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INDIAN HISTOEY
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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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incredible that an editor with some literary skill and reputation should view with a kind of superstitious veneration such writing-as this , or imagine that he is furthering the interests of sound knowledge by reprinting two volumes of similar matter .
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INDIAN HISTORY . ' - . .. The History of the British Empire in India . By Edward Thornton , Esq ., Author of the Gazetteer of India . " Second Edition . W . H . Allan and Co . As the discovery of gold in California has made that country familiar to us , so the troubles in India have made that region familiar , which , long as we had been connected with it , had excited little popular interest . Much of this interest is due to the fearful anxiety felt when pur kindred were being butchered and our Indian empire in danger of extinction , much was due to the wonderful and moving tale of romance and adventure , of peril and Of victory , of escapes , vicissitudes , sufferings , and successes , the examples of which are little known to us , because we do not so minutely study the history of the past , as we do that which in all its details the journalist from day to day , or from mail to mail , presents to us . If , in consequence of such resources , we learn modern history in greater extension , we miss the opportunity of bringing to bear the experience of the past , while our judgment loses in calmness and solidity what bur feelings gain in passion and intensity . As the romdnce of of Indian adventure dies off , because victory after
ancient history should not be displaced from our course of instruction or made subsidiary to this essential study , for while India deeply and immediately affects us , which Greece and Rome do not , so its history affords the wide teachings on which historical experience is based , and all those characteristics which are required in an educational apparatus . As a means of training the mind , Indian history does not yield to that of Greece , when it comes to be taught with the illustrations of Indian geography , Indian ethnology , Indian institutions and Indian literature . The history of
Herodotus , the invasion of Xerxes , the retreat ol the Ten Thousand , the campaigns of Alexander , and the Eastern wars of the Romans may still be taught , but subsidiarily ; for the time has come when the whole curriculum of historical study must be altered , if our colleges are to remain the focal schools for political traiuirig and for preparation for the public service . The histories ot Greece and Rome must become subsidiary and subordinate , the history of England must take a real and prominent place , and the history of India be provided for . It is now of the smallest moment to us how the Areo-Eagus was constituted , how the Roman tribes voted , ow doubtful is the application of a Roman law or
of a prjetorian decision , in what manner the patricians or the Caesarswere restrained , what was the mythology of Greece , and what were the minute distinctions of the sects of the Academy and the Porch . So long as such , discussions were useful elements in the apparatus of instruction , it was desirable to maintain them , but teaching must take a more practical shape ; and while we avoid the . conflict of English party opinions , we shall have to consider bow far this or that English law or institution is applicable or not to nations having other experience , other prejudices ^ o ther modes of thought , how far , in fact , a principle may be maintained or perverted by its inculcation , in one form or another , suited or
unsuited : to another condition of society , and liable to be counteracted in its beneficial working by the mere prejudice ^ of the population among whom-it is to be tried . The history of India presents all that is required for effective teaching . It extends over a very wide period ^ affects many populations , and abounds in incidents of various character . In order to give an adequate impression to the student , its several portions must be dis cussed in detail , and thoroughly
illustrated , as well by all the aids of local circumstances as by the fight of comparative history . There we find successive invasions by foreign hordes , as in China , and the country successively subjected to the domination of foreign dynasties ; and yet , in such large districts as Bengal , Behar , and Orissa , for instance , we find the local population , even in the present day , of Indian origin , preserving their language and many of their ancient institutions . It is astonishing to us to see with how small a force we have subjected populations so large , and we arc anxious to inquire how far the influence of other dominant races has been permanent , and how far ours can be made so . We there seek to asoerfcain
the extent of Mahometan influence , to what muta . tions it , has been subjected , how far it has been merely temporary and superficial , and where and how it has taken root . We may sfudy the disposition of the Bengalee , ascertain , how far he has yielded to the political power of the Moguls or of ourselves , and how far to the moral impression , of either . The mero class of revolts and insurrections is one to bo studied with the zeal of a statesman and the .. discrimination ,, of . a . philosopher . The mind of India is to be surveyed with reference to the persistence of some doctrines , and to the revolutions which in some districts it has undergone by the suppression of Buddhism , and its replacement by Brahmanisin or
Mahomctanism . Then there all the problems of race , which embrace the prolifio populations of the plains , the wild aboriginal tribes of the hills and the jungles , the Indo-Europeans of the mountains , the many classes of immigrants , the effect of climate and of mixture of blood on Parsecs , Jews , Greeks , Armenians , and English , and the praoUoal application of , the 8 e-obsowationSwto ~ tho . quc 8 tipu . jpf « tho « p , t ( JtivWial ) hi ment of our own people in India . The history of India in its ontirety , or in portions , has already employed many men of great ability , but it still requires a wider development and more liberal encouragement . The effect of rooent events has boon , to cause the republication in o » oapor and more popular forms of the histories of Mill and of Edward Thornton , and the production of now works , original or compiled . The extensive
oirouvictory overcomes peril and leaves little room for anxiety , so will our interest in India be lessened , but it will never pass away , for when war is succeeded by peace , so will the hazards of the campaign be replaced by the results of enterprise , and a vast field of exertion being opened we shall have the greater part in the welfare of India , because we shall have a greater English army there , a greater number of our citizens established there as traders and as settlers , and because irr the expansion of its resources we shall find the means of extending our
