Beneath the flags that, day by day, When the last trumpet-blast is blown! Unsummoned to that awful crowd, We trust that the reader has now a fair idea of the structure and tone of the poem. That the versification is flowing and melodious, we need not say. All the world knows that the harp of Thomas of Ercildoune has descended through a long line of illustrious bards to William of Aytoun, and that this latter troubadour has sung of many a deed of Scottish chivalry in accents as musical as is Apollo's lute." We shall not easily forget how we once sat on the shores of the thrice classic Bosphorus, and read to two fair and intellectual women the" Burial March of Dundee." Tears, the true poet's tribute, attended the recital, and that most eloquent compliment, a space of silence, followed. Those who have read the Scottish Lays will need no recommendation from us to peruse Bothwell : and those who read this paper, comprising we presume the entire civilised world, will know no rest till they have mastered the entire work, of which we have given detached specimens : and all will agree with us in the wish that this favourite child of Maga may often direct his great gifts to the embalming of the legends of Scotland. INDIA UNDER LORD DALHOUSIE. ON a cold bleak day in the month of January 1835 we remember meeting young Lord Ramsay (now Dalhousie) riding on his bay horse up the wide Canongate of Edinburgh. It was his first appearance in public life. His lordship had just completed his majority, and, in compliance with the wishes of the Conservative party, had come forward to contest the metropolis of Scotland with Abercromby and Campbell. He was already in the whirl of the election-contest; and although "plain John". -as the present Lord-ChiefJustice then affected to style himself-with true Whiggish servility to mob-passions, profusely taunted his young Tory rival as if it were a crime against "Reform" to be the heir of thirty generations, and to count back one's pedigree for seven centuries, the people on this occasion thought differently, and cheered his lordship as he rode up the grey timehonoured street. They remembered that the youth's sires had fought along with Wallace and the Bruce,that he represented one of the very oldest of Scottish families, —that "Ere Campbells yet were lords of Lorn, Ere yet Buccleuch was lifting kine, Were Ramsays in Dalwolsie born"and the true instincts of the Scottish heart triumphed for a moment over the rancour of party as they gave the young lord a cheer for himself and his race. Despite his then unpopular political creed, he was personally popular, and naturally so; for he exhibited in a remarkable manner those qualities of spirit and manliness which the masses respect and admire even in their antagonists. The fever of party-politics then ran high in Edinburgh as elsewhere; and the Whig candidates were not overdelicate or scrupulous in their efforts to depreciate and annoy the young rival who dared to meet them in a burgh so peculiarly their own. But throughout that election-contest Lord Ramsay gave token of the high courage, energy, and manliness of policy which he has lived to develop on a grander stage. He shrank from no part of his canvass, he held meetings with the electors in the rudest and most Radical wards of the city, he stated his political views with the frankest honesty and directness, and had a plain answer for everybody,-while his speeches were marked by a vigour, terseness, and self-reliance, especially rare in one so young. In that election-contest, as he himself said, his "political cradle was roughly rocked," but he learned from it lessons of value to him in that future career of distinction to which he seems even then to have looked forward with confidence. At the banquet given to him by the Conservative party, he took leave of them in the following words, which subsequent events have made memorable: "I return to my own pursuits with the sensation common to every man who feels that he has not to reproach himself that he has buried his talent in the earth; that, so far as in him lay, he has done his duty to his country, his fellows, and himself; and that, having cast his bread upon the waters, he has only to await in patient confidence the day when it shall again be found." Two-and-twenty years roll away, and we again find Lord Dalhousie It is making a farewell address. about the same season of the year as before, but everything else is changed. A burning sun is blazing, though it is but the 5th of March. Edinburgh, with its heights and valleys, crowned with Greek and Gothic edifices, has disappeared; and around are visible the slender minarets and bizarre cupolas of the East, shooting high into the noonday air above a vast low-lying city, peopled with dusky myriads, and with a sea-like river moving majestically past. It is a strange hybrid scene, a blending of the East and West. Ships of European and Asiatic structure ply side by side on the broad river, stately European edifices fringe its banks, the streets are brilliant with the military uniforms of the West and the domestic pageantry of the East, while the red, white, and blue" folds of the Union - Jack show that Japhet is dwelling in the tents of Shem, and that British power is the ruling genius of the place. We have got quite to the other side of the globe, and have exchanged the bleak winter of Scotland for the tropical heats of an Indian summer at Calcutta. Lord Dalhousie has finished his eight years' rule of India, and the inhabitants and authorities of Calcutta have repaired to the Government House to present him with an address. His lordship is as changed as the scene that surrounds him. Instead of the active firm-knit youth of 1834, we find him, though still in the prime of life, faint and weak with work and suffering, and it is visibly with an effort that he stands up to receive the deputation, and to read his reply. He tells them that he receives the sentiments of the inhabitants of the city of Calcutta with the deepest feelings of gratification and pride of pride, that an administration which has been prolonged through more than eight years, should command at its close so general a tribute of approbation and applause; of gratification, that the inhabitants of the capital of the Indian empire should have framed their judgment of me in terms so honourable to my name, and