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    editorship , but the latter is m a great measure spoiled by an external application of eloquence . Not that Mr . Cooper has always been unsuccessful . He sometimes attains the lofty march of language he is always striving after . If he would refrain from attempting to be Gibbonian lie migh-t make a p leasant and powerful writer . His present subject is most interesting . We have all heard of the wonderful exertions of Lawrence and others in the Panjaub— "by which India , if it ever was in danger of being lost , was certainly saved . But we have not yet Jiad an accurate account of the crisis ; and no one is better qualified than Mr . Cooper , from opportunities of information , to give it to us . It appears that at Meean Meer .

    There was a sound of revelry by night on . the 12 th of May , when the news of the massacre at Meerut and Delhi arrived . Wliilst the dancers , oppressed by the consciousness of coming disasters , yet conscious that no excuse for a panic must be given , were endeavouring to feign pleasure and festal excitement , Mr . Montgomery was conferring with Brigadier Corbett on the first step in that brilliant and rapid course of repression and reorganization to which so much is due . We cannot find space to tjuote the description of the first disarmament ; and , indeed , prefer to pick out here and there little bits ¦ which show the kind of colour iu whicli this

    IPunjaub tragedy is coloured . Mr . Cooper , wliilst often using grandiloquent expressions such as " Cholera , the Moloch of the East , " sometimes strikes off very good ones-: —" The state of the country around began to exhibit a gloomy change of aspect . Everywhere the veneer of European civilization was peeling off . " Nothing can better paint the position of thongs in India immediately after the outbreak . Then , a good anecdote admirably suggests the Roman character of the countrymen who were charged to defend our interests . Sir John Lawrence is at whist , and receives a message asking for advice from the Commander-in-Chief , His answer •^—" Wfonin doubt , voin the trick . Clubs are trumps

    not spades . " Can anything be better- Sir John seems to have counted too enthusiastically on support from England at the outset of the mutiny : — " Alread y from every quarter English soldiers are pouring into India , " said he , in a proclamation last June twelvemonth , just when the first effective reinforcements were starting on their tedious voyage round the Cape . Mr . Cooper represents the feeling in India when , he says : —'" ten thousand men overland , then , were worth one hundred thousand round the Cape . " Mr . Cooper seems to derive a stem pleasure from describing the numerous executions which necessarily took p lace in this struggle to keep down a sanguinary insurrection : —

    A Subadar Major of the 61 st had been captured and banged , boasting that he had been a rebel for more than a year , and that the English rule was at an « nd . On this man ' s person were found nine hundred rupees . He inquired ^ vhat -was to be done with his money ; having , no doubt , in hie mind some testamentary disposition to make , and evolving therein the question as to residuary legatees . He was informed that after deducting 84 rupees , the price of the gallows on which he was to swing :, the balance -would be credited to the State . If we had space we should certainl y quote the animated account of the panic at Simlah , but we must reserve ourselves for the following tragic scene . The curtain rises at Umritsur : —

    Ten by ten the sepoys were called forth . Their names having been taken down in succession , they were pinioned , linked together , and marched to execution ; a firing party being in readiness . Every phase of deportment was manifested by the doomed men , after the sullen firing of volleys of distant musketry forced the conviction of inevitable death : astonishment , rage , frantic despair , tiie most stoic calmness . One detachment , as they passed , yelled to the solitary Anglo-Saxon magistrate , as he sat under the shade of the police station performing his solemn duty , with his native officials around him , that he , the Christian , would meet the same fate ; then as they passed the reserve of young

    Sikh soldiery , who were to relieve the ox « cutionors after a certain period , they danced , though pinioned , insulted the Sikh religion , and called on Gungqjee to aid them ; but they only in one instance provoked a reply , which was instantaneously checked . Others again petitioned to be allowed to make one last * ' salaam *' to the Sahib . Abont 160 having been thus executed , one of the executioners swooned away ( he was the oldest of the firing party ) , and a little respite was allowed . Then proceeding , the number had arrived at two hundred and thlrty- « even \ when the district officer was informed that the remainder refused to come out of the bastion , where they had been imprisoned temporarily a few hours before . Expecting a nuh and resistance , preparations

    were made against escape ; bat little expectation was entertained of the real and awful fate -which had fallen on the remainder of the mutineers : they had anticipated , by a few short hours , their doom . The doors were opened , and , behold ! they were nearly all . dead ! Unconsciously , the tragedy of Holwell ' s Black Hole had been Te-enacted . No cries had been heard during the night , in consequence of the hubbub , tumult , and shouting of the crowds of horsemen , police , tehseel guards , and excited villagers- Forty-five bodies , dead from fright , exhaustion , fatigue , heat , and partial suffocation , were dragged into light , and consigned , in common with all the other bodies , into one common pit , by the hands of the village sweepers .

