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    LITERATURE, SCIENCE, ART, &o.

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    TOPICS FOR INDIAN STATESMEN . Topics for Indian Statesmen . By John Bruce Norton , Esq ., Barrister-at-Law , Madras ; author of " The Rebellion in India , " " Madras , " &c . Edited by G . II . Norton , Esq . Kichardson Brothers . The author of tins work is by profession a Barrister , and is , we find on reference to the Law List , of some seventeen- years' standing . He was responsible editor during the stirring times from 1854 to 1 S 5 G of the Madras Athenaum , one of the papers sometimes instanced as the respectable exceptions to the run of Indian journalism which Lord Harris , it will be remembered , characterised as on the

    whole " disloyal in tone , un-English in spirit , and wanting in principle . " Mr . Norton was invited to assume the editorial office as being a well-known Madras reformer , and round him during the period of his connexion with the Athenaeum , which , it should be stated , was a labour of love , he claims to ¦ have acquired , in addition to all he had before , a very deep acquaintance with the affairs , condition , and prospects of India . When we consider the notorious propensity of Anglo-Indians for public writing , we can hardly doubt that the

    worktable of a Madras editor , well-known to be a spirited man and a staunch reformer , must have been a storehouse of very tempting information from all sorts and conditions ot men , or that the editor himself may , if so inclined , have been far better informed upon many public affairs in his own presidency , at all events , than the general run of officials . Let us note for such of our readers as may probably not purchase or have time to study so large a volume , the leading " Topics" Mr . Norton has treated .

    They arc : —The character and cause of the rebellion . Was the Government forewarned ? Did they take proper steps to meet it ? How shall we treat the rebels ? Who is to pay the cost ? What is required for the military protection of India ? What shall be the form of the Home Government of India ? Centralisation . How can the constitution of the Local Governments be improved ? Is the Legislative Council properly constituted ? Shall we pursue annexation ? Land Tenure . Shall we redeem the land tax ? Why have not British capital and enterprise invested themselves in India ? Can they be induced to do so ? Do our law courts

    require reform ? Is the police to be reorganised ? What shall be the future condition of the Indian press ? Should our future policy in India be retrogressive , stationary , or progressive ? And , herein , of stoppage of public works ; demeanour towards the natives . Education . Prosclytism . It is clearly impossible , within tho space allotted to vis , to condense tho arguments or even sumnxariso the conclusions of the author upon topics so fertile as the least penetrating will admit theabove to be . We must plead to both author and reader

    that we fur better serve them by the above condensed table of contents , than b y a few isolated extracts or some bald commonts of our own . It may nevertheless be interesting to mention Mr . Norton ' s opinion , that tho revolt clearly partook of a national , not alone a military character , as being strongly in , opposition to that of at least one other ablo writer , who would allow it the latter only . The cause of the ill feeling against us was our neglect of our duties to our Indian subjects ; and , of tho outbreak , our disregard of ample notice we received .

    or even Lord Dalhousie , and a ISTapier to grapp le with events , it boots not now to consider . Whatever might have been , we have to deal -with -what is . The important question which we must now ask ourselves is , whether men who so trifled with the rebellion at its commencement are fit instruments to be trusted with the regeneration of India when order is restored ? A dispassionate judgment must pronounce that they are not . Lord Canning himself has shown no spark of prescience or genius . lie has acted just as might be expected from a man of the most ordinary capacity . The highest praise we can award him is , what was used by Lord Eldon to his father as a sneer , that he is " a respectable gentleman . " But it is not to such that the destinies of India are to be trusted . As for the civilian

    Government , whose eyes were shut to what was coming , and who refused to see it when it came , the blood of the murdered cries out against them ; on their heads be the sin . " We have escaped , " again says Mr . Norton , " a national revolution by almost a miracle . " " Our Own right hands , under Providence , deserve the first place in the catalogue of the causes of our safety ; but next , certainly , is the singular coincidence that in two of the most important and vital points of the empire the reins of government were held by educated men . " .. It has been argued that as Nana Sahib , the atrocious soul of the revolt ,

    was a highly educated native and the type of what is called " young Bengal , " ' should be very careful how we encourage the spread . education . But the author agrees with Mr . Halliday , the Lieutenant-Goveriior of Bengal , that , in the first place , the Nana , though he lias a smattering of English , is , as to education , in its only valuable signification , as uninstructed as the lowest mutineer ; and , in the second , that to the European-sympathies and training in various branches of useful knowledge , under English superintendence , of Jung Babadoor of Ncpaul , of liolkar , of Scindiah , and of Solar Jung , the-young minister

