt the general sense of horror , which would else connect itself with toothache—viz ., first , its enormous diffusion ; hardly a household in Europe being clear of it , each in turn having some one « hambor mtcnnittingly echoing the groans extorted by this cruel torture . There—viz ., in its ubiquity—lies one cause of its alight valuation . A second causo is found in its immunity from danger . This latter ground ot undervaluation ia noticed in a saying ascribed ( but on what authority I know not ; to Sir Philip Sidney—viz ., that supposing toothache liable in over no small a proportion of its cusca to a fatal issue , it would bo generally ranked as tho most dreadful maladies ; whereas the cortainty that it will in no extremity lead to death , and the know-\ ledge that in the very midst of its storms sudden changes may be lookedfor \ bringing lonj /
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 20, 1856, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20121856/page/16/
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