    . One sepoy only was too much wounded in the conflict to suffer the agony of being taken to the scene of execution . He wa 9 accordingly reprieved for Queen ' s evidence , and forwarded to Lahore , with some forty-one subsequent captures , from Umritsur . There , in full parade before the other mutinously disposed regiments at Meean Meer , they all suffered death by being blown away from the cannon ' s mouth . The execution at Ujnalla commenced at daybreak , and the stern spectacle was

    over in a few hours . Thus , -within forty-eight hours from the date of the crime , there fell by the law nearly 500 men . All the crowds of assembled natives , to whom the crime was fully explained , considered the act " righteous , " but incomplete ; because the magistrate did not hurl headlong into the chasm the rabble of men , women , and children who had fled miserably with the mutineers : they marvelled at the clemency and the justice of the British .

    A tumulus has been erected , over the grave ( already called moqfiidgar , or rebels' hole , by the people of the vicinity ) , and it can be seen from a great distance ; as it is on the high road , travellers ask and ponder over the tale ! Hereafter the " rebels' grave" -will be imprinted in tall capitals over the masonry in . Persian , GoormooTthi , and English . " There is a well / ' says Mr . Cooper , energetically , " at Cawnpore , but there is also one at Ajnala ! " This is one of the expressions that adorn his pages : they are disfigured by such others as the following , apropos of the electric telegraph : — "But for God's lightning ; , ' (?) simultaneity had been added to spontaneity , and the empire was not worth a week's purchase . " "General Nicholson had adopted a centrical position . " These are more

    important matters than at first sight appear : They suggest at first that the writer is chiefly occupied in finding rhetorical phrases instead of arranging and criticizing his facts . However , this does not appear to be so . The volume is trustworthy , and we recommend it as indispensable to aright comprehension of the glorious stand made for the interests and the honour of England in- the Panjaub . The interest of tlie greater , part of Mr . Raikes ' s volume is more , local . It deals chiefly with tlie vicissitudes of Agra during the rebellion ; but contains , of course , the usual chapter on the " Character of the Hevolt "— " Our future relations with the

    princes and people of India , " &c . —with which we shall not at present interfere . Mr . Raikes had been summoned from the Punjaub to take his seat as a Judge of the Sudder Court at Agra just one year before the outbreak . He asserts ofthe North-Westeni Provinces : — " The mass of the people were quiet and as contented as any semi-barbarian people can be with a strong Government ,. Not a whisper of treason , rebellion , or disaffection was heard : agriculture and commerce were thriving , population increasing , when on this busy working scene broke the revolt . " Disastrous news soon thickened round Agra after the 12 th of ! May , for at that date also docs this narrative begin . Here is a sketch of Mr . Colvin in one of his difficult positions : —

    Colvin addressed the 8 rd Europeans first , telling them to feel no distrust of their native fellow-soldiers , whom they should consider brothers in arms —( our honest fellows looked as if th « y would nevertheless like to have a shot at their brothers ) . Ho added , the rascals at Delhi have killed a clergyman ' s daughter , and if you should have to meet them in the field you will not forget this . Then came the sepoys' turn . The Lieutenant-Governor said , that he fully trusted thorn , asked them to come forward if they had any complaints to make , and offered to discharges on the spot any man who wished to leave his colours . Prompted by their officers to cheer , the sepoys set up n yell ; they looked , however , with a devilish scowl at us all . Here is a specimen from Sir Henry Lawrence ' s correspondence : —