    Metcalfe and Sir John Malcolm , the originator of the proposal , all believe to be a righteous form of taxation , and a lucrative one . lie sees , he says , no other way in which taxes may be imposed at present . It is fancied that the natives have vast hoards of bidden wealth , and that they may be forced to disgorge it . But it is the old story " of the traveller and the sun and the wind . We may induce native . capital to uncloak itself by those gentle and wise suasions which inspire confidence , not by blustering and brute force .

    In the inquiry as to the military protection of India , Mr . Norton enumerates the vast questions which must arise in connexion with the necessary reconstruction of the Bengal Army and the future condition of our whole Indian military resources . They are numerous indeed . lie pretends to no peculiar wisdom and no inspiration , but only to state boldlv what manv a fettered man may hardly

    have dared to think , much less to express , and what the plain sense of every unprofessional observer inclines him to believe . He considers that to play off the mutual haired of Sikhs , Ghoorkas , and Bengalees , and so to seek an homogeneous army , would be dangerous ; for we shall thus , as we should in the "selection of law-paste men , only be -training up a more formidable foe for sooner or later contest with ourselves . He

    is , of course , for an immense addition to our European force , and for the reduction of its native clement to the lowest practicable amount . He would arrange our troops so that , by meaus of railways and telegraphs , they might be massed at will ; he would have civil duties discharged by a police force , that now employ a large number of regular soldiers ; and ,, above all , he would encourage the employment of Eurasians in the army and other situations . This race , whose claims of blood and religion we have heretofore strangely and cruelly disregarded , would make more reliable public

    of Hyderabad , we owe a large measure of our safety . With regard to our present duties , Mr . Norton is an earnest defender of Lord Canning ' s clemency , though he deems his celebrated order to have been loosely worded , and incautiously made a public document instead of a private circular . He divides the rebels into four classes . To the Sepoys and the native officials , who had received our pay , and enjoyed the sunshine of our favour and then turned against us he would show no mercy . To the rajahs

    servants , either civil or military ^ than any pure Hindoos , and would far better than the latter repay us for the hyper-indulgent fondling we have lavished upon ' the Sepoys of Oude . Into the mysteries of the llvotwarrec , Ainnnep , Zemindaree systems we cannot here follow our learned friend , though we have been well p leased with his admirable essay on the land tenure of India . Let us note our impression , en passant , that no sweeping off of the old systems can for a moment bo coutho

    and nobles , many of whom havehad fair cause of complaint , he would accord separate investigation , and the populace he could scarcely treat too leniently . The author has luminous views on the subject of revenue . The question must soon arise how an enormous rcvenuo is to be raised to liquidate our past losses and to bear heavy future military outlay —in fact , who is to pay for the rebellion . Tho amount has not been ascertained ; it can scarcely be approximately guessed at . It has gradually amounted from three millions to ten ; and of course every day adds vastly to the cost , The bent of public inclination for England—as , indeed , is only natural—has been to cast

    templated , but that with him we conceive position of the Madrussce ryot can at least be modified . This portion of the work we leave with regret . So we do the paper upon Indian law-courts and their abuses , which essay touches also upon the native ideas of the saleubility of justice , the remarks upon Proselytism , and those upon Press Gagging , which arc written with , the sagacity of a lawyer , and the esprit do corps of a ci-decant , or , for all \ yo know , a present editor . We have , wo believe , said enough to prove the interest we have taken in their perusal , and the anxiety we feel for their popularisation .

