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Leader (1850-1860), 11th September 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 944, ^a X. xN ±J A¦ ii-

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      servant , Doddles ( Mr , James Blaml ) , > nd Jjis eqirally old-fashioned housekeeper , J / £ . ff . ^ t ( Mrs SelbvO Mr . SwMngton , also ( Mr . J . Clarke ) , and hi ? wife ( Miss M . Ternan ; , are to be cured , the one of outrageous gentism , gentishness , or genthood—for we ; hardly know how to express it—and the other of that frightful disease termed " an old head upon young shoulders . " With this herculean task before her does Lady > Starchington enter upon- the blessed state . lake a clever general she attacks the outwork s

      before dreaming of assaulting the citadel . She puts Doddles to utter rout , throws a heavy shell into Mrs . Fidget ' s notions of propriety , and modernises by a soup-de-main the younger domestics of the establishment . Doddles and Fidget fall back upon their master , and a sortie of the baronet in person at the head of his malcontent retainers seems for some time imminent . But the good qualities of the new broom soon compensate for the clean-sweeping tendencies ¦ which made it first so objectionable . Doddles ,

      caught off his guard by his amiable mistress , exchanges his old livery and unkempt locks for a powdered coiffure and a modern butler ' s uniform . Fidget , though roused to frenzy in defence of her preserving-pans and pickling-jars , is ; woman-like , by n 6 means so impregnable on the side of dress , and is persuaded out of an antediluvian crimson brocade into a dove-coloured modern silk . Gentle raillery , and the force of example , drive the ridiculous ex-milkman , Mr . Swellinglon , from the most awful Mosaic excesses into the customary suit of sables that becomes a gentleman ; and his wife expands in length of waist and breadth of skirt , to something modern and yet reasonable . Lastly , the alone hi

      stiff baronet himself , rather than be left his eccentricity , dons trousers , boots , dress-coat , and Gibus hat , vice pepper-and-salt coatee , nankeen shorts and their usual accompaniments , cuts off his pigtail , and confesses himself a reformed character . It is not too much to say that this piquant little piece is delightfully acted throughout . Mr . Selby ' s performance , although his facial make-up is far too juvenile , lacks none of the tasteful quietude which was appropriate to the part of Sir Noah , and to be expected of the artist author . Miss Swanborough is fascinating as ever , and Mr . Clarke is in dress , voice , and every respect , an admirable Mr , Swellington In no part that this artist has filled upon the stage of this theatre has he been , to our thinking , so well

      fitted br . so successful as in the present . Mrs . Selby and Mr . James Bland are both acquisitions in their respective walks . Miss Swanborough may now be congratulated on having gathered round her a company fuily capable , unless fortune prove singularly uhpropitious , of attracting and taking permanent hold of popular favour . In Mr . Buckstone ' l ightful little comedietta of JThe Rough Diamond , which follows The Last of the Pigtails , Miss M . Oliver , another new engagement , interested us very much as the pretty , highprincipled hoiden , Lady Evergreen . Mr , Parselle was gentlemanly and faultless as Sir William , and Mr . Clarke , as Cousin Joe , ( one of Buckstone ' s brightest bits ) , a thought too broad in manner , and far too antique in appearance .

      POLTOKAPHIC HAIX , KlNG WlIXTAM- STREET , CnAKiNG-cnoss . —Wwalba Fbikbli / s Soirees . — On Monday last this prince of u prestidigitators " commenced his third metropolitan season . Discarding , as many readers may have noticed , the timehonoured paraphernalia of jugglery , the painted rickety tomfoolery that formed of old the background of all wizardy shows , abandoning the star-spangled and be-crescented gaberdine which , while it undoubtedly favours trick , destroys all that unquestioning faith in physical magic which ire ourselves , and thousands more , delight to profess , —our modern Cagliostri , of whom Wjjnlba Frikell is at once the most artful and most artless , appear before their audiences in . cJ 05 c-. fitfing garment ^ without apparent plant or machinery , reliant aloneif the black art be really extinct—on the simplicity of

      mankind and their own dexterity of hand . There was never fitter title for a magician ' s Bianco than the Two Hoursof'Illusionschosen by HerrJTrikel ) . We spentour two hours on Monday as we have spent many another two hours—ns it were in a dream . Delusions hailed upon delusions . We saw handkerchiefs burnt , chopped , and restored ; rings , watches , and money made to travel ; hundred-pound notes recklessly burnt , stamped upon , and reminted ; and a wondrous hat filled thrice with flowers . And we agreed with our clever , sharp-Bighted neighbours , who knew all ~ i » abouUit ,. Ahat-. the-trick-in ) ght be 1 a . trick after all } but when the wondrous hoc came to De ^ fnieUlTfffig after time by unseen hands , with silver cups , more flowers , and flags , and deluged loot of nil with playing cards , wo could but rub our eyes , and ask if Herr Frikell , the company , nay , ourselves , were all delusions t > 004