should have pronounced it in tones of such manifest cordiality." "The approving voice of his countrymen," continues the wornout statesman, "the deliberate, concurrent, and hearty commendation of those among whom he has long lived and acted, is the reward which sustains the heart of a public man, which affords him compensation for long years of exile, and makes him amends for the toils and cares, the injustice and ill-will, which form the burden that must be borne by every man who serves the State.' The memorialists have made kindly allusion to the future that might be in store for him, and to the honours and high career awaiting him at home; but he replies with a despondency that marks how heavy the sacrifice he had long been making at the shrine of duty and a noble ambition: "I do not seek," he said, "to fathom that future. My only ambition long has been to accomplish the task which lay before me here, and to bring it to a close with honour and success. It has been permitted to me to do so. I have played out my part. And while I feel that, in my case, the principal act in the drama of my life is ended, I shall be well content if the curtain should drop now upon my public course. Nearly thirteen years have passed away since first I entered the service of the Crown. Through all those years, with but one short interval, public employment of the heaviest responsibility and labour has been imposed upon me. I am wearied and worn, and have no other thought or wish than to seek the retirement of which I stand in need, and which is all I now am fit for. Mr Sheriff and Gentlemen, I have now but one more word to add-it is a word which I find it hard to utter-Farewell." His lordship's voice faltered as he pronounced the last word, and his emotion was shared by the select crowd, half British half Asiatic, who thronged the apartment. Next day the ex-Governor-General took his departure,-proceeding to the ghaut or landing-place in an open carriage, through a lane of European and native troops, escorted by the body-guard in their splendid uniforms, and receiving the usual military honours. "A salute of nineteen guns signalised his lordship's departure from Government House, and another was fired on his embarking on board the Feroze. He was at tended to the landing-place by a large concourse of gentlemen, who evinced the most lively marks of He No In this manner did Lord Dalhousie bid farewell to India. Europeans and Hindoos alike regretted him. And yet he had in no degree courted popularity. Many acts of kindness are recorded of him, but severity rather than leniency was the character of his rule. He felt the mighty responsibilities of his position, and in his resolve to prove equal to them, he put aside all personal predilections and the solicitations of friends, and gave heed only to the high cold dictates of impartiality and duty. was at once the head and the hand of all that took place in that vast empire. He not only originated or gave shape to every project, but he watched over its execution. man shares with him his laurels, for none shared the thorns. "His well-known habit of deciding for himself exempted him from other influence, and in all serious questions the community looked to him alone. In every danger men have been accustomed to ask, not what ought to be done, or what will Government do, but 'What does Lord Dalhousie say?' For eight years he has been really our king, in the old sense of the word."+ No Indian Vice-royalty, brilliant as many of them have been, will bear comparison with that of Lord Dalhousie. "He has won himself a foremost place, not only among British statesmen, but among the true rulers of mankind in all ages. The bread which he cast on the waters "in patient confidence," has been "found again;" the eyes of his countrymen are fixed on him even in his invalid retirement; and nothing but renewed health and prolonged life are wanting to enable him to prosecute with fresh lustre his public career, and win new laurels in the West less brilliant, it may be, but still dearer to his heart, because more important to his countrymen, than those which he has already gathered in the sultry climes and among the dusky myriads of the East. * Indian Correspondence of the Times. To one who comprehends the mag+ Ibid. nificence of our Indian Empire, it will not seem strange that the high duty of ruling it aright should have fired the ambition and strained the energies of the noble Scotchman to whom for eight years its destinies have been intrusted. An Indian debate no longer, as in the days of Burke, acts like the dinner-bell on the House of Commons; but it must be confessed that, even among our legislators, and still more among the general public, the actual vastness, importance, and peculiarities of our Indian Empire are yet but imperfectly understood. We regard it too much in the light of a simple dependency of the British Crown,--forgetful that its civil and military establishments exceed those of the greatest European Power, and that in amount of population it is equalled by no empire in the world save the monsterfabric of China. In our ordinary atlases it figures to the eye no larger than our own country, or any of the medium-sized kingdoms of the Continent; but in actual fact, it embraces a million and a half of square miles, and is larger than all Europe, exclusive of Russia. EngEng land, Scotland, and Ireland might all be packed into the limits of the single Bombay presidency; Madras would hold Norway and Denmark; the Punjab and Northwest provinces equal Spain; and the Bengal presidency exceeds in size all France. And yet, more than one half of the Indian peninsula, comprising the native States, remains to be accounted for! The lately-acquired territories, annexed by Lord Dalhousie-namely, the Punjab, Pegu, Oude, Nagpore, Berar, &c.-have of themselves an area of 118,000 square miles, equalling in extent the United Kingdom. Nor let the common error be indulged, that these vast territories of our Indian empire are thinly peopled, or little better than barbaric wilderness. Taking India as a whole, it is as densely peopled as the most advanced countries in Europe; so that, while in area it equals Europe, minus the thinly-peopled wastes of Russia, in population it falls but little short of the same favoured segment of the earth. The North-west Provinces, indeed, with a lesser area than England and Scotland, actually exceed them in population, and are only equalled in proportion of people to territory by the small state of Belgium.