own . Next to the history of our own race , and before that even , of the United States , the history of India will take a position of importance in the course of historical studies . The history of the United States is less studied in books than in newspapers , because it is a contemporary history of it community whose development is daily , and whose institutions , having an intimate relation with our own , are brought home to us not by dry narrations , butby the . incidents , the discussions , the leading articles of the hour , by the oral information of our own citizens , and by the communications of those American citizens
who come ampng us . It is a contemporary history like our own , passing from mouth to mouth , and in which we who are actors have the less need to eohsult a compiler or a recorder . The history of India from this year is likewise one of new incidents and of a new development j but these , arising from the events of the past , animated and influenced by them , require the illustration of their experience to enable us to judge accurately of the present , and safely to legislate for the future . The interest too , in India , is not that of mere curiosity , nor prompted by the inquisitiveness of merchants or adventurers , but we have now imposed on us »
moral responsibility , the more grave because it bears on the welfare of so large a portion of the human race . So long as we entrusted the government of India nominally to the East India Company * but in reality to the Eaat India Civil Service , we had little concern in the details of Indian administration or the events of the past on which the local institutions were moulded ; but the time has arrived when , as a few fear and most entertain no doubt , the Parliament and people of England will take a much more active share in all questions affecting India . Thus , as this responsibility is acquired , it becomes
incumbent on us to make ourselves better acquainted with Indian history , that so we may the better understand those records which the correspondents of the press provide for us , and that we may not be 'led away * by * l poaHmpressions * andtprejudieesj » by « the claptrap of cliques and factions to approve and support measures which may infliot grievous injury on our Indian subjects and on our own citizens who have settled abroad . Many who are impressed , by such convictions will betake themselves to the study of Indian history . » nd > in our colleges and schools it is to bo hoped a due provision will be made for such teaching . It is a very great question , indeed , whether much of
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EVA DESMOND . Eva Desmond : or , Mutation . 8 vols . Smith , Eldor , and Co . It is not praise too high to say 1 hat this novoL is far beyond the average run of similar works of notion . There is power , pnthos , and ^ wlmfc 13 m ft yp ,,, , r . m'Q Jn , tUlfigLff ,., , M ° JiJi ff ^ > cfl ~*" . ?^ fl'l ' ^ ^ i conception and catastrophe . The purposo of tinrwriter apparently is to show that first lovo , howover deop-soatod , may ultimately give way to tnnci merit , and the happiness oonsoquenl ; on the oquul flow of harmonious . wedded life , Thoro may p ossibly ba , a deeper purposo to be sorvod , but it no- it has escaped our notice , and will not very inuo »» matter to tho million who rend but for amusement . The prominent characters in the work are . Mil
Indian Histoey
lation of these works will stimulate the composition of others , wherein we shall see displayed the philosophy of Indian history , The application of comparative history to its annals , and the recital of political history , accompanied , as . in-later works on our own history 3 by the successive epochs of Indian literature , institutions , arts , and manufactures , so that we may at each stage see the people in their entirety , and not the simple reflex of Mahinoud , of Ghizni , Akbar , or Aurungzebe . To some extent the annals of each viceregal reign as recorded by Mill or Thornton , prepare the way for this more extended treatment of the subject , for the reigns of those great men are marked as much by the moral victories achieved over ignorance and superstition as by the triumphs of arms , which prostrated corrupt satraps and extended the frontier
of our empire . In the panegyrics of Mussulman emperors and heroes , in the Argeen Ak berry and in other institutes , or in the enactments of the Indian Legislature , we have to investigate how much of all this achievement belongs to the simple record of the past or is to be recognised as vitally existent . Many of us have to learn for the first time how far the village systems affords the basis of municipal organisation , how far the punch-aval may authorise a modification .
of the jury system , how far the prevalence of a systematic foreign legislation , under Persian interpretation , has prepared the people for a foreign judicature of more liberal tendency . We shall liave presented to us land tenures of partia l ¦; application and of modern institution which we shall be told do not- admit of amendment or modification , and we shall have to examine the working of tenures of more ancient date which have been
subjected to the identical mutations with successful results . In the records of India we have the opportunity of checking theory by practice , and of finding how far legislation or administration alleged to be productive of . advantage , to oiie class has enriched or impoverished the mass of the community , has complied in fact with the only real test of good government , the improvement of the condition of the greater number . t t
The history of India , it will be seen , is inimaely connected with direct political teaching , and it must hereafter be constantly referred to and frequently discussed , so that no man of ordinary intelligence can safely be ignorant of its leading facts any more than he can of the framework and main details of our own history . It will , therefore , be found very useful to possess a work like that of Mr . Thornton , which , in its present condition , affords in a compact and cheap form , and in so much detail , the history of English India . It is one advantage and one disadvantage of this work that a single chapter is alone dedicated to the pice-English history of that
India , while it is a more serious disadvantage it closes with the governorship of Lord Ellenborough in 1844 . To have added so much new matter would , of course , have altered the scope of the work , and prevented its production on terms more accessible to the mass of readers . Some will bo better satisfied that Mr . Thornton has abstained from this recent portion , for his position as anoilicial of the Company , lias as much tcudoncy to expose him to the , suspicion of bias , as it gives him a claim informa
to the possession of accurate and authentic - tion . One consequence of a cheap edition is , that the notes and references arc suppressed , but one feature of the old work is preserved , and that is a copious index . The glossary of Indian terms has been extended , though Mr . Thornton avoids the use of Indian tcrinsNvherc English terms will correctly express the idea , and hero is Jikcwiso a chrouological index , and altogether the work hns most of the materials required for reference or for solf-study .
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Q 7 _ THE LEADBB ,, [ jSTo . 443 , September 18 ^ 1 ^ 58 .
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 18, 1858, page 972, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2260/page/20/
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