    Mr . Norton is evidently a man of the world , ot large experience mul great common sense . Ho lms aluwycr-like habit of refusing to take things lor granted , to make whole admissions upon partial promises , or to concedo anything upon ex ptirte statements . JIo lms , we imagine , a keen anil inrsighted perception of jobbery , mid ft tcrnor-liko fancy for probing it to tho bottom when ho lms onco got scent of it . Wo can readily believe him when he says , in his 10 th " Topic : "I do not say that I did my spiriting over-gonUy , lor I am not aware that I over spared any j » L > or mutter

    this burden upon India . England would ftiin escape tho loan sho sees looming in the distance $ and if India only could be made to pay there can bo llttlo doubt but that she would be mado . Numerous suggestions with this view have been made . Tax tho countries where rebellion h « s broken out , say some ; tax the merchants , tax tho English in India , levy a poll or property tux , tax anybody , everybody , say others . Replenish the exchequer by the iucdemvtion of tiih ¦ land-tax Bays my namesake , the late Advocato-Gonerul of Madras . Why

    not sell Bengal ? says tho " Friend of India , " in italics . Mu | ct the owners of India stock , the fault is theirs , somehow or other , and . at all events make the people of India pay . As to those who have rebelled , it is a just punishment ; us to those who have not , it ia only fair they should paj' for their protection . Wo have recited this list of suggestions , for it is , indeed , n highly important topic , that we may draw attention to JVJr . Norton ' s reply to one and all of thorn , and if possibles provoke u reply to his own recipe by ventilating it .

    deserving exposure Wo can also believe the following slutement : •—During the time 1 wrote Lord Harris assured > no turn , ho was fully aware of tho ability and utility of tno journal . I had Lord Dnlhouslo ' u testimony to tho samo effect convoyed to mo by his prlvato secretary- ff- official in the Hoard of Control informed mo Unit tno Atlwnuium was doing good yeomau sorvico i » opposing centralisation and annexation . From tlio j "" " ) Reform Association tho samo assuranoo vouched mo , flattering attestation to tho high character ot iw journal was borne by tho oontomporary press of Juuin . ^ Every essay in tho book before us shows that it& author is a man of acumen and varied knowledge , and deep , earnest conviction . If after tho ion » partial bondage of such u spirit in the letters 01 tho editorial " wo , " its owner now does court 101 a whilo tho full Uburty of publicity , revelling nuu

    Some of those proposals ho declares to bo simply impossibilities ; some us impolitic aa others are impossible . Tlio redemption of Jand-tax would bo tho readiest , but tho sum of 1320 , 000 , 0001 / . which it would place in tho public treasury would bo a temptation , ho says—and wo ore disposed to agree with him—to public profligacy . Tho nu' / . zorann , or nno on porpetual successions to freehold fiefs , is tho system which Mr . Norton , with Lord ,

    Year after year , remonstrance , warning , evidence , argument , entreaty was poured out before the English nation , whoso lethargy -was as that of tho seven sleepers . Nothing short of the grand crash with which the East India Company ' s system has at last exploded could c . xcito attention and sympathy towards India , or teach us that wo cannot accept only the profits and pleasures of government to tho neglect of its chief obligations . Upon Lord Canning ho bears hard , but if his

    dates tiro correct , " not too hard , ior his sloth in admitting or grappling with tho rebellion when it became a fact , though ho holds him as a new man to Indian lifo , loss inoxcusablo for . the disregard with "which ho was induced by supercilious counsellors to treat all jn'cdictions of evil . But our author has over n phial of concentrated wrath in store for the Civil Service , as may bq scon in the concluding linos of tho following passage : — What ) torrents of blood might have boon saved had othor counsels pvovallod j had wo had an Ellonborough ,

    Literature, Science, Art, &O.

    LITERATURE , SCIENCE , ART , &o .

    Untitled Article

    1122 THE LEADEB . [ No . 448 , October 23 , 1858 . _ fc ^ fc ^^^ j ^^^^^^^^^^—^ fc ^^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^ " ^*^^^^^^^^^^^ ' ¦ ' ¦ ¦ — — ¦ ¦ —^—» - — ^^^^^^—^ m ^^^^^ MMMM ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ W

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 23, 1858, page 1122, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2265/page/10/