    " We are pretty jolly , ' but if the Commander-in-Chief delay much longer ho may have , to recover Cawnpore . Lucknow , and Allahabad ; indeed all down , to Calcutta . " We are in a fanny position . While wo are entrenching two posts in the city , we nre virtually besieging four regiments ( in a quiet way ) with throe hundred Europeans . Not very pleasant diversion to my civil duties . I am daily in the town four miles off for somo

    hours , but reside in cantonments guarded by the « mna men we are besieging ! " s < = "ue-A little scene at Agra explains b y what qualities Europeans are enabled to maintain the ascend ^ t over Asiatics : — ut The men imagined that an attack was intended and ran in all directions , carrying their arms , and threaten ing to shoot any one who came near them . My vonmr friend , Lieutenant Williams , -who had left our earns ™ atCandaharee Bagh to reconnoitre , met some of thZ men , who began loading their muskets , vociferatine and abusing him . Placing his hand in his breast he to d them , to fire ; on this they slunk away abashed and most of them eventually gave up their arms on reach ing cantonments . Mr . Colvin . has been so much criticized that it is as well to inow what manner of man lie reallv was : — J

    And so all over the country , the English were at bay Mr . Colvin expected much from his subordinates , but he had a heart to feel for their sufferings . He could not bear to give up station after station to anarchy , neither could he quietly see his trusted friends and officers butchered like sheep . The struggle consumed him "The wrath cf God is upon us , " he exclaimed "if we retire into the Fort . " ' Au answer to many calumnies is contained in the following anecdote : —

    I must describe the conduct of the Britsh soldier in the day of sickness and pain . For weeks that the ladies watched over their charge , never was a word said by a soldier which could shock the gentlest ear . When all was over , and when such of the sick and wounded as recovered were declared convalescent , the soldiers , in ordeT , as they expressed it , to show- their gratitude for the kindness of the ladies , modestly asked permission to invite their nurses arid all the gentry and society of

    Agra to an entertainment in the beautiful gardens of the Taj . There , under the walls of the marble mausoleum , amidst flowers and music , these rough veterans , all scarred and mutilated as they were , stood up to thank their countrywomen who had clothed , fed , and visited them when they were sick . livery ; lady in Agra was ready to join in this good work , and not one of them but will beat testimony to the delicacy of feeling and conduct , as well as the hearty gratitude , of these brave

    VVe will conclude bur extracts from this interesting diary by the following description of the deserted palace of the Nawab of Furruckabad , who had been executed for murder : — ' A fine palace ,. full of every luxurious appliance , mirrors , chandeliers , lustres , pictures , books , and furniture , suddenly deeerted—not a human creature left—save one or two withered hags , in the Zenana ; cats , parrots , pet dogs , clamorous for food . Outside , in the shady terraces and summer-houses , and round the family

    mausoleum , wandered animals in quest of water or food , nylgbai ( blue-deer ) , barasingha ( twelve-horned deer ) , and other pet deer ; on the wall a little black puppy yelping , and a dog howling piteously ; in the poultryyard geese shut up , and making a frightful noise ; at the stables grain for seven horses ready steeped and in separate portions , but the horses pawing , looking round , and starving , with food in their sight ; monkeys , cockatoos , and an elephant , who had broken loose , and wai helping himself to food—formed one of the strangest yet saddest pictures I ever saw .

    Mi * , ltaikes ' s volume is rich in such quotable matter ; and it ' only defect , as we have hinted , is the fragmentary way in which tlie facts are strung together and the allusive tone in . which they are often treated . Like Mr . Cooper ' s work , however , it is a genuine book ; and we are certain will form part of every good Indian library .

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    COINS , CURRENCY , AND BANKING . A Treatise on Coins , Currency , and Banking , with Observations on the Sank Act o / ' 1844 , and on Che Reports of the Committees of the House of Lords and ofthe House , of Commons on the Bank Acts , By Henry Nicholas > Scaly , Esq . Longman and Co . Persons " \ vho arc not deep in the theory of exchange —who have not mastpred Lord Overstone ' s works , or gone gone through a course of lticardo or Mill , or taken a plunge into the Bank Charter battle , or waded through a Blue Book on a monetary

    crisisare apt to imagine thnt such studies require some training in reasoning and methods of investigation . Writers "who have voluntarily devoted themselves to these abstruse and repulsive questions we supposed to * ' scorn deli g hts and love laborious days , " to glory in mental cilort , and to havo a relish for difficulties of all kinds . A . little attention to the subject , and a slight ; perusal of the mass of works on the currency which every season adds to our national library , would probably change this opinion . The currency p hilosopher , as a rule , is " born , u <»( made . " He is an inspired being , generally pro-

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    716 the Leader . [ ffo .-535 ,-j tot 24 , isss ..

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 24, 1858, page 716, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2252/page/20/