      VA 0 XHAZX Gardens . — Mr . Duffel ) , who has been many years connected with the direction ofVauxhall Gardens , and is well known to the regular visitors of the establishment for his energy and his zeal for the amusement nnd comfort of the public , announces an attractive benofit for Monday next .

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      works , or as officers of engineers advocating reproductive" improvements , will look with envy upon such an outlay , which is far beyond the amount so bestowed 011 any district in India of corresponding extent and population . This , outlay is exclusive of the sums devoted to railways andlocal expenditure for roads . The remarks of the Governor will be echoed by every enlightened administrator of India , for , speaking of the increase of income and of the corresponding increase of expenditure , lie says : — " I am the more particular in dwelling upon this fact because there is , in my judgment , the most intimate connexion between the one increase and the

      WHAT INDIA MAY COME TO . It is surprising how great has become the tenderness of late expressed for the Hindoos by the friends of the Civil Service as the double Government-has been going through its phases . The love for the natives has been almost as strong as that of the Baptist missionaries for the West India negroes , of the Wesleyan missionaries for the Kaffirs , when these latter were robbing and murdering our brethren , and of the Aborigines Protection Society and the Society of Friends for the Maoris , when these were engaged in deadly war with us .

      The great end and aim of the Government of India is now declared to be to maintain the natives in their rights , and more particularly to preserve them against the oppression of Englishmen , not members of the Civil Service ; and jet , strangely enough , the result of all this sympathy will not be to advance the political position of the native one whit , while it would retard his social progress . Surelyalthough , we may pay a high tribute to the many noble men in the Civil Service , as in the Uncovenanted Service and the Military Service , who have done so much for India—we cannot assume that the welfare of India depends on its continuing under

      the paternal despotism of some few hundred gentlemen , and yet for years we have been called upon to do so . There are rights , privileges , superstitions of so many classes of the population , of whom no outside barbarian can know anything , and , above all , tliere is caste , and if Englishmen are allowed to meddle with ¦ the country there is an end of our empire , or rather of the empire of the Civil Service , and as Lord Stanley is threatened with the consequences of any innovation , lie must surrender , himself to the old routine , and be governed by it , or he will lose the country-India is the great mystery which it answers the purpose of a good many people to keep a mystery , and for this mystery double government was

      maintained , arid for this mystery direct government is to be morally shackled and restrained ; and yet the Colonial-office has had to deal with this mystery and dealt with it successfully . Whatever we can say of India we can say of Ceylon . There are . people ignorant , superstitious , and peculiar ; there are a variety of races , and , what cannot be said o the plains of Bengal , there are mountain fastnesses with warlike tribes to hold them , and yet the mystery has been solved , Ceylon has been held , and a parliamentary government is at work with full scope for English exertion . Ceylon has had its difficulties as well as Bengal ; if the bulk of the Cinghalcse are obedient , there have nevertheless been wars and a revolt on account of Buddha ' s sacred tooth .

      Those who remember what Ceylon was some years ago , will remember that it was a country in as low a condition as India now really is under its bureaucratic government . It was ruled by a coterie , and the small English population was discouraged and treated with contempt ; its revenues were small , and its population in a state of pauperism ; native prejudices were fostered , and native progress depended on the benevolent efforts of a tew well-disposed functionaries . What it now is , is something different ; for on the 28 th July , the Legislative Council was opened by the Governor ,

