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    INDIA , CHINA , AND JAPAN . A Visit to India , China , and Japan , in the Tear 1853 . By Bayard Taylor . Low and Son . Mb . Taylor ' s narrative is rapid and slight , but leaves vivid impressions on the mind . It is less an account of manners than a description of architecture and scenery . Keither the monotonous life of the Hindus , nor the grotesque society of China , seeins to have influenced this traveller's imagination so powerfully as the pure glories of the Pathan mausolea , or the crimson sunsets of Asia . He records his intention , at Bombay , of criticising the social aspects of Hindustan under its English masters ; but that object is only partially fulfilled , while the Taj Mahal , the Khuttub Minar , and other remains of the gorgeous Moguls , " who designed like Titans and finished like word lor

    jewellers , " are delineated in elaborate pages of -painting . Mr . Tay does right in following an instinct . He is essentially an artist , and only treats effectively of men and civilisation when they contribute colours to a picture . Thus the Chinese at Shanghai , moving through the evolutions of a martial drama , come into the foreground like actors in a farce ; but Mr . Taylor's pen is blunted when it touches subjects of political importance . From Suez he proceeded down the Red Sea , between the purple and violet shores of Egypt and the SiDaitic peninsula , with the summit of Horeb clearly defined against the heavens , and even the peak of Sinai faintly visible among its companion clouds . On the second day Mocha , the coffee-town , was in view , and on the third the steamer launched into the Indian Ocean , sweeping through the pale-green waters that froth round the Arabian shoals . At Aden Mr . Taylor was critical . That tourist , he says , was perfectly correct who designated it as " hell with the fires put out ; " moreover , its naval value has been exaggerated ; for , like Gibraltar , it would be useless without a fleet . We wonder to what maritime fortress—Sebastopol , Malta ,

    or Cherbourg—this remark could not be applied . But , we have already said , Mr . Taylor satisfies us only when he writes in pencil . The first glimpse of India , with its blue ridges , blue rivers , and tracts of palm and rice , excited him as deeply as if he had been a young traveller ; but the ripest imaginations are the most quickly moved . In Bombay his American eye was pleased with the signs of " go-ahead" civilisation , rails , inailcoaches , and London luxuries , though still the streets were thronged with Eastern pomp , with palanquins , bridal processions , Parsee children decorated with gold and silver , and parsee women with floating robes of orange and yellow silk . In the gardens of the city , beds of rich flame-coloured flowers , the milky , pendulous bloom of the Indian acacia , and the stems of palms , shinin g in the sun like golden pillars , appeared as supex-b avenues to the inner East . But here also are the dark caves of Elephunta , where the mute thoughts of other ages are embodied in sculptures and hieroglyphics , which not even the Egyptologers affect to comprehend . These twilight sanctuaries Mr . Taylor describes with pictorial effect , but it was at Agra and at Delhi that he was inspired with his most poetical admiration of India . It is to the credit of the British Government that they preserve the splendid works of the Moguls in their original perfection , allowing no damp to dim their

    coloui-s , no fractures to disfigure their arches , no taint of rum to creep over their exquisite tracery . The Pearl Mosque , Akbnr ' s Palace , and the Taj Mahal , though wrought with ideal delicacy , have lost , by the lapse of time , not even the fine polish of their beauty . Inlaid blossoms of cornelian , witli petals of bloodstone , silver filagrees , Florentine mosaics of jasper , agate and fapis-lazuli , balustrades of white marble , fretted into patterns of lilies , irises , and tulips , as acriel as lace , and gilded domes incrusteel with gems , remain unsoiled and sacred , with fresh roses dail y strewn over the tombs , and lamps fed with por / iuno in the shrines . This circumstance alone refutes tho frenzied extravagance of those philanthropists who repeat Burko ' s saying , that tho influence of the English in India is as that of the jackal and the tiger . Tho country bears , in parts , tho evidences of neglect , and Mr . Taylor discourses on the shortcomings of the Government ; but , witli every other traveller who writes with a sense of responsibility , he testifies to the beneficent institutions that have been introduced . To show that his