* And yet India, say our best authorities, is less populous now than formerly! Very varied are the units that make up this vast population of India, and yet strange is the social uniformity that has gradually crept over them. In every part there is a great variety of different classes dwelling together, in many points altogether dissimilar; but the same systems, manners, and divisions of the people prevail throughout the country. Although there are many classes, almost all the classes are found more or less everywhere; and hence the same general features of society exist alike in every part of India, even when there is a considerable difference in personal appearance and language. In effect it has become one country; and though many different races have entered it, and have been by peculiar institutions kept in many respects separate, each has in its own sphere pervaded the country. All have become united in one common civilisation the same system of Hindoo polity has been overlaid by the same system of Mahommedan government-inhabitants of one part of the country have served, travelled, and done business in all other parts indiscriminately; and so altogether, while the different degrees in which different elements have been mixed, produce exterior differences, the essential characteristics of all are the same." + But it is a marked characteristic of India, that while the population is thus to a certain extent socially one, they have no political unity whatever. "Not only have the Mahommedans and Hindoos But as England, Scotland, and Wales, with an area of 90,000 square miles, have a population of 21 millions; while the North-west Provinces of India, with an area of only 86,000 square miles, have a population of 24 millions! The rate of population in these North-west Provinces per square mile is 322-in Belgium it is 323. the former are eight times larger than the latter, districts could easily be found in the Indian provinces exceeding in density of population the 11,000 square miles of + CAMPBELL'S Modern India and its Government, p. 36-37. Belgium. no political feeling in common; but no two tribes, classes, or castes of Hindoos pull together in politics. This, which in the first instance is no doubt in a great degree the consequence of political slavery, is now still more the cause of it. Natives of different classes associate much together, have their alliances and enmities in common; but employ one of them in the service of Government, and he has no particle of political sympathy beyond his own subdivision of a class, if even so much. Political nationality there is none. Even in matters of public concernment between the people and the government, there is little public spirit. They have so long lived under an alien and despotic government, that they feel little bound to assist it; so that if, in the pursuit of criminals and such matters, a native is immediately touched himself, he is active enough—but so long as this is not the case, he moves not in the matter, and renders little assistance." Northern India, owing to a better climate and immigrations of hardy northern tribes, possesses a finer population than the South, where remnants of inferior aboriginal tribes have mingled with and somewhat deteriorated the Hindoo stock. The Hindostanees, who form the bulk of the population of the country, are in physical appearance, excepting colour, very like Europeans, and evidently belong to the same great division of mankind. The features and cast of countenance are indeed identical, and their general height and size are nearly as great. The Bramins of the north, the Rajpoots, and the Jats, are fine men, the meaner classes are naturally meanerlooking, but even among the lowest class of all (the unclean outcasts) may be found as fine men as any. The mercantile classes are at once the fairest and most Hindoo-looking -circumstances mainly attributable to their in-door occupations and stricter exclusiveness. Our early popular ideas of the mildness and effeminacy of the Hindoos were derived from the Bengalees, and are by no means characteristic of the general population of India. The In dian race have a fair share of courage and energy. They fight well when properly led, and have less fear of death, and sometimes do more reckless things, than Europeans; but they have less steady pluck, and are easily disheartened by reverses. They are not a cruel or bloodyminded people, and generally do not commit so great atrocities as barbarous and excited Europeans; but when particular individuals or classes (like the Thugs and Dacoits) make blood a profession, they display a coolness and insensitiveness which we could hardly attain. In industrial energy the Hindoos show favourably. They have none of the indolence or apathy of the Celt and Negro; they have the inclination to improve their condition, and the more they have the more they want. In talent they are by no means inferior to Europeans. Their intellects are excellent, and they exhibit a mathematical clearness of head, and talent for figures and exact sciences, which is less general with us. lower classes show unusual acuteness and aptness to learn. They are to the full as good and intelligent as the same classes with us; indeed, they are much more versed in the affairs of life, plead their causes better, make more intelligent witnesses, and have many virtues. But these good qualities do not exist in a corresponding proportion in the higher classes, who do not bear prosperity well. "The lowest of the people, if fate raise him to be an emperor, makes himself quite at home in his new situation, and shows an aptitude of manner and conduct unknown to Europeans similarly situated; but his son is altogether degenerate."† The Such was the empire, such the people, over which Lord Dalhousie was called to rule. His task was an arduous one, but his position allowed him to put forth his powers to the full. The GovernorGeneralship of India is one of the grandest positions in the world. Mediocre men may fill it, as they have often filled thrones, and the machine of government, though moving feebly, has not stopped. But * CAMPBELL'S Modern India and its Government, p. 62-63. + Ibid., p. 64. |