      Sir Henry George Ward , with , the usual Parliamentary ' speech ; and it is \ yorth noting , for i ^ ftcr all we have heard about the difficulties , and indeed impossibility , of the English , getting a footing in India , it is what we must some day look forward to in India , and although we cannot indulge Bengal with vote by ballot , and South American representative institutions , and South American institutions , we may gradually raise the Presidencies in the scale of Government , and in the hills of the north and the south we may endow the large English settlements which will bo formed there with the like institutions

      that arc to be found throughout the empire . Sir Henry Ward lias only spent three years in ^ lr < r £ OTormneni ™ f ^<^^ statistics of his own time } but in that short period the gross revenue haa advanced from 408 , 000 / . in 185 ! to 578 , 000 / . in 1857 , with every prospect that it will in the current year exceed 020 , 000 / ., and may roach 050 , 000 / . As a matter of course , the expenditure has likewise . increased at a corresponding rate , and in the last year alone 100 , 000 / . was spout on works of acknowledged public utility . Those who have laboured in India in their districts as collectors and magistrates to promote public

      other , and I wish the Council to feel with me that we are labouring upon a grateful soil , that trade and agriculture respond to every measure favourable to their development , and that when the outlay is well considered , the effect upon the revenue is as rapid as it is remarkable . " There is many a man in [ ndia administers a district as populous as Ceylon , but he has not the same means of improving the condition of his population , because his exertions are paralysed by the system in the hierarchy for the maintenance of which he is enlisted . He wants a sufficient number of English assistants , he wants English settlers , and he wants a legislative council to co-operate with him hi providing arid properly distributing an adequate revenue .

      In the situation to which Ceylon has , \ mder English government , been brought , Sir Henry Ward is able to refer with pride to its healthy and thriving condition , to the increase which for five years the revenue has sustained ,. to the fact that " the colony lias no debt "—and he is not ashamed of using the word colony—that it is" executing large works out of its -own surplus funds , that railways itnd telegraphs are provided , and that public tranquillity is ' . maintained . ' " To these happy results , " he tells the Legislative Cotmcil , " you have yourselves largel y contributed , Ijy the impartial spirit that has guided you in the distribution of the public resources . If the demands of the European settlers have been liberally met , the irrigation votes show that native wants have not been , neglected . "

      So far is he from being afraid of referring to Luglish settlers , or supposing that their presence 111 the country can be inimical to his Government or the progress of the people , that lie asserts that not only is there no incompatibility between them , and no lack of means to do justice to both , but that in many respects they arc completely identified . He says in express words that the vast properties which English energy and capital are creating in the interior furnish the readiest market for every article that the industry of the low country ca 11 supply . What is wanted , says he , is a more intir mate "knowledge of the field upon which we have to work , improved means of communication , greater familiarity with the wants and producing powers of each separate locality .

      How painful is the contrast between this picture and that of the Madras presidency . In that presidency , in the Neilghcrries , in Mysore , and inCoorg , is as line coffee country as any in Ceylon , and the Neilgherrics produce some of the best coffee now imported into England . In . tho Neilghcrries , with one of the most splendid climates , the few English settlers cannot obtain an acre of land in fee simple , but arc subject to the chance exactions of a collect or , who has proposed to tax land , held to bo tax ami rent free ; the magistrate is a government official with inferior powers , and black subordinates , and 1 ^' a ! _^^^ m— * - * — ^ k ahaA I *^> 111 a — ¦ ¦ «* 1 ~— « " 4 A 1 «» » a 1 h « ta HA K ** \ ¦ t Y t ^\ t * uciuru nuni wiu

      . ^ . _ ^ . . * . *^ *^ *^ * w - jungnsii sulmup jius . jhu jiki 1 ! 0 ; y citizenship , no claim of English law , no privilege of an English jury ; ho is taxable without representation , and without the benefit of a legislative council m which ho or his class can take part . His position in the country is ignored , and he is dependent sololy on the accident , or tho Government official of tho district being kindly disposed to sot tiers . It is not surprising , if under such a system , produce is kept from market , for want of roads , and that it takes a week to carry coffeo fifty miles in bullock trucks ,

      when the season allows of travel . In that district the Government , whioli will not give afrcohold lido To ^ ngl'isirWtleT ^ named Poduhs , to claim and exorcise squatiintf rights over a country as largo as an English county . A narrow sea separates Coylon from Madras , 11 now government from an old one , a land of progress from a land of misery , and yet iia Madras there , nro , men as able , as zealous , as benevolent , us any m Coylon j but tho latter haa tho institutions ol mi English colony , and Madras tho well-moaning huts feeble institutions of Prussia , ltussia , and Chum ,

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      Q 4 £ THE IiEADEB . [ No . 442 , September 11 , 1858 .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 11, 1858, page 944, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2259/page/24/