    book contuins materials lighter than the political , or even the picturesque , we will quote a story picked up in tho palace of Akbar : — " One day , " ao bogan tho old man , " Akbar-Slmh and Rajah Bcer-bul wore sitting togothor . Akbar said to Beor-bul , ' What would you do , if a groat misfortune full upon you ? ' Said Beor-bul , 'I should give mysolf up to ploamiro . ' ' How to plonsure , ' said Akbar , ' when you wore unfortunate V ' Still , ' ouid Boer-bul , ' I should do it / Tho next day Akbar said to Boor-bul , ' Take this ruby , and keep it till I cull for it . ' Now it was a ruby worth millions of rupees , such as there never was in tho world , before nor aince . So . Beor-bul took tho ruby homo to his daughter , and bado her keep it carefully , for it belonged to Akbar-Shuh 5 and sho locked it up in a cheat with three locks . ' _ .

    " Then Akbar sent to tho greatest robber in tho place , who was condemned to dio , and had him brought before him . Robber , eaid ho , ' 1 will give you your life , i you can do one thing for mo . ' ' What is that ? ' said tho robber . 4 You must stoul from my Minister , Beor-bul , a ruby which I have given him to keep , ' said Akbar-

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    tftj&v * one wfll ; % iifl » Him , yrMc ^^ b ^^ e Ja ^ r scape , love or hatred ? And werefer to ^' tbose pages of 1 ^ ^* d % iffdels—pages wiibti ' form the . larger proportion of what he has published-rfor probf thatthe Idea iof Godwhich both the logic and spirit of his discourses keep pres ^ entto his hearers , iai that of a God who hates his enemies , a God who teaches love by fierce denunciations of wrath—a God -who encourages obedience to his precepts by elaborately revealing to us that his own government is ia precise opposition to those pr&iepts- ' We know iihe usual evasions on this , subject . We know i > r . Camming wonW say that even Kdnttan Catholics are to be loved and succoured as men ; that he would help even that " unclean spirit , " Cardinal "Wiseman , out of a ditch . But who that is in the slightest degree acquainted with the action of the human , mind , will believe , that any genuine and large charity can grow out of an exercise of love which is alwaysto ; hiye an arriere-pensde of hatred ? Of what quality would be the conjugal loVe' of a husband who loved hit spouse as a wife , but hated her as a woman t 3 n the lighter style how graphic is this picture of the Clergyman on a Sunday : — / Pleasant to the clerical flesh under such circumstances is the arrival of Sunday ! Somewhat at a disadvantage during the week , in the presence of working-day interests and lay splendours , on Sunday the preacher becomes the cynosure of a thousand eyes , and predominates at once over the Amphytryon with whom he dines , and the most captious member of his church or-vestry . ; . Ho has an immense advantage over all other public speakers . The platform orator is subject to the criticism of hisses and groans . Counsel for the plaintiff expects the retort of counsel for the defendant . The honourable gentleman on one side of the House is liable to have his facts and figures shown up by his honourable friend on the opposite side . Even the scientific or literary lecturer , if . he is dull or incompetent , may see the best part of Ma audience quietly-Blip out one t } y one . But the preacher is completely master of the situation : no xme may hiss , ho one may depart . Like the writer of imaginary conversations , he may put what imbecilities he pleases into the mouths of his antagonists , and swell with triumph when he has refuted them . He may riot in gratuitous assertions , confident that no man will contradict him ; he may exercise perfect free-will in logic , and invent illustrative experience ; he may give an evangelical edition of history , with the inconvenient facts omitted : —all this he may do with impunity , certain that those of his , hearers who are not sympathising are not listening . . We had marked several passages for extract , but " our limits" ( this time a real excuse ) forbid . In the same Review there is an article on the Position of Woman , which the . reader might possibly shun , if the title suggested to him many pages violent in protests and vague in declamation . We assure him the article is nothing of the kind . It is something never yet presented on that subjecta laborious collection of facts respecting the laws to which woman has been subject in " barbarian nations , both ancient and modern , and a presentation , especially complete of the Roman laws about women . The industry with which these data have been collected , and the interest as well as the entertainment of the facts themselves , make the paper extremely valuable , as well as very amusing . It is just the article from which to cull abundant extracts ; but as we wish the reader to weigh the whole of the facts presented in it , for the sake of the philosophic purpose directing their colligation , we shall Qiily draw upon it for one amusing sample of what reads like the Paradise for Husbands . The writer is speaking of the Hindoo marriages : — ' Marriage having been effected , the husband'is commanded to keep his wife in such subjection , ' * both day and night , that she by no means be mistress of her own actionB . " "In every stage of life a woman is created to obey ; " and the husband is expressly authorised to enforce obedience from his wife by means of tho " lash , or the small shoot of a cane . " But even complete self-abdication , and the most degrading submission to the will of her lord , are only a small part of what . thejHindu sages ' exact from her ; . t hough her ,, husband may be . enamoured . of another woman , though he may be " ' crooked ,, aged , infirm , offensive in his manners , choleric , a drunkard , a gambler , or a debauchee , " yet he must be constantly revered as a god by a virtuous wife . . . . A woman has ' no other god on earth than , her husband . The most * excellent of all the good works she dan perform is to gratify him . Thia should be her only devotion . . •' . ' . When her husband sings , she must be in ecstasy . If he dances , she" views him with delight . If he speaks of science , she isjilled with admiration . When in his presence she must be always gay . The article on Theism will interest many . It is more remarkable for the candour and force with which it puts objections , than for the solutions offered ; but the tone is throughout philosophic and the matter thoughtful . Drunkenness not curable by Legislation is a valuable paper , but would have been more so with greater space and a more abundant collection of facts : at present the amount of argument predominates over what is most needed , namely , facts . The argument is excellent both in temper and thought ; but wo want facts . The Maine ! Liquor Law , which the teetotal fanatics are trying to get established in England , would be one of tho greatest curses of which at present there is . any danger from Legislation . One consideration alone is appalling , from the known consequences of fanaticism : — Tho members of the Temperance Society bind themselves not to vote for any candidate for office who is not sound on the prohibition question ; and , reciprocally , wo hay © Mr . Neal Dow , Mayor of Portland , the . original author of tho Maine Law , ¦ writing of the present Governor of Connecticut :, " Our governor is as truo as steel and as firm as a rock . He will not appoint to any office any man who is not a truo friend to tho Maine Law . " If a man in authority differs from thorn , they flood tho country with violent tirades against him . Governor Seymour , in tho oxorciso ot an indisputable prerogative , vetoed tho bill last year in Now York . The Temperance organs spoko of him as a hardened dospot , and tho American Temperance Union published 8800 " strictures" on his conduct . The poorest article in tho Review is one on , an excellent subject , The London Daily Press . Tho first part ia a jumble of facts without philosophy or picture ; tho second part is takon up with a history of the Times , which rends like a plaidoyev in favour of that journal , and yet , to our thinking , misses its real merit . Among the curious facts here narrated is one -which reJads amusingly at the present time . After relating the spirited opposition of / the Times in 1800 , the writer says : — 'SWebl conduct as this on tho part of a mere journalist was not to bo endured , and accordingly every effort was made by the Govornmont officials to prevent tho Times

    from obtaining earlyinformation relating / to ; the ; progress , of the war . To , such en extent was this petty system of warfare carried ,. ; that , at one jperipd , the Times packages from the Continent were always stopped by Government ,. ; at the outports , while those for the Ministerial journals were allowed to pass . The captains of foreign vessels were asked by a Government officer at Gravesend if they had papers for tte Times ; if they had , all such were regularly stopped . The Gravesend officer , when explanation was demanded , said , he would willingly transmit the foreign papers to the Times with the same punctuality as he did those , belonging to the other newspapers , but he was not allowed . After repeated applications on the subject at the Home Secretary ' s Office , Mr . Walter was informed that he might receive his papers as a favour from Government . This , of course , implying the expectation of a corresponding favour from the editors in the spirit , and tone of his publication , was firmly rejected ; and " he in consequence suffered for a time Qay the loss or delay of important packets ) for this resolution to maintain , at all hazards , his independence . " We have only noticed two Reviews , and yet see the extent of space already covered ! Either we must despatch the rest in a sentence , or leave them till next week . The latter is the better plan , and shall be adopted .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 6, 1855, page 964, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